Posted on 06/08/2017 4:26:43 AM PDT by C19fan
One of the world’s largest untapped copper deposits sits 7,000 feet below the Earth’s surface. It is a lode that operator Rio Tinto RIO 0.68% PLC wouldn’t have touched—until now. Not that long ago, an abundance of high-grade copper could be mined out of shallower open pits. But as those deposits are depleted and high-grade copper becomes tougher to find, firms such as Rio have been compelled to mine deeper underground.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
There are several large high grade copper deposits that are easier to get at here is the US.
But the insane enviro wakos and the anti mining crowd have stop there development.
Plenty of high grade copper around after the collapse. No need to go through the pain of refining it.
Link to nowhere unless you are a subscriber.
Did a search. Other options
http://www.superiorarizonachamber.org/2017/06/07/mining-mile-175-degrees-600-gallons-water-minute/
Thanks
My search found it too.
7000 feet? 175 degrees?
But Al The Goron said it was millions of degrees down there.
I have heard that landfills contain metals at concentrations the same as mines.
Minnesota has copper and a mining company is in the process of getting a permit to mine it. Its very close to the Boundry Waters area, however.
Upper Michigan still has copper reserves that could be developed.
I’m not so sure of that; some mining activity stopped not because of availability but because costs were lower and/or quality was higher elsewhere. The iron mining along the NY/NJ border stopped for that reason; plenty of iron still there. In fact, during WWII they refurbished some of the mines that had been closed for decades in case they needed more iron, but the war ended and they left them as is.
I’m surprised that this effort is in the US given the envir opposition to any thing mining. As another poster commented, there are still high grade deposits near the surface but envir opposition prevents mining. Even this underground effort is goint to take years to permit. And mining at Superior (located east of Phoenix) has been underway for over 140 years.
Interesting how the temperature with depth increases differently around the world…. … the TauTona Mine (Western Deep No.3 Shaft) in South Africa is currently the deepest mine at just a bit under 13,000 feet and its temperature is only about 140 degrees F.
There is supposed to be tens of billions of dollars of now unused copper wire above and under New York City.
The copper mines in the Kewenaw peninsula in the UP Michigan owned by the Calumet Helka mining company went 12,000 down at an angle I believe.
And that was almost 100 years ago.
“The main reason is the survivors will not be able to get to metals like cooper as all the easy access deposits the fueled the Bronze Age, a mixture of cooper and tin, have been depleted.”
This is an interesting thought that had not occurred to me. I would think though, that there would be enough scrap laying around to get us going again.
They could simply mine the garbage dumps.
If civilization collapsed, there would be 50%- 90% fewer inhabitants of the Earth within one year.
It is estimated that around 90% of the U.S. population would die within one year of an electromagnetic pulse event. We are so dependent on modern society and technologies that most of us would die very quickly.
After "The Collapse" it will only be necessary to cannibalize older, unoccupied homes after the owners die off.
For wire yes, for bulk copper for making other things houses are a poor choice. Power plants/distribution of all kinds are the place to start. True with aluminum also.
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