---
title: Metals, mining and what they cost — how Mova does on the tests · Geography
description: Lesson 60 of the geography course of Mova's primary school: 7 of 11 tests right, exam 3 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose.
---

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# Metals, mining and what they cost

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**Tests:** 7 of 11 right · **Exam:** 3 of 4 right · **Kind:** ★★ · **Understood:** 12 of 15 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72`

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Lesson 60 of the geography course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/).

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Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson's questions in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/).

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### Test 1 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t1}

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Ella reckons metals just come out of the ground shiny and ready. right?

- **1.** Yes, all metals are dug up pure and shiny — no support
- **2.** Yes, metals grow like crystals in shops until they are sold — no support
- **3.** No, metals are made from wood — no support
- **4.** No, most come from ores that must be smelted — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 5

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 60, line 5: «Metals usually come from ores, rocks containing enough metal to be worth mining.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «come» (+3); the same place «ores» (+3). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/t1/)

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### Test 2 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t2}

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Ancient Greeks wanted bronze but had copper and no tin. What would they need to do?

- **1.** Melt sand into tin — no support
- **2.** Trade for tin from places like Cornwall — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 4
- **3.** Just use copper on its own and call it bronze anyway — score 3
- **4.** Use salt instead of tin — score 3

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**Why:** It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 2 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 60, line 2: «Long ago people learned to mix copper with tin to make bronze, hard enough for tools and swords, and tin from Cornwall was traded across Europe for thousands o…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same action «trade» (+4). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-6). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/t2/)

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### Test 3 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t3}

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Your old phone sits in a drawer. Why might recycling it help?

- **1.** Its metals can be reused without mining new ore — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 3
- **2.** Old phones make more lithium on their own over time — no support
- **3.** Phones turn back into rock if left in drawers — no support
- **4.** Recycling makes the phone radioactive — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 60, line 15: «Recycling metals uses much less energy than mining new ore, and aluminium can be recycled again and again.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «recycle» (+3). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/t3/)

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### Test 4 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t4}

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"electric cars r totally clean, no mining at all" — Max. What would you add?

- **1.** Nothing, no metals are needed — no support
- **2.** Electric cars are made of wood — no support
- **3.** They need mined metals like lithium and cobalt — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 5
- **4.** Electric cars run on coal only, burnt in the boot — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask a circumstance (with what, when, how). It chose option 3 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 60, line 9: «Phones and electric cars need dozens of metals, including lithium, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «phones» (+4); the same action «need» (+3). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/t4/)

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### Test 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t5}

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A river below an old mine runs orange and fish have died. What most likely happened?

- **1.** The sun dried the river — no support
- **2.** The fish turned the water orange — no support
- **3.** Rain makes rivers orange every year in the autumn — **← Mova's choice** · score 5
- **4.** Acid and toxic metals from the mine poisoned it — **✓ the right answer** · no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 6, line 14: «The Mediterranean is an almost closed sea, and more water evaporates from it than rivers and rain bring in, so ocean water keeps flowing in from the Atlantic.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «rivers» (+3); the same action «bring in» (+2). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/t5/)

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### Test 6 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t6}

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A game shows a happy cartoon mine where workers in Potosí sing on payday. What is the true history?

- **1.** Machines did all the work — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Indigenous people were forced to mine silver and many died — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** They were well-paid volunteers who came from all over the world — no support
- **4.** No one ever worked there — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/t6/)

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### Test 7 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t7}

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What would happen to a blacksmith's iron sword if he added a little carbon to make steel?

- **1.** It would turn into gold — no support
- **2.** It would become stronger — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 2
- **3.** It would melt at room temperature — no support
- **4.** It would rust away at once — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 60, line 8: «Iron is the most used metal, and steel is iron with a little carbon, making it stronger.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «steel» (+2); the same property (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/t7/)

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### Test 8 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t8}

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Why did people say the destruction of Juukan Gorge was a terrible loss?

