Mineral Exploration and Mining

CHAPTER :09
3/ 21/ 2024

■ Introduction to Mining Geology

♦ Historical background to mining
♦ Definition and elements of mining
♦ Stages in life of a mine
♦ Classification of mining methods
 Surface and Underground mining
♦ Mining and its consequence

3/21/2024 Mineral exploration and mining 1

 Historical background to mining
 From the prehistoric times to the present mining has played an
important part in human existence.

 Mining is extraction of naturally occurring mineral, rock, solid,

liquid and gas from the earth for utilization of human being.

 The history of mining important cultural eras associated with

 The Stone Age(prior to 4000 B.C.E.)

 The Bronze Age (4000 to 5000 B.C.E.)

 The Iron Age (1500 B.C.E. to 1780 C.E.)

 The Steel Age (1780 to 1945)

 The Nuclear Age (1945 to the present)

3/21/2024 2
Definition and element of mining
The following are some of the commonly used mining terms:
 Mine: an excavation made in the earth to extract minerals.
 Mining: consists of the processes, occupation, and industry
concerned with the extraction of minerals from the earth.
 Mining geology: the practice of applying geological
principles to evaluate the areal extent/coverage/ of a particular ore
body and how to mine it.
 Mining engineering: the practice of applying engineering
principles to the development, planning, operation and
closure of mines.
3/21/2024 3
 Mineral: a naturally occurring inorganic element or compound having an
orderly internal structure and a characteristic chemical composition,
crystal form and physical properties.
 Rock: any naturally formed aggregate of one or more types of mineral
particles.
Dilution (waste rock dilution): It may come from internal waste, planned
waste (intentional dilution), accidental waste or geologic waste.
Resource/economic differences in the nature of mineral deposits is evident
in the following terms:
 Ore: a natural aggregation of one or more solid minerals that can be
mined, processed and sold at a profit.
 Gangue: the valueless mineral particles within an ore deposit
that must be discarded.
• Minerals other than ore present in a rock.
 Waste: the material associated with an ore deposit that must be mined
to get at the ore and must then be discarded.
 Gangue is a particular type of waste.
3/21/2024 4
 Further subdivision of the types of minerals mined by humankind is
also common.
1. Metallic ores: those ores of the
■ Ferrous metals (iron, manganese, molybdenum, and tungsten)
■ Base metals (copper,lead, zinc, and tin)
■ Precious metals (Au,Ag, the platinum group metals),and
■ Radioactive minerals (uranium, thorium, and radium).
2. Non-metallic (industrial) minerals/rocks: is geological material of
commercially value excluding metallic ore, fossil fuels, gemstone &
water.
 E.g. phosphate, potash, halite, sand, gravel, limestone, sulfur..etc.
3. Fossil fuels (mineral fuels): the organic mineral substances that can
be utilized as fuels.
 E.g. coal, petroleum, natural gas, coal bed methane, and tar sands.

♦ It should be noted that the mining engineer is associated with

the extraction of nearly all these mineral resources.
3/21/2024 5
 Stages in the life of a Mine
■ In modern mining they are expressed as stages in the life of a mine. These are:
I Prospecting ii. Exploration iii. Development iv. Exploitation & v Reclamation
1. Prospecting:-is the search for metallic ores or other valuable minerals (coal or
non-metallics).
■ B/c mineral deposits may be located either at or below the surface of the
earth.
 Direct method:- consists of visual examination of either the exposure (outcrop) of
the deposit or the loose fragments (float) that have weathered away from the
outcrop.
 Geologic studies of an area augment this simple, direct technique.
• By means of aerial photography, geologic maps, and structural assessment of
an area, the geologist gathers evidence by using direct methods to locate
mineral deposits.
 Indirect method:- is searching for hidden mineral deposit\ore body is geophysics
method.
 Geophysics is the science of detecting anomalies using physical
measurements through the analysis of gravitational, seismic, magnetic,
electrical, electromagnetic, and radiometric variables of the earth.

3/21/2024 6
Exploration : It determines as accurately as possible the size and value of a mineral
deposit, utilizing techniques similar to but more refined than those used in prospecting.

