science

Tanco Mine

Tanco Mine is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tanco Mine rather than just read about it. In short: The Tanco Mine or Bernic Lake mine is an underground caesium and tantalum mine, owned and since 2019 owned and operated by Sinomine Resource Group on the north west shore of Bernic Lake, Manitoba, Canada. The mine has the largest known deposit of pollucite and is also the world's largest producer of caesium.

Key takeaways

Tanco Mine belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tanco Mine to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tanco Mine from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Tanco Mine or Bernic Lake mine is an underground caesium and tantalum mine, owned and since 2019 owned and operated by Sinomine Resource Group on the north west shore of Bernic Lake, Manitoba, Canada. The mine has the largest known deposit of pollucite and is also the world's largest producer of caesium. The mine has the largest tantalum reserves in Canada having estimated reserves of 2.1 million tonnes of ore grading 0.22% tantalum. The mine also has additional reserves amounting to 7.3 million tonnes of ore grading 2.76% lithium. The mine also produces caesium brine, which is converted into caesium formate which is used mostly as additive for drilling fluids to increase the fluid's density. A concentrated solution of caesium formate has a density of 2.3 g/cm3.

History The pegmatite ore body now mined by the Tanco Mine was discovered in the late 1920s and the first mining started in 1929. Several times the mine was closed, reopened and closed, until in 1969 when it was reopened as a tantalum mine. Cabot Corporation bought the mine in 1993, and began the production of caesium brine from pollucite in 1996. Tanco Mine was purchased by Sinomine in June 2019. Sinomine paid $135 million with an additional 10-year lithium royalty consideration. Tax impact was unexpected.

Geology The pegmatite found at the north west shore and below the lake floor of Bernic Lake is a granitic igneous rock enriched in the incompatible elements, for example caesium, lithium, tantalum and beryllium. Pegmatite forms if magmatic rock slowly crystallizes, and the incompatible elements are concentrated in the residual molten magma. Examples of minerals found in the mine are the lithium-containing spodumene and amblygonite, caesium-containing pollucite, beryllium-containing beryl and tantalum- and niobium-containing simpsonite and tantalite.

Deposit The pollucite (chemical formula (Cs,Na)2Al2Si4O12·2H2O) deposit associated with the pegmatite is the largest known deposit of this mineral and with 350,000 tons, it accounts for two thirds of the known resources. The mined pollucite contains approximately 24% Cs2O. The ore body is 1400 m long, 600 m wide and 100 m deep. For several decades the pegmatites at Bernic Lake have supplied the world with the needed caesium.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tanco Mine

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tanco Mine claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tanco Mine before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tanco Mine ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tanco Mine

In research: Tanco Mine appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tanco Mine in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tanco Mine is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Caesium mines in Canada, Lithium mining, Mines in Manitoba, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tanco Mine outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tanco Mine in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tanco Mine means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tanco Mine out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tanco Mine in simple terms?

Why does Tanco Mine matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tanco Mine?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tanco Mine.