Assembly Line

Mining

Rock is blasted, dug or cut out of the ground and hauled to a plant. Most of what comes up is waste, so the next step is nearly always separating the useful part from the rest.

59 lines that use it

Baking soda 6 stations · 9 raw sources Bauxite 5 stations Borax 5 stations Brick 7 stations · 2 raw sources Cement 7 stations · 3 raw sources Chromite 4 stations Chromium 6 stations · 13 raw sources Cinnabar 3 stations Clay 3 stations Coal 3 stations Cobalt 6 stations · 9 raw sources Cobalt ore 3 stations Concrete 6 stations · 18 raw sources Copper ore 4 stations Crude oil 4 stations Dolomite 3 stations Drywall 7 stations · 8 raw sources Feldspar 5 stations Fluorspar 3 stations Gold 6 stations · 7 raw sources Gold ore 4 stations Granite 3 stations Granite countertop 6 stations · 1 raw source Gravel and crushed stone 3 stations Gypsum 3 stations Iron ore 4 stations Kaolin 3 stations Lead ore 4 stations Limestone 3 stations Manganese 6 stations · 7 raw sources Manganese ore 5 stations Marble 3 stations Mica 3 stations Natural graphite 4 stations Nickel ore 5 stations Phosphate rock 3 stations Pigment 8 stations · 8 raw sources Plaster of Paris 5 stations · 1 raw source Platinum 6 stations · 6 raw sources Platinum ore 4 stations Potash 3 stations Quartz 5 stations Quicklime 6 stations · 2 raw sources Rare earth ore 4 stations Rock salt 3 stations Roof tile 6 stations · 2 raw sources Rough diamond 3 stations Silica sand 5 stations Silver 6 stations · 8 raw sources Silver ore 4 stations Spodumene 3 stations Sulfur 4 stations Table salt 5 stations · 2 raw sources Tin 5 stations · 2 raw sources Tin ore 5 stations Titanium ore 5 stations Trona 4 stations Tungsten ore 4 stations Zinc ore 4 stations

What it looks like on the line

  • Silica sandQuarry or pump the deposit. Sandstone is quarried like hard rock, crushed, and rod-milled back to its natural grain size. Dry pits simply load the loose grains into trucks. Deposits below the water table are mined hydraulically with dredge pumps.
  • Plaster of ParisQuarry the gypsum. Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral found in thick evaporite beds. It is widely mined from open pits and underground workings.
  • Baking sodaMine the trona. In Wyoming's Green River basin, the biggest trona deposits are mined underground. Trona is a natural mineral that holds both sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate.
  • Rare earth oreDig the open pit. At Mountain Pass in California the main mineral of value is bastnäsite. It is dug from an open pit and hauled to a primary crushing and stockpile area.
  • BrickDig the clay and shale. Clay and shale are the raw ingredients. They are the product of thousands of years of erosion of rocks such as granite, and they are chemically stable. Silica makes up 50% to 60% of the mix by weight and alumina 20% to 30%.
  • SilverMine the base-metal ore. Silver minerals such as acanthite occur in veins and in ore bodies that are mainly lead, zinc or copper. The silver is a modest passenger in rock mined for another metal.
  • DolomiteFind a dolomitized bed. Most dolomite formed when magnesium replaced calcium in limestone or lime mud. Geologists check a field sample with a drop of dilute acid, because dolomite fizzes only weakly while limestone fizzes hard.
  • Crude oilPick the target. Geoscientists and engineers work out what rock the well will pass through and where the oil should sit. They plan the path so that the bit meets the reservoir without hitting zones that would be unsafe to drill.
  • CobaltMine the copper-cobalt ore. Cobalt is found in copper and nickel minerals, and the Copperbelt of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia supplies most of the world's cobalt. Mining is mostly aimed at the copper, and the cobalt comes with it.
  • TronaBelt and hoist it. A main belt system in 12 segments runs the ore 13 miles to an underground storage bunker at the shaft. From there it rides 22-ton skips to the surface.
  • TinDredge the tin sands. Cassiterite is hard, heavy and chemically tough, so it washes out of eroded rock and settles in river valleys and under the sea. Dredging, hydraulicking and open pits are the cheapest ways to dig it.
  • BauxiteBreak and load the ore. Caprock may need blasting, or scrapers may be enough. Excavators or loaders fill haul trucks with ore. Several pits run at once so the blend stays at a consistent grade.