MINING ENGINEERING BOARD EXAMINATION

TEST QUESTIONS

PROSPECTING & MINERAL EXPLORATION

MULTIPE CHOICE: Select the correct letter that answers the following sentences.

DATE OF EXAM: August 6, 2002

1. Which of the following indicate a ferrogenous outcrop?

A. gossan C. hanging wall e. overburden
B. dike D. horse

2. Geochemical prospecting is used to trace metals usually contained in:

A. waste dump samples C. wind samples E. fauna samples
B. oil samples D. water or stream sediment samples

3. The most effective detailed and widely used method of exploration applied in developing or
delineating an ore body for the purpose of defining ore reserves is called:
A. geo-biology C. trenching E. diamond drilling
B. geo-chemistry D. airborne exploration

4. Initial reconnaissance exploration is usually conducted on:

A. old waste dumps C. existing mines E. city centers
B. drainage system & tributaries D. old ore stockpiles

5. A cylindrical chamber for receiving and retaining rock samples as diamond drilling progresses is
called:
A. core box storage C. drill pipe E. fishing device
B. core barrel D. sample splitter

6. It is a system of preserving diamond drill core samples for future references but at the same time
provide adequate sample for geologic interpretation and for the purpose of establishing the grade
of the mineral or minerals contained therein:
A. total core assaying C. thin sectioning E. core polishing
B. total core storage D. core splitting

7. Which of the following hand sampling procedure is the most accurate results to the smallest
possible error?
A. cut sampling C. channel sampling E. random sampling
B. chip sampling D. grab sampling

8. A new mining project has just completed its exploration through diamond drilling. In the pre-
feasibility study, the following mineral resources were established initially:

Positive ore reserve - 100 million MT at 0.55% Cu

Probable ore reserve - 300 million MT at 0.45% Cu
Possible ore reserve - 300 milling MT at 0.40% Cu

As the Mine Exploration Engineer designated to initially prepare a preliminary assessment of the
reserve, what is the calculated or theoretical ore reserve at this stage?
A. 300 million MT at 0.46& Cu
B. 700 million MT at 0.44% Cu
C. 400 million MT at 0.46% Cu
D. 500 million MT at 0.65% Cu
E. 100 million MT at 0.55% Cu
DATE OF EXAM : August 12, 2003

1. Heritage Resources and Mining Corp. has just completed exploration drilling of its newest Chromite
Project in Samar Island. In the pre-feasibility study, the following mineral resources were
established initially:

Positive Ore Reserve - 100,000 million mt at 55 % Cr2O3

Probable Ore Reserve - 300,000 million mt at 45 % Cr2O3
Possible Ore Reserve -300,000 million mt at 40 % Cr2O3

In preparing a bankable pre-feasibility, what is the calculated or theoretical ore reserve at this
stage of the mining project?
A. 500 million mt at 65 % Cr2O3
B. 700 million mt at 44 % Cr2O3
C. 300 million mt at 46 % Cr2O3
D. 100 million mt at 55 % Cr2O3
E. 400 million mt at 46 % Cr2O3

2. Which of the following indicate a ferruginous outcrop?

A. Gossan C. dike E. Hanging wall
B. Overburden D. Horse

3. Which of the following parameters that must be considered in evaluating as mineral deposit is
feasible to mine or not?
A. cost of establishing and maintaining social responsibility
B. price of the metal commodity
C. ore reserves and applicable mining methods
D. all of these
E. environmental effects during and after mining

4. Which of the following geophysical methods is sensitive to dessiminated mineralization that do not
produce resistivity anomaly?
A. seismic C. electromagnetic E. none of t he above
B. telluric D. Induced Polarization (IP)

5. In evaluating mineral deposits, positive ore reserve are sometimes referred to what?
A. inferred ore reserve C. geologic ore reserve E. measured ore reserve
B. possible ore reserve D. probable ore reserve

6. The best and most widely used exploration method in developing an established area of
mineralization or anomaly is :
A. geostatistical analysis C. geophysics E. geochemistry
B. Induce Polarization (IP) D. core drilling

7. The most effective, detailed and widely used exploration method in developing or delineating the
vertical and lateral extent of mineralization for the purpose of blocking ore reserves is called what?
A. diamond drilling exploration
B. airborne exploration
C. geophysical exploration
D. geobotany exploration
E. geochemical exploration

8. In coal deposition, what does strata mean?

A. country rock C. host rock E. karst formation
B. beams or bars D. beds or layers

9. Geochemical prospecting is used to trace metals usually contained in?

A. oil samples C. waste dump samples E. water or stream sediment
B. flora samples D. wind samples samples
10. A cylindrical chamber for receiving and retaining rock samples as diamond drilling progresses at
depth is called:
A.drill pipe C. core barrel E. core box storage
B. sample splitter D. fishing device

