Evaluation of industrial warehouses
Introduction
Economic geology is the branch of geology that studies rocks in order to find mineral deposits that can be exploited with practical or economic benefit. The economic geologist is in charge of doing all the necessary studies to find rocks or minerals that can potentially be exploited. The exploitation of these resources is known as mining.
The search for these materials has given rise to voyages of discovery and colonization of new lands; Its ownership has determined commercial or political supremacy, and has been the cause of struggles and wars. In the search for these mineral substances, a wealth of knowledge has gradually been accumulated about their distribution, character and places where they are found, as well as their uses, and this wealth of knowledge has led to the formation of theories about their origin.
Mineral resources have great importance in the daily life of modern man, since they provide many basic elements that help make modern life easier and allow us to have heating, electricity, fill the fuel tank of our vehicles, make fertilizers to fertilize our lands, obtain materials to build homes and buildings, produce medicines, accessories, etc.
Economic geology or prospecting studies are carried out through the geological evaluation of the area of interest and are complemented with associated studies from other branches of geology such as geochemistry, structural geology, geophysics, sedimentology, which allow us to gain a deeper understanding of the mineralogical potential and delimit and quantify the source of material.
For a deposit to be considered economic, there must be sufficient availability of material in it to make its exploitation profitable or justifiable, since the investment necessary for mining development is generally considerable.
The "grade" of a metallic deposit is the ratio of the amount of rock required to produce one unit of the mineral; For example, a gold mine with a grade of 1 g/t requires the extraction of one ton of ore to obtain 1 gram of gold. The profitability of the mineral deposit is strongly dependent on the price of the mineral or element extracted and production costs. Currently, with high prices for most metals, many mines or projects that were not profitable have been put back into production.
Although emphasis is normally placed on deposits or deposits of metallic minerals (gold, copper, aluminum, etc.), deposits of non-metallic minerals are of great importance in the development of countries. Elements such as oil, limestone, gravel and other construction materials are of great importance, especially in developing countries.