Surface Mining

Surface mining is a type of Mining used to extract deposits of Mineral resources that are close to the surface. In most forms of surface mining, heavy equipment, such as Earthmover s, first remove the overburden (the soil and rock above the deposit). Next, huge machines such as Drag Line Excavator s extract the mineral. Surface mining generally leaves large devastated areas called Spoil Bank s (unless the land is Recovered ). Since surface mining by its nature removes overlying landscapes, it has a heavy negative effect on local Ecosystems and The Environment . There are four main forms of surface mining.

TYPES OF SURFACE MINING

Strip Mining

Strip mining is the practice of Mining a seam of mineral Ore by first removing all of the soil and rock that lies on top of it (the Overburden ). It is similar to Open-pit Mining in many regards. Strip mining is also used to extract the oil-impregnated sand in the Athabasca Tar Sands .

Strip mining is only practical when the ore body to be excavated is relatively near the surface. Since colossal quantities of material often need to be removed, the excavating machinery used in strip mining is often among the largest such equipment ever constructed; Drag Line Excavator s and Bucket-wheel Excavator s are common examples.
There are two forms of strip mining - area strip mining, which is used on fairly flat terrain, to extract deposits over a large area. Contour strip mining, usually used in hilly terrain, involves cutting terraces in mountainsides following the contour of the land.

Open-pit mining

: ''For more details, see Open-pit Mining ''

is an open-pit copper mine]]
Open-pit Mining refers to a method of extracting Rock or Minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or Borrow . The term is used to differentiate this form of Mining from extractive methods that require tunneling into the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful Mineral s or Rock are found near the surface; that is, where the ''overburden'' (surface material covering the valuable deposit) is relatively thin or the material of interest is structurally unsuitable for tunneling (as would be the case for Sand , Cinder , and Gravel ). Where minerals occur deep below the surface—where the overburden is thick or the mineral occurs as veins in hard rock— underground mining methods are used to extract the valued material. Open-pit mines are typically enlarged until the mineral reserve is exhausted.

Mountaintop removal

Mountaintop Removal (MTR) is a relatively new form of Coal Mining that involves the mass restructuring of earth in order to reach Sediment as deep as 1,000 feet below the surface. Mountaintop removal requires that the targeted land be first Clear-cut and then leveled by Explosives .

Dredging

Dredging is a method often used to bring up underwater mineral deposits. Although dredging is usually employed to clear or enlarge Waterway s for boats, it can also recover significant amounts of underwater minerals relatively efficiently and cheaply.

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Surface Mining