- **1.** It was a car park — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** It held 46,000 years of Aboriginal history — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** It was a brand new shopping centre with lots of shops — no support
- **4.** It was an empty quarry — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/t8/)

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### Test 9 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t9}

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shop sells "ethical" phones — why might people check where the cobalt came from?

- **1.** Cobalt is only used in toys — no support
- **2.** Cobalt makes phones too heavy — no support
- **3.** Some cobalt comes from mines where children have been found working — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6
- **4.** Cobalt from some places is fake and makes the phones break after a month — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 60, line 12: «Some cobalt in batteries comes from small mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where children have been found working.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «come» (+2); the same doer «cobalt» (+2); the same place «small mines» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/t9/)

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### Test 10 · ★★ · right ✓ {#t10}

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A giant open-pit mine is visible from space. What does it leave behind besides the hole?

- **1.** Nothing at all — no support
- **2.** A clean lake of drinking water — no support
- **3.** Mountains of waste rock — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 2
- **4.** A new forest — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 60, line 3: «Your phone holds dozens of metals, among them lithium, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements. To get them, open-pit mines dig holes more than a kilometre deep…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «mountains» (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/t10/)

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### Test 11 · ★★ · wrong ✗ {#t11}

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Why do aluminium can recycling bins matter?

- **1.** Aluminium cannot be recycled at all — score 0
- **2.** Cans turn into oil when recycled — no support
- **3.** Recycling cans uses more energy than mining — **← Mova's choice** · score 6
- **4.** Aluminium can be recycled again and again with much less energy — **✓ the right answer** · score 3

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**Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 6, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 60, line 4: «Mining has a human cost too: Indigenous people were forced to dig silver in Peru and Bolivia, enslaved Africans dug gold in Brazil, and today children have bee…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «use» (+3); the same doer «recycling» (+3). The right option, 4, scored 3. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/t11/)

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### Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓ {#e1}

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Which of the following statements most accurately characterises an ore?

- **1.** A rock containing a quantity of metal sufficient to warrant extraction — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 2
- **2.** An implement employed by miners — no support
- **3.** A variety of fossil fuel — no support
- **4.** Any lustrous mineral discovered upon a shore — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 53, line 7: «Waterfalls form where a river flows over hard rock lying on top of softer rock, and as the soft rock wears away the waterfall slowly moves back upstream.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «hard rock» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-3). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/e1/)

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### Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓ {#e2}

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Identify the composition of the alloy designated bronze.

- **1.** Iron combined with carbon — no support
- **2.** Aluminium combined with lead — no support
- **3.** Silver combined with gold — no support
- **4.** Copper combined with tin — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 3

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 60, line 2: «Long ago people learned to mix copper with tin to make bronze, hard enough for tools and swords, and tin from Cornwall was traded across Europe for thousands o…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «copper» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/e2/)

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### Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e3}

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Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the environmental consequences of mining.

- **1.** Mining increases the fertility of adjacent soils — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Mining produces no waste rock whatsoever — no support
- **3.** Rivers are invariably purified by mining activity — no support
- **4.** Rivers may be contaminated with acid and toxic metals such as mercury and arsenic — **✓ the right answer** · no support

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**Why:** Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/e3/)

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### Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓ {#e4}

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Ascertain the principal advantage of the recycling of metals in respect of energy.

- **1.** Considerably more energy is consumed than in mining — no support
- **2.** Considerably less energy is consumed than in the mining of new ore — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 5
- **3.** Energy consumption is identical in both cases — no support
- **4.** No energy whatsoever is consumed — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 60, line 4: «Mining has a human cost too: Indigenous people were forced to dig silver in Peru and Bolivia, enslaved Africans dug gold in Brazil, and today children have bee…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «mine» (+3); the same thing acted on «new ore» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/60-metals-mining-and-what-they-cost/e4/)

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- ← previous: [59. Coal, oil and gas](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/59-coal-oil-and-gas/)
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