E. Earth and Space Systems · Rocks, Minerals, and Geological Processes

From Mine to Recycling Bin: The Impacts of Using Rocks and Minerals

E1.2 A1.2 A3.1 A1.1About 50 minutes

Learning goals

I can describe the steps from finding a mineral to throwing away or recycling a product: extracting, refining, manufacturing, recycling and disposing.
I can describe social and environmental impacts of each step, both good and bad.
I can look at an issue from different points of view.
I can suggest ways to reduce the harmful impacts, such as recycling metals and repairing land.

Words to know

extract
Take out. Mining extracts rock and ore from the ground.

refine
Separate and clean a useful metal or mineral from the rest of the rock, for example by crushing and melting (smelting).

smelter
A factory that heats ore to a very high temperature to separate out the metal.

tailings
The leftover crushed rock and waste after the useful mineral is removed.

reclamation
Repairing land after mining, for example by covering waste rock with soil and planting trees.

perspective
A point of view: how a person or group sees an issue, based on what matters to them.

What's inside your phone?

A phone is made with dozens of different materials: copper, gold, nickel, aluminium, lithium, glass and more. Every one of them started as rock in the ground.

Getting materials out of the Earth gives us useful things and jobs. But it also changes the land, water and air, and affects people who live nearby. Today you'll follow a mineral's whole journey and assess its impacts, from many points of view.

Remember from Grade 3

In Grade 3 Social Studies you learned that the Canadian Shield has minerals and many mines. In Grade 3 Science you learned that Sudbury has many mines, that smoke from Sudbury's smelters once harmed the soil and plants, and that people have worked for years to regreen the land.

Step	What happens	Example: copper wire
1. Exploring	Geologists search for rocks with useful minerals (ore).	A geologist finds copper ore in the Canadian Shield.
2. Extracting (mining)	Ore is dug out in an open pit or an underground mine.	Miners blast and dig out the ore.
3. Refining	Ore is crushed; the useful mineral is separated; smelters melt out the metal.	The ore is crushed and smelted into pure copper.
4. Manufacturing	Factories make the metal or mineral into products.	Copper is pulled into thin wire.
5. Using	People use the product.	The wire carries electricity in a house.
6. Recycling or disposing	Products are recycled into new materials, or thrown away in a landfill.	Old wire is collected and melted to make new copper.

The journey of a mineral from the ground to the recycling bin

The journey of a mineral. The dashed arrow shows the shortcut that recycling makes: old metal is melted and used again, so less new ore has to be mined.

Impacts: the good and the harmful

Social impacts are effects on people. Environmental impacts are effects on land, water, air and living things.

Helpful impacts:

Mining and refining give people jobs, and whole towns grow around mines.
We get materials for homes, roads, electricity, medical equipment, phones and the batteries in electric vehicles.
Taxes from mining help pay for things like schools and hospitals.

Harmful impacts:

Mines clear land, so plants and animals lose habitat.
Tailings and waste rock can leak harmful substances into lakes and rivers if they are not managed well.
Smelters can release harmful gases that make acid rain, as happened around Sudbury.
Mining, refining and manufacturing use a lot of energy and water.
Mining work can be dangerous, so workers need strong safety rules and training.
Products thrown in the garbage, like old phones and batteries, can leak harmful substances in landfills, and the useful metals inside are wasted.

Making things better

Reclamation: Mining companies are required to plan how they will repair the land when the mine closes: covering waste rock, planting trees, and cleaning water. Some old gravel pits and quarries have become parks, ponds and wetlands.
Cleaner technology: Sudbury's smelters now release much less harmful gas than they used to, and the land has been regreened.
Recycling: Metals like aluminium and copper can be recycled again and again. Recycling metal uses much less energy than mining and refining new metal, and it means less new mining.
Reduce and reuse: Keeping a phone longer, repairing things, and passing on items we no longer need means fewer new materials are needed.
Proper disposal: Old electronics and batteries should go to an electronics or battery drop-off, never in the garbage.
Listening to communities: In Canada, governments have a legal duty to consult First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities when a project like a mine could affect their rights. Communities bring knowledge of the land, water and wildlife to these decisions.

A calm pond with cattails and young trees planted on the sloping sides of an old pit, with a gravel walking trail. — This old pit has been reclaimed: the slopes were replanted with trees and it filled with water to become a pond and wetland. Look for cattails and young trees. AI-generated image

Worked example

Let's assess a new mine from different perspectives

A company wants to open a new nickel mine near a northern Ontario lake. Look at the plan from four perspectives.

A person looking for work in a nearby town: "A mine means good jobs, so my family wouldn't have to move away."
A First Nation whose traditional territory includes the lake: "We fish and harvest here, and our people have cared for this land for generations. We need to be part of the decision, and the water must stay clean."
A scientist who studies fish: "Tailings must be stored safely so they don't harm the lake. We should test the water before, during and after mining."
A family buying an electric car: "Car batteries need nickel. Mining it in Canada, with strong rules, could be better than buying it from places with weak rules."
Assess: list helpful impacts (jobs, materials) and harmful impacts (habitat loss, risk to water). Ask: Can the harm be reduced? Who must be part of the decision?