The line of demarcation between prospecting and exploration is not sharp; in fact, a
distinction may not be possible in some cases.
Exploration generally shifts to surface and subsurface locations, using a variety of
measurements to obtain a more positive picture of the extent and grade of the ore body.
When these steps have been achieved, the provision of a number of requirements;
access roads, power sources, mineral transportation systems, mineral processing
facilities, waste disposal areas, offices, and other support facilities must precede actual
mining in most cases.
 Stripping of the overburden will then proceed if the minerals are to be mined at
thesurface.
Many metal mines are located along steeply dipping deposits and thus are opened
from shafts, while drifts, winzes, and raises serve the production areas.
 Many coal and nonmetallic mines are found in nearly horizontal deposits.
Their primary openings may be drifts or entries, which may be distinctly different
from those of metal mines.
3/21/2024 7
Development
 To create access to an ore body and building of mine plant
and equipment's.
• Access to the deposit must be gained either by:
i.Stripping the overburden, which is the soil and/or rock
covering the deposit, to expose the near-surface ore for mining or
ii. Excavating openings from the surface to access more deeply
buried deposits to prepare for underground mining.
 In either case, certain preliminary development work, such as

 acquiring water and mineral rights,

 buying surface lands,

 arranging for financing, and

 preparing permit applications and an environmental

impact statement (EIS), will generally be required before
any development takes place.
3/21/2024 8
Sequence of Development
 Major steps in the development are:

 Land clearance

 Location of surface plant

 Location of waste dump

 Equipment selection

 Haul Road

 Establishment of first bench

3/21/2024 9
 Ex ploitation/mining
♦ Is associated with the actual recovery of minerals from the earth crust’s
in quantity.
■ Although development may continue, the emphasis in the production stage
is on production.
■ Usually only enough development is done prior to exploitation to
ensure that production, once started, can continue un-interrupted
throughout the life of the mine.
♦ There are manly two methods for extraction of minerals:
i. Underground/subsurface mining
ii.Surface mining
♦ Two fundamental tasks of mining:
a) Breaking the ore, and
b) Transporting it to the processing plant/beneficiation
In addition to these traditional exploitation methods, novel or
innovative mining methods are continually evolving.
3/21/2024 10
♦ Surface mining is a processes of
extracting of the mineral by
removal of overburden.
 Overburden is the rock or waste
material which is lying which
minerals to be owned.

♦ Underground mining is used when the

deposit is too deep for surface
mining or there is a restriction on
the use of the surface land.
used for accessing and exploiting ore
bodies that are generally not exposed
on surface and due to technical or
economic reasons cannot be mined by
open pit methods.
3/21/2024 11
Figure 3.31: General layout of an underground mine, generalized after Hamrin (1982, 2001)
 Factor influencing choose of mining methods
 Shape of the deposit:
• tabular, cylindrical, spherical.
• Orientation/gradient of the deposit
ore body:
• sub- horizontal, sub-vertical.
• Ore-grade:
• high-grade vs low-grade.
• Depth to the ore body.  The mining method selected for
exploitation is determined mainly by
• Availability of the machineries the characteristics of the mineral
• Economic valuable of minerals deposit and the limits imposed
by safety, technology, environmental
• economic factors are of primary concerns, and economics.
importance; therefore, low-cost-per-  Geologic conditions, such as the dip, shape, and
ton mining method will normally be strength of the ore and the surirrorinding rock,
the best choice. play a key role in selecting the method.
3/21/2024 12
5. Mine Closure (Reclamation & Rehabilitation)

 Reclamation to make land where a mine had been suitable for

future use.
Mine Reclamation

 Recontouring land back to its original

topography

 Improve soil quality by adding topsoil /

nutrients

 Replanting with native, fast growing, early

successional species

 Monitor the site for 5 – 10 years

 More difficult in arid areas b/c difficult to

grow vegetation
3/21/2024 13
 Stages in life of a mine

3/21/2024 15
3/21/2024 16
3/21/2024 17
 Mining and Consequence

 Environmental and Land use Impacts

 Disruption of land surface, subsidence, erosion of solid mining waste,
acid mine drainage, air pollution and storage and leakage of liquid mining
waste.
 Accidents and Health Hazards
3/21/2024 18
 Economic- Political- Social- Psychological Impacts
3/21/2024 19
3/21/2024 20