11. The exploration method highly applicable in locating and determining the thickness of wet shears,
clays, or gravels is called:
A. magnetic C. polarity E. resistivity
B. gravity D. telluric

12. Which of the following refers to the solid petroleum that occurs as a component of shale?
A. coke C. coal E. bitumen
B. kerogene D. carbon pigment

13. In diamond drilling, the very fine and slimey samples collected are called what?
A. chip samples C. core samples E. sludge samples
B. blasthole cone samples D. drill cuttings samples

14. In diamond drilling, what do you call the method of recovering cores by pulling the core barrel to
the surface using a thin steel cable passing through the drill rods, thus eliminating the need to pull
all the rods to the surface.
A. wireline drilling
B. percussion drilling
C. auger drilling
D. rotary drilling
E. conventional diamond drilling

15. In mineral prospecting, which of the following metals exhibit an anomalous color of red?
A. mercury C. arsenic E. silver
B. gold D. copper

16. In diamond drilling, what do you call the solid samples recovered from the core barrel?
A. drill cutting C. core samples E. blasthole cones
B. sludge samples D. chip samples

17. Which of the following geophysical prospecting methods is best applicable to copper sulfide
minerals?
A. titration C. Induced polarization E. remote sensing
B. atomic absorption D. Magnetometer survey

18. The best and cheapest geophysical method of establishing the lateral extensions of deposits that
are shallow occurring is by:
A. trenching C. wireline drilling E. diamond drilling
B. aerial magnetometer D. none of these

19. Which of the following does not belong in the set?

A. core C. drilling dust` E. drill cuttings
B. drill bit D. sludge

20. Aerial magnetometer survey is best applicable in prospecting for what type of mineral deposits?
A. coal deposits C. iron deposits E. calcite deposit
B. silica sand D. limestone deposits
DATE OF EXAM : AUGUST 10, 2004

1. Which of the following is not a deterrent in the quality of coal?

A. low heating value
B. high sulfur content
C. high heating value
D. high chlorine content
E. high moisture content

2. In coal deposition, what does strata mean?

A. beds or layers C. host rock E. karst formation
B. country rock D. mother formation

3. In diamond drilling of heavily brecciated formations, which of the following is used to control water
losses due to seepages and improve drilling water circulation and better sludge collection.
A. soapstone C. barite E. paint pigment
B. lateritic mud D. bentonite

4. Which of the following exploration or development methods is best and widely used in establishing
the area, depth and thickness of mineralization? It is also used to gather data for ore reserve
estimation and technical information essential in mine planning and design.
A. core drilling C. geochemistry E. induce polarization (IP)
B. geostatistical analysis D. geophysics

5. A high grade gold vein was sampled by channel sampling and showed the following analysis:
SAMPLE NO. WIDTH (cm) ASSAY (GMT)
1. 15 3.0
2. 12 3.5
3. 10 5.1
4. 12 5.5
5. 15 6.0
6. 15 6.3
7. 18 7.3
8. 17 8.8
9. 19 8.5
10. 18 9.0
Assuming that the samples were taken at regular intervals, what is the average grade of the gold
vein?
A. 7.58 gmt C. 8.58 gmt E. 4.58 gmt
B. 5.58 gmt D. 6.58 gmt

6. What is a mineral resource that was established only based on one dimension, usually surface
interpretations and using very limited samples and measurements?
A. mineable ore reserve C. geologic ore reserve E. none of the above
B. measure ore reserve D. positive ore reserve

7. Which of the following diamond drilling methods refers to the recovery of core samples from the
bottom of drillholes without necessarily retrieving the drill rods/pipes and core barrel to the surface
or hole collar?
A.classical diamond drilling C. magnetic drilling E. wireline drilling
B. fishing device drilling D. conventional diamond drilling

8. Which of the following geophysical prospecting methods is not useful in identifying whether
groundwater deposit is ionic or metallic in nature?
A. induced polarization C. resistivity E. none of the above
B. electromagnetic D. seismic
DATE OF EXAM : AUGUST 16, 2005

1. Which of the following exploration methods is best applicable to developing the lateral and vertical
extent of deep-seated orebodies?
A. dogholing C. test pitting E. induced polarization
B. diamond drilling D. trenching

2. Which of the following ore reserve categories based in four dimensions, ; length, width, depth and
grade?
A. geologic ore reserve C. measured ore reserve E. probable ore reserve
B. possible ore reserve D. positive ore reserve

3. Which of the following grade prediction techniques allows the lowest margin error in estimation?
A. geostatiscal methods C. classical statistics E. geometric methods
B. distance weighing D. inverse distance weighing

4. Which of the following refers to the worthless material that is associated the valuable minerals
within an orebody or deposits?
A. oreshoot C. paystreak E. gangue
B. nava D. bonanza

