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Mineral resources as non‑renewable natural wealth

Natural wealthnatural wealthNatural wealth includes all components of natural environment which are useful for human. Their division is as follows:

• renewable resources – have the ability to regenerate, such as forests, water, wind energy;

• non‑renewable – these are consumed by human in a rate preventing them from regeneration (if at all possible), such as mineral resources.

Mineral resourcesmineral resourcesMineral resources are rocks extracted under ground or at the surface. People use it for variety of economic purposes, such as fuel or construction materials. They are also used in processing industry, for example, metal ores in metalworking or sulphur in chemical industry. Depending on application, mineral resources were divided to several major categories:

• energy resources (fuels) – black coal, brown coal, petroleum, natural gas;

• metallic resources – metal ores, e.g. iron, copper, zinc, lead, tin or aluminium (bauxites);

• chemical resources – rock salt, potassium salts, phosphorites, sulphur, coals, petroleum, natural gas;

• rock resources (construction materials) – sand, gravel, limestone, marlstone, dolomite, marble, granite, gypsum and many others.

Mineral resources are non‑renewable wealth which means their supplies will eventually be exhausted. Some resources will be available for hundreds of years, some may run out within tens of years. Human should try to use them reasonably while aspiring to substitute them with renewable resources. This problem mostly involves energy resources, thus inspiring development of more and more wind power plants, hydropower plants or solar power plants. Also, biofuel production keeps rising. It contributes to improvement of natural environment purity.

Locations of mineral resources in Poland

The Earth hides in itself an abundance of various rocks and minerals. However, human only gathers the ones which are concentrated in a single location in a sufficient amount or in a readily available place, meaning at low depth. Such concentration of useful minerals and rocks, available for extraction, is called a mineral depositmineral depositmineral deposit.

Poland is a country with quite a lot of mineral resources. We have at least a few resources available in each category:

• energy resources – black coal and brown coal as well as natural gas and - to a lesser extent - petroleum;

• metallic resources – copper ores and zinc and lead ores; also iron ores (currently out of operation);

• chemical resources – rock salt as well as potassium salts (currently out of operation) and sulphur;

• rock resources – sand, gravel, clay, silt, sandstone, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, chalk, granite, basalt, marble, porphyry, melaphyr, serpentinite, amphibolite and many others.

Extraction and application of mineral resources in Poland

Some mineral deposits are not easily operated. Nowadays, cost effectiveness is primary factor, therefore, extraction of a specific resource in certain location needs to be profitable. In the late 90s, for example, black coal extraction in the Lower Silesia became unrewarding. Earlier, the same happened with iron ores which have been extracted in our highlands until the 70s.

Currently, the most meaningful resources in Poland are as follows:

• black coal extracted in the Upper Silesia and the Lublin region – it is used for fuelling heat plants and households and as a raw material in chemical industry and in metalworking for production of steel (being its ingredient, as steel is an alloy of iron and coal);

• brown coal extracted in the Bełchatów‑Konin‑Turoszów triangle – its majority is being burnt in power plants located near the mines (transporting brown coal at longer distances is not cost‑effective);

• copper ores extracted in the Legnica and Głogów region (Lubin, Polkowice) – these ores are smelted in foundries (in Legnica and Głogów) to pure copper; copper products are mainly sold to foreign countries; copper ore processing results in gathering some other metals, such as cobalt, molybdenum, nickel, gold and silver which is being sold, bringing significant revenue.

Among other natural resources present in Poland, natural gas deserves some attention. It is being extracted in Greater Poland, Subcarpathia and Pomerania. It satisfies about 40% of domestic demand, the rest is imported from the Russian Federation. Situation concerning petroleum looks much worse - as much as 97% is being imported (mainly from the Russian Federation).

With regard to metallic resources, apart from copper, we also extract zinc and lead ores in the Olkusz region. An important chemical resource is rock salt, and the largest deposit is located in Kuyavia and the seashore (renowned mines in Wieliczka and Bochnia are merely tourist attractions). Sulphur, extracted near Tarnobrzeg, is also of some importance with regard to the industry. You should note that Poland is the last country in the world where so‑called native sulphur excretes from underground. Internationally, this resource is gather by other methods, such as desulphurisation of natural gas, petroleum purification, extraction from gases arising in the progress of coal combustion, from foundry gases, and also from volcanic gases and rocks as well as from pyrite, gypsum and anhydrite.

Exercise 2

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Wysłuchaj nagrania abstraktu i zastanów się, czego jeszcze chciałbyś się dowiedzieć w związku z tematem lekcji.

Wysłuchaj nagrania abstraktu i zastanów się, czego jeszcze chciałbyś się dowiedzieć w związku z tematem lekcji.

Identify facility visible in the picture.

• Black coal mine
• Brown coal mine
• Sulphur mine
• Rock salt mine

Summary

• Mineral resources are non‑renewable natural wealth.

• Mineral resources are divided to a few major categories – energy resources, mineral resources, chemical resources, and rock resources (construction materials). Another category includes noble metals and gemstones.

• The most important mineral resources of Poland include black coal, brown coal, copper ores and rock resources. Also, natural gas, zinc and lead ores, rock salt and sulphur are of significant importance.

• Human universally uses mineral resources in the industry, and - upon processing - in everyday life.

Keywords

coal, resources, natural resources

Glossary