AP Environmental Science 5.9: Impacts of Mining

Practice AP Environmental Science questions on surface mining, ore grades, overburden, mining waste, habitat loss, groundwater, dust, and methane.

[Maximum number: 6]

Crude oil is extracted, transported, and refined for various uses by humans.

(a)

A deposit is estimated to contain 260 million metric tons of gold ore. Calculate the number of grams of gold that could be extracted from the deposit. Show your work.

[ 2 ]

1 point of grams of gold that could be extracted from the deposit. Show your work.
One point for the correct setup to calculate the number of grams of gold that could be extracted from the gold deposit:
Accept one of the following:

- 260 million metric tons $\times \frac{5 \text { grams }}{1 \text { metric ton }}$

- $260 \times 10^{6}$ metric tons $\times 5$ grams

- 5 × 260,000,000

One point for the correct calculation of the number of grams of gold that could be extracted 1 point from the gold deposit:
Accept one of the following:

- 1,300,000,000

- $1.3 \times 10^{9}$

Total for part (e)

2 points

(b)

Assuming the price of gold is $ 62.56 per gram, calculate the value of the gold that could be recovered from 1,000 metric tons of gold ore in the deposit. Show your work.

[ 2 ]

One point for the correct setup to calculate the value of the gold that could be recovered:

Accept one of the following:

- $\frac{\$ 62.56}{1 \text { gram }} \times 1,000$ metric tons $\times \frac{5 \text { grams }}{1 \text { metric ton }}$

- $62.56 × 1,000 metric tons × 5 grams

- $\frac{\$ 62.56}{\mathrm{~g}} \times \frac{5 \mathrm{~g}}{\text { metric ton }} \times 1,000$

- $1,000 \times 5 \times \$ 62.56$

1 point

One point for the correct calculation of the value of gold that could be recovered:

Accept one of the following:

- $312,800

- 312,800 dollars

1 point

Total for part (f)

2 points

(c)

A typical cell phone contains 0.034 grams of gold. Calculate how many metric tons of gold ore would need to be mined to extract enough gold to manufacture 100,000 cell phones. Show your work.

[ 2 ]

One point for the correct setup to calculate the number of metric tons of gold ore that would need to be mined to manufacture 100,000 cell phones:
Accept one of the following:

- $\frac{0.034 \text { grams }}{1 \text { cell phone }} \times \frac{1 \text { metric ton }}{5 \text { grams }} \times 100,000$ cell phones

- $\frac{0.034 \text { grams }}{1 \text { cell phone }} \times \frac{1 \text { metric ton }}{5 \text { grams }} \times 100,000$

- 0.034 grams $\times \frac{1 \text { metric ton }}{5 \text { grams }} \times 100,000$

- $\frac{0.034 \times 100,000}{5}$

One point for the correct calculation of the number of metric tons of gold ore that would 1 point need to be mined to manufacture 100,000 cell phones:

- 680

Total for part (g)

for question 3

10 points

[Maximum number: 6]

As conventional sources of crude oil are depleted, unconventional sources such as oil sands (also known as tar sands) are being utilized. Oils sands contain bitumen, which can be processed into a synthetic crude oil. A region of boreal forest in Alberta, Canada, that covers a deposit of oil sands will be cut and removed during the process of bitumen extraction. It is estimated that the deposit contains 73 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen. The rate of extraction from the deposit will be approximately 1 million barrels of bitumen per day.

(a)

Describe TWO environmental consequences, other than those related to the loss of boreal forest habitat, that result from the extraction of bitumen or the transportation of synthetic oil to customers.

[ 2 ]

(2 points; 1 point for each correct description of an environmental consequence that results from the extraction of bitumen or the transport of synthetic oil to customers)

- Release of greenhouse gases/air pollutants such as $\mathrm{NO}_{\mathrm{X}}$ from fossil fuel combustion that powers equipment/transportation/oil processing

- Release of air pollutants ( $\mathrm{NO}_{\mathrm{x}}, \mathrm{SO}_{\mathrm{x}}$ , or particulates) during mining operations or oil processing

- Storage and disposal of large amounts of solid/liquid mining waste, which can be toxic to organisms

- Pollution of surface water and/or groundwater from oil spills/leaks during transport

- Sediment pollution in surface water and/or groundwater from strip mining

- Disturbance from pipelines, such as habitat fragmentation, disruption of migratory routes, etc.

- Noise pollution from use of machinery during processing or transport

- Diversion/use of water from surface water and/or groundwater for processing oil

(b)

Assuming the above extraction rate, calculate how many days will be needed to extract the recoverable volume of bitumen from the oil sands.

[ 2 ]

Assuming the above extraction rate, calculate how many days will be needed to extract the recoverable volume of bitumen from the oil sands.
(2 points; 1 point for the correct setup and 1 point for the correct answer)

7.3 \times 10^{10} \text { barrels of bitumen } \times \frac{1 \text { day }}{1.0 \times 10^{6} \text { barrels of bitumen }}

\begin{aligned} & =7.3 \times 10^{4} \text { days } \\ & =73,000 \text { days } \end{aligned}

(Note: Units are not required in the answer)

(c)

Calculate how many years will be needed to fully extract the recoverable volume of bitumen from the oil sands.

[ 2 ]

(2 points; 1 point for the correct setup and 1 point for the correct answer; incorrect answer from (d), used correctly, can still earn points in part (e)

\begin{aligned} & 7.3 \times 10^{4} \text { days } \times \frac{1 \text { year }}{365 \text { days }} \\ & =2 \times 10^{2} \text { years } \\ & =200 \text { years } \end{aligned}

(Note: Units are not required in the answer.)

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Covered syllabus points

5.9 Impacts of Mining question 1

Question (a)

Question (b)

Question (c)

5.9 Impacts of Mining question 2

Question (a)

Question (b)

Question (c)