5. It refers to the tonnage per cubic meter volume of material.

A. ore reserve C. swell factor E. mine head
B. mill head D. tonnage factor

6. In coal deposition, what does strata mean?

A. beds or layers C. host rock E. bedrock
B. country rock D. karst formation

7. In mineral prospecting, which of the following metals exhibit an anomalous color of red?
A. iron C. chromium E. mercury
B. arsenic D. silver

8. The brownish and often rusty outcrop of an iron or other limonitic deposits is called what?
A. window C. gob E. gossan
B. aggregate D. outcrop

9. Which of the following diamond drilling methods refers to the recovery of core samples from the
bottom of drillholes without necessarily retrieving the drill rods/pipes and core barrel to the surface
on hole collar?
A. magnetic drilling C. conventional diamond drilling E. glory hole drilling
B. wireline drilling D. reverse circulation drilling

10. Which of the following geophysical prospecting methods most applicable and cheapest method in
establishing the lateral extensions of mineral deposits that are shallow occurring?
A. diamond drilling C. trenching E. wireline drilling
B. aerial magnetometer D. seismic survey

11. Which of the following mineral resource information is based on limited dimensions and relies
mainly on the estimators appreciation and projection of the geological attributes of the area?
A. probable ore reserve C. measured ore reserve E. possible ore reserve
B. positive ore reserve D. geologic ore reserve
12 . Heritage Resources and Mining Corp. reported to the Mines & Geosciences Bureau in its Affidavit
of Anuual Work Obligation (AAWO) for the year 2003 the following mineral reserve of its
Homonhon Chromite Project in Eastern Samar as follows :
Positive Ore Reserve - 100,000 million mt at 55 % Cr2O3
Probable Ore Reserve - 300,000 million mt at 45 % Cr2O3
Possible Ore Reserve -300,000 million mt at 40 % Cr2O3

Calculate the total ore reserve of Heritage Mining, Homonhon Chromite Project.
A. 300 million MT at 46 % Cr2O3
B. 700 million MT at 44 % Cr2O3
C. 500 million MT at 65 % Cr2O3
D. 400 million MT at 46 % Cr2O3
E. 100 million MT at 55 % Cr2O3

13. In diamond dirlling, which of the following refers to the very fine and slimey samples that are
brought up to the surface by drilling water collected in settling basins?
A. core samples C. sludge samples E. chip samples
B. cone samples D. drill cuttings

14. Which of the following is the most important quality specification of coal?
A. Heating value C. moisture E. granulation
B. Chlorine content D. sulfur content

15. In diamond drilling, which of the following is used to locate and recover detached or lost drill bits at
the bottom of a drill hole?
A. sludge collector C. bit splitter E. wireline
B. core barrel D. fishing device

16. The quality of coal is measured by which of the following parameters?

A. color C. BTU value E. specific gravity
B. moisture content D. density

17. Which of the following geophysical methods is sensitive to dessiminated mineralization that do not
produce resistivity anomaly?
A. electromagnetic C. geochemistry E. induced polarization
B. telluric D. seismic

18. In diamond drilling, what is the diameter of cores drilled by PQ diamond bits?
A. 50 mm C. 100 mm E. 70mm
B. 90 mm D. 10 mm

19. Induced polarization method is best applicable in locating sulfide minerals in which of the following
areas?
A. areas with on-going mine development
B. open pit areas undergoing pit stripping
C. areas not yet disturbed by mine development
D. areas that have been used as waste dumps of open pit mines
E. housing areas under development

20. In diamond drilling exploration, which of the following refers to the facility where drill cores are
stored in sequence according to depths where they were extracted?

A. Sample splitter C. drill pipe E. core boxes

B. Fishing device D. core barrel
DATE OF EXAM : AUGUST 8, 2006

1. Which of the following exploration method is best and widely used in establishing area, depth and
thickness of mineralization? It is also used to gather data for ore reserves estimation and technical
information essential in mine planning and design.g equipment intended for mineral or rock
exploration.
A. geostatistical analysis C. geophysics E. geochemistry
B. core drilling D. induced polarization

2. Which of the following is the most important quality specification of coal?

A. Heating value C. granulation E. sulfur content
B. Chlorine content D. moisture content

3. The measure of coal is expressed in terms of what?

A. BTU C. specific gravity E. carbon content
B. chlorine content D. moisture content

DATE OF BOARD EXAM : AUGUST 12, 2008

1. Aside from limestone, what other raw materials are necessary in the production of cement?
A. diorite C. silica E. granite
B. dacite D. andesite

2. For accurate logging of diamond drill cores, the core must first be :
A. painted with clear white
B. wetted with clean water
C. pulverized to minus 200 mesh
D. crushed to powder form
E. polished to powder form

3. A stratum of coal or coal bed is called :

A. coal seam C. coal measure E. carbonization
B. peat D. coke

GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS……..