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Cutoff Grade
Cutoff grade is the minimum grade required in order for a mineral or metal to be economically mined (or processed). Material found to be above this grade is considered to be ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 Apr ..., while material below this grade is considered to be waste. The cutoff grade can be determined through a variety of methods, each of varying complexity. Cutoff grades are selected to achieve a certain objective, such as resource utilization or economic benefit. Dividing these objectives even further gives way to specific goals such as the maximization of total profits, immediate profits, and present value. It is important to recognize that the cutoff grade is not simply calculated to a definitive answer. It is in fact a strategic variable that has major impli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Minerals'; p. 1. In the series ''Geology: Landforms, Minerals, and Rocks''. Rosen Publishing Group. The geological definition of mineral normally excludes compounds that occur only in living organisms. However, some minerals are often biogenic (such as calcite) or are organic compounds in the sense of chemistry (such as mellite). Moreover, living organisms often synthesize inorganic minerals (such as hydroxylapatite) that also occur in rocks. The concept of mineral is distinct from rock, which is any bulk solid geologic material that is relatively homogeneous at a large enough scale. A rock may consist of one type of mineral, or may be an aggregate of two or more different types of minerals, spacially segregated into distinct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typically ductile (can be drawn into wires) and malleable (they can be hammered into thin sheets). These properties are the result of the ''metallic bond'' between the atoms or molecules of the metal. A metal may be a chemical element such as iron; an alloy such as stainless steel; or a molecular compound such as polymeric sulfur nitride. In physics, a metal is generally regarded as any substance capable of conducting electricity at a temperature of absolute zero. Many elements and compounds that are not normally classified as metals become metallic under high pressures. For example, the nonmetal iodine gradually becomes a metal at a pressure of between 40 and 170 thousand times atmospheric pressure. Equally, some materials regarded as metals c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic viability of investing in the equipment, labor, and energy required to extract, refine and transport the materials found at the mine to manufacturers who can use the material. Ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a laboratory or factory. Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water. Modern mining processes involve prospecting for ore bodies, analysis of the profit potential of a proposed mine, extraction of the desired m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metal Prices
Metal prices (metal commodities) are only for a few metals quoted on exchanges. Only aluminium alloy, aluminium, copper, lead, nickel, tin, zinc and Nasaac (North American special aluminium alloy) are exchange traded commodities. Other metals (like bismuth, selenium Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, ..., tellurium, and many others) are traded on market demand and the buyers/sellers themselves set the price. The London Metal Exchange which trades the commodities mentioned above is planning to add trading contracts for cobalt and molybdenum in the course of 2009/2010. Contracts traded on metal exchanges are also called futures contracts. Pricing providers There are companies which provide a pricing service set the price by talking to producers, traders and consumers. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
