Metal Ore Mining Industry

The metal ore mining industry segment covers the extraction of metal ores such as iron, gold, silver, lead, and copper. Many kind of this mineral have a different of industrial purposes. copper is the main element of electrical wiring, lead is used in batteries, iron is used to get steel, gold and silver are mainly used in jewelry and high-end electronics, and zinc is used to coat iron and steel to reduce corrosion and as an alloy in the having of bronze and brass.

Most metals do not exist in concentrated form but rather in little traces in rock. Indistinguishable from natural rocks to the untrained eye, some ores are presently mined that contain only a fragment of a percent of metal. As a result, a massive amount of rock must be extracted from the ground in order to obtain a useful amount of metal. As a effect of this, and because metal ores are less common than coal, metal mines can be much larger than coal mines and control in more extreme environments while coal mines are rarely more than a few hundred feet underground, gold mines can be over a mile below the surface.

A important amount of processing is necessary to change ore into usable metal. The mining industry includes initial mineral processing and planning activities that are located together with mines as part of the extraction process. Further processing is classified under the main metal manufacturing industry.