What are common methods used to mine ores?
There are mines all over the world to extract precious metals from the earth. Mines use different methods to find and extract metals. Before new technology came to the mining industry, most mines used hydraulic mining to separate gold from other ores using high-pressure water jets. This method is not used very often anymore as there are new, more efficient methods to mine.
The placer method of mining uses water to sift the ore from the surrounding sediment. This process is slow and is mainly used by amateur miners.
The hard rock method is the traditional method used by most mines. This method usually involves an intensive process of crushing the rock to extract the metals inside.
The by-product method uses other mining techniques, but the precious metal is not the target of the mining process. For example, the mine might be for retrieving copper, but they come across a large deposit of silver, so they mine for the silver as well.
Ore processing is the final method of mining. This process can be expensive and have smaller results, so many mines try to avoid ore processing. This process involves using chemicals to crush the rocks and extract the gold. This can also be damaging to the environment, which is another reason why the process is not as popular as others.
