ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Ore genesis

Ore genesis explains how rocks in the earth turn into valuable minerals like gold, silver, and copper. It's like the story of how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly!

Just like how a caterpillar has to go through many stages to become a butterfly, rocks also go through a series of changes to become minerals. To start with, there are different types of rocks, such as igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. These rocks have different chemical and physical properties that determine what type of minerals can form within them.

Now let's imagine a piece of sedimentary rock that has grains of gold in it, but it doesn't look like the shiny gold we know. The gold grains are hidden inside the rock, and we need to find them. This is where geologists come into the picture!

Geologists study how rocks form and change over time. They use different tools and techniques to explore the earth's crust and find valuable minerals. Some of the common techniques used in exploration include drilling, mapping, and sampling.

Once geologists find a promising area to mine, they start digging. The rocks they collect from the mine are then taken to a processing plant where they are crushed, ground, and treated with chemicals to extract the valuable minerals.

So just like how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly by going through different stages, rocks go through a series of changes to become valuable minerals like gold, silver, and copper. And just like how geologists explore and find rocks with minerals inside, we can explore and learn about the amazing world around us!