There is no single "easy" answer. A good assessment looks at people and the environment, listens to different perspectives, and looks for ways to get the benefits while reducing the harm, such as safe tailings storage, reclamation, recycling and real partnership with the First Nation.

One decision, four perspectives. A good assessment listens to all of them before deciding.

Safety

In the cookie activity, check for food allergies first. Use toothpicks gently: points are sharp.
Never go near real mine sites, quarries or gravel pits. Steep walls, deep water and machinery are dangerous, and they are private property.
Never put batteries in the garbage or take them apart; take them to a battery drop-off with a grown-up.

Just for fun

Cookie mining is the only kind of mining where you're allowed to eat the ore when you're done. (Real ore tastes terrible. Please don't try!)

Hands-on activity

Cookie mining

Model the impacts of mining with a cookie! You need: 2 chocolate chip cookies (one crunchy, one soft, if possible), 2 toothpicks, a paper clip, a sheet of grid paper, a pencil, a paper towel. (Check for food allergies first.)

Put a cookie on the grid paper and trace around it. Count how many grid squares it covers. This is your land.
The chocolate chips are the ore. Predict how many chips you can mine.
Use only the toothpicks and paper clip (your mining tools). No fingers! Take out as many chips as you can in 3 minutes. Put chips on one side of the paper towel and broken cookie crumbs (tailings) on the other.
Reclamation: Now try to put the cookie back together inside its traced outline using only your tools. Count how many grid squares are covered by cookie now, and how many are messy or empty.
Record: chips mined; squares damaged; how well you could repair the land.
Try a different method on the second cookie (for example, smaller tools, or mining from the edge). Did one method cause less damage? This is a fair test if you keep the time the same.
Discuss: Why is it hard to put the land back exactly as it was? What would a real mining company need to do to reduce harm? What jobs did you model (miner, engineer, reclamation worker)?

You can eat the chips when you are done!

Your turn

Put these steps in order: manufacturing, refining, exploring, extracting, recycling.

What is the difference between extracting and refining?

Name one social benefit of mining.

Name one environmental problem that mining can cause.

What is reclamation?

Why is recycling metal better than always mining new metal?

Where should old batteries and electronics go?

More practice: warm-up

What are tailings?

What does a smelter do?

Which Ontario city is known for nickel mining and regreening?

What is a perspective?

In the cookie activity, what did the chocolate chips stand for?

More practice: on your own

In the cookie activity, why was it hard to put the cookie back together? What does that tell you about real mining?

Give one helpful and one harmful impact of a new gravel pit near a town.

Why do governments in Canada have to consult First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities before approving some mines?

Your family has an old phone in a drawer. List two good things to do with it.

Why can smelters affect places far away from the mine?

Challenge

A town must decide whether to approve a new quarry. Write one question each that a worker, a parent of young children living nearby, and an environmental scientist might ask.

Copper can be recycled again and again. Suppose a town recycles 300 kg of copper wire one year and 450 kg the next. How much more did it recycle? Why is this good news?

Assess: "We should stop all mining." Do you agree? Use at least one social and one environmental impact in your answer.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Digging ore out of the ground is called...

A smelter...

Which is a social impact of mining?

Repairing land after a mine closes is called...

Why is recycling metal helpful?

A good way to assess a new mine is to...

Old batteries should go...

For parents and teachers

Big idea (E1.2): Every stage of a mineral's life (exploration, extraction, refining, manufacturing, use, recycling or disposal) has social and environmental impacts, both positive and negative. Assessing them means considering several perspectives (workers, nearby residents, Indigenous communities, scientists, consumers) and ways to reduce harm (reclamation, cleaner technology, recycling, reduce and reuse, meaningful consultation).

How to help: Find your local household hazardous waste or electronics drop-off and bring old batteries together. Talk about where the metals in your devices come from. If the news covers a mining project, discuss the different perspectives without pushing a single "right" answer; the curriculum asks students to assess, not to reach a set conclusion.

Common difficulties:

All-or-nothing thinking ("mining is bad" or "mining is fine"). Encourage "benefits, harms, and how to reduce the harms".
Confusing social and environmental impacts. Social = people; environmental = land, water, air, living things.
Thinking recycling has no cost. It still uses some energy, but much less than new mining for most metals.

Safety: Check allergies for the cookie activity; toothpicks are sharp; real mines, pits and quarries are off-limits; batteries go to proper drop-offs.

Skills: The cookie activity is a model and a simple fair test (A1.2), the perspectives work links to occupations (A3.1), and looking up a local drop-off or mine news is research (A1.1).