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Copper Extraction
A metal ore is a rock that contains a metal/metal compound that has a high
enough concentration to make it economically worth extracting
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They are often
mixed with other substances when they are found
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Ores are normally mined
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There can be two different types of ore: low grade ore or a high grade ore
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Low
grade ores generally don’t contain a high proportion of valuable minerals
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High grade ores contain
relatively large amounts of valuable minerals
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There are different ways that metals can be extracted from their ores
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This is known as bioleaching
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When bacteria absorbs
copper compound, they produce a solution called leachates
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It has the advantage that it is very energy
efficient because it only uses thirty to fifty percent of the traditional
method
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To get the copper out of the
plants, they are burned
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This is known
as phytomining
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Copper can also be extracted from solutions of copper salts using scrap iron
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Pure copper is needed to create a good electrical conductivity, and it can be
obtained through electrolysis
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Environmental impacts of the electrolysis on a large scale must be
considered
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During the process of electrolysis metal must be in
contact with the solution
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Some mercury could escape into a solution and then into the
environment
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Phytomining can impact the environment because burning the plants could
be putting some pollution into the air
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Using scrapiron could impact the environment because they would then
have to go and dig up more iron to help them extract the copper

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