Mining Exploitation

Course Description
The mining industry is a relevant player in the world economy due mainly to the intense and extensive use of materials in other areas of the economy. However, when using nonrenewable natural resources as raw materials, their future development must be well thought out. This is a very critical singularity if we consider the new trends worldwide where there is strong resistance to major projects that have a strong impact on local communities and the environment. In addition, these industries must continue to face challenges such as the demands of increasingly stringent environmental regulations, the consistent use of water resources, the availability of energy for the realization of their projects and the sustained increase of inputs for their operations.

In this context, the objective of the mine exploitation course is to provide the student with the knowledge necessary to design, evaluate and implement a mining exploitation method, given a resource with economic value available in the earth's crust. The student will be able to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of a certain method of exploitation, determining the social and environmental impact of it.

its importance to the students´ learning and background. As trainers we think that this course is very important so that the student of civil engineering in mining can internalize the conceptual and practical tools that allow them to sustain his later studies in the mining as well as in his professional project. Given the relevance of metals in technological development, the student should pay close attention to the contents of the course that have been selected so that they achieve a global vision of the critical factors that control the mining industry worldwide, particularly as regards regarding the method of mining exploitation and its impact on the business.

The course is aimed at providing updated information that allows students to acquire conceptual and applied knowledge, which has been consolidated in Chile in recent years, from innovation and research in mining, as well as the experience gained in the permanent contact with the industrial operation of the professors of the career. 

Finally, the effort will be focused on exposing in a didactic and simple way in real situations that are presented in each topic under study and to promote the analysis of these in their line of thought, this in order to strengthen their own capacity of opinion and response, which
contributes to the construction of answers through dialogue with a continuity solution approach.

General Objectives
The course will be oriented to the following main objectives to be achieved by the students:

• Internalize the importance of the mining industry in the context of the current and future development of humanity.
• Possess the ability to analyze the exploitation, management and use of natural resources in the context of national and international technological development.
• Know the unit operations that constitute the productive chain of the mining operation.
• Understand the role of an exploitation method in cyclical scenarios and their impact on the mining business.
• Know the main criteria for the selection and technical and economic evaluation of a method of mining exploitation.

Specific Objectives
The following secondary objectives are proposed for the student:

• Have basic knowledge of the initial stages of a mining project, such as prospecting and mining exploration processes, mineral sampling and reserve estimation.
• Acquire general knowledge in methods of underground mining and open pit mining with their unit operations of perforation blasting, loading and transport.
• Appropriately manage the concepts of non-renewable mineral resources. Recognize the critical challenges that these externalities pose in the definition of a method of exploitation.
• Design a method of mining exploitation and size fleets and equipment for their operation.

Methodology

• During the development of the lecture, it will be taught with combined resources, the use of blackboard and Power Point. A trong emphasis will be placed on the understanding of the fundamental concepts that underlie each method to be studied.
• 2 tasks will be defined in technological subjects which will be presented to the rest of the course. 
• All the teaching material and complementary material will be available to students in the corresponding Websites page.

Assessments
The course contemplates the realization of three lecture tests with grades NP1, NP2, NP3. Each one with equal weight in the calculation of the final grade. Two thematic tasks will be carried out on issues of mining technologies. These must be presented to the audience of the course in specific sessions. These two tasks will give rise to the task grades NT1 and NT2.

Tests Grades (NP)
Students who obtain an average of professors NP = (𝑁𝑃1 + 𝑁𝑃2 + 𝑁𝑃3) / 3 less than 3.0 will fail the course with final grade NF = NP and will not have the right to take the exam. 

Grade of presentation to Final Examination (NPE) 

The grade of Presentation to the final exam of the course (NPE) will be the result of the following average weighted:
NPE = 0.75 * Average (NP1, NP2, NP3) + 0.25 * Average (NT1, NT2)

Each average of grades will be calculated by rounded up to one decimal place.

Final Grade (NF)
The objective of the exam is to evaluate a synthesis of the main contents of the course. The final exam is of a global nature and all the contents seen during the semester will be evaluated, including those of the tasks. Up to 10% of the students whose exam grade (NPE) is
higher than 5.0 may be exempted. In case of equality of grades, the selection of exempted students will be made up to the 3rd decimal place. For those students who take the exam, the final grade will be calculated as follows: NF = 0.3 * NExamen + 0.7 * NPE
The exam will have a failing character. That is, if the test score is less than 3.0, the student will fail the course with NF = NExamen

Rules of operation of the course

Attendance to classes is free; however, attendance will be recorded day by day or randomly. This information will be used as an antecedent in cases of averages close to approval.

Absence to an evaluation: The absence of one of the official evaluations must be duly justified before the undergraduate academic secretary, within 48 hours after the date of the absence. In these cases, the exam note will replace the missing test note. In case of non-attendance to two tests, the second test will be taken through a special test. In case the student fails to the 3 tests, he will fail the course with the minimum grade.

There is no recovery of tasks. Students who do not present a task will have a 1.0 and in the case of not presenting any of the two tasks will fail the course with the grade 1.0. Infraction to the honor code In the event that the student incurs an infraction of the current Honor Code, the provisions of said normative body will apply. 

Bibliography

• OpenPitMine,PlanningandDesign.W.HustrulidandM.Kuchta.SegundaEdición,1998.
• Manual de Arranque, carga y transporte en minería a cielo abierto. Lopez Jimeno C .etal . 1991.
• William A. Hustrulid, Richard C. Bullock, Richard L. Bullock. Underground Mining Methods: Engineering Fundamentals and International Case Studies. 2001. 
• Revistas de Divulgación de Ingeniería tales como:
  • International Journal of Mining Engineering.
  • Minerals Engineering.
• Proceedings de Congresos Mundiales en Minería.
• SME MINING ENGINEERING HANDBOOK, Tercera Edición.