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MINERAL RESOURCES: Distinguish between terms: “mineral resource” and “mineral re

ID: 158653 • Letter: M

Question

MINERAL RESOURCES:

Distinguish between terms: “mineral resource” and “mineral reserve”.

Under what circumstances can the resource category a specific deposit change?

What agency of the federal government calculates estimates for mineral resources and reserves?

Describe how a heavy mineral placer deposit forms.

Name three placer minerals and a location of a significant occurrence for each.

How do hydrothermal mineral deposits form?

Name two ores formed by hydrothermal processes and provide the location of the deposits.

Explanation / Answer

Resource : A concentration of naturally occurring solid, liquid, or gaseous materials in or on the Earth's crust in such form that economic extraction of a commodity is regarded as feasible, either currently or at some future time.

Reserve: That portion of an identified resource from which a usable mineral or energy commodity can be economically and legally extracted at the time of determination. The term "ore" applies to reserves of some kinds of mineral commodities, generally metallic, but for want of another term it is sometimes applied to nonmetallic commodities.

If a resource is economically extracted for its mineral then it it termed as deposit, also it depends on the concentration factor of that ore.

US Geological Survey and US bureau of mines

Diamond (river banks), gold(alluvial soil banks), thorium(Monazite sand beaches)

They are precipitated from the solution with or without demonstrable association with igneous processes. These waters may deposit their dissolved minerals in openings in the rock, thus filling the cavities, or they may replace the rocks themselves to form so-called replacement deposits. The two processes may occur simultaneously, the filling of an opening by precipitation accompanying the replacement of the walls of the opening. Conditions necessary for the formation of hydrothermal mineral deposits include (1) presence of hot water to dissolve and transport minerals, (2) presence of interconnected openings in the rock to allow the solutions to move, (3) availability of sites for the deposits, and (4) chemical reaction that will result in deposition

lead-zinc-silver ores in some parts of Mexico occur in dolomitic rather than pure limestone; the reverse is true at Santa Eulalia, where massive sulfide deposits end abruptly at the limestone-dolomite contact