• Zinc is located in various areas is Canada. Some of these places are:

• Vancouver, BC• New Brunswick• Manitoba• Quebec

30Zn

65.409(4)

Canadian Companies Canadian Companies Responsible for mining and Responsible for mining and

extractionextraction• The Prairie Creek Mine• The Copper-Zinc Bell

Allard Mine• New Brunswick Zinc Mine• Hudson Bay Mining &

Smelting Co. Limited• Noranda Inc.• Billiton Metals Canada

Inc. • Aur resources Inc. • TeckCominco Ltd.

• Actual Money Value:• $ 34. 5 US cents per

pound

• Gross National Product, (GNP):

• (2003) $73, 782

How zinc is combinedHow zinc is combined

• Zinc is associated with:Zinc is associated with:

• Sphalerite (sulfite)Sphalerite (sulfite)

• Calamine (silicate)Calamine (silicate)

• Franklinite (zinc, manganese, iron oxide)Franklinite (zinc, manganese, iron oxide)

• Smithsonite (Carbonate) Smithsonite (Carbonate)

How the Mineral/Ore is removed from the Ground

• A) Pyrometallurgical Processes:• Horizontal retort process• Vertical Retort Process• Electro Thermal Process• Imperial Smelting Process• B) Hydrometallurgical Processes:• Roast Lead Electrowin Process• Pressure leaching Process

• **Electrowinning Process is the most commonly used method. It uses an electrolytic cell to reduce the zinc. n electric current is run from a lead-silver anode through a zinc solution. The zinc deposits on an aluminum cathode and is harvested. The zinc is then melted and cast into ingots.

• Mines used are: underground mines, mills, open-pit mines.

Method of Separating & Purifying Zinc from its

ore/mineral• Most zinc production is based upon sulphide ores. They

are roasted in industrial plants to form zinc oxide, ZnO. It may be reduced with carbon to form zinc metal.

• Very pure zinc may be formed from crude zinc by zone refining.

• Selective melting is a method used to capture zinc if the zinc is mixed with other non-ferrous metals with higher melting points.

• Once obtained, secondary zinc first undergoes a separation process. Magnetic separation, sink-float and hand sorting are usually used to remove the zinc from unwanted components.

• Construction 48%

• Transport 23%

• Machinery 10%

• Consumer

Durables 10%

• Infrastructure 9%

• ** Galvanizing of steel and iron for protection against rust/corrosion.

• If freshly formed ZnO is inhaled, you can get a disorder called oxide shakes, zinc chills.

• If freshly formed zinc fumes are inhaled, an acute lung condition known as zinc fume fever may occur. It is advisable that wherever there are places where zinc fumes can escape should be provided with canopies with proper ducting to remove the hot zinc fumes from the from the point of generation.

• The zinc refinery involves quite hot operations. Forced-air cooling points should be provided at the fixed work locations to reduce the heat stress among workers.

Environmental Issues• Water may become more acidic due to the presence of large

quantities of zinc. • If zinc enters fishes bodies it can biomagnify up the food chain.• If the soils of farmland are polluted with zinc, animals will absorb

unhealthy concentrations. • Also, when zinc is in the soil it can contaminate ground water.• It can destroy plants if they have a zinc uptake that their systems

can’t handle. (Not much plant diversity near zinc depositing factories because plants have limited survival).

• Zinc can interrupt soil activities and influence microorganisms and earthworms. (It can seriously slow down the break down of organic matter).

• Zinc is a serious threat to the production of farmlands.