What is sulfide mining?
Mining is the process of extracting materials from the earth to obtain valuable metal ores such as copper, zinc, and lead, which are called target minerals in mining terms. Metal ores such as copper, zinc and lead are minute quantities compared to the total composition of the earth. Copper makes up only 0.0058% of the earth’s crust by weight. Since these minerals are rare in a geological sense, sites for mining must have relatively high concentrations of the mineral. In 1975, Exxon found a site near Crandon, WI, where the ore contains 8.4% zinc and 0.7% lead. In the August 11, 1996, issue of the Wisconsin State Journal, Ron Seely wrote, “…it is Crandon’s good fortune – or misfortune, depending on your point of view – to be sitting almost on top of one of the richest mineral deposits to be discovered in the Upper Midwest since W.W.II.” The minerals that contain the precious metal ores are in the sulfide minerals group. Thus, the main byproduct of separating these minerals is sulfur. S
