Presentation Fiche Module_Natural Resources_ Lecture.1. Mining Engineering Introduction.pptx

Natural Resources Engineering: Introducion
Kais Ben Abdallah PhD. P Eng.
Département Génie Civil, ENIB
2022-2023

 Identify different natural resources /energy sources
 Analyze different field logs/seismic survey and core test results
 Interpret geophysical properties of hydrocarbon and mining resources
 Evaluate the concept of geo-mechanical stability and their application during the exploitation of
natural resources
 Identify the different renewable energy sources
 Evaluate the energetic needs from micro/macro perspectives
 Understand the different environmental mitigation techniques
Natural Resources Engineering
Objectives

Chapter 1: Initiation, challenges and opportunities
 Introduction to the oil, gas, and mining engineering
 Challenges & opportunities: oil, gas, and mining
6 H
Chapter 2: Geosciences
 Fundamentals of geophysics
 wireline field logs interpretation
 Seismic Survey and Interpretation
 Application to petroleum and mining industry (reservoir engineering)
12 H
Chapter 3: Fundamental of rock mechanics: a natural resources perspective
 rock mechanics: basics concept
 assessment of rock stability (In-situ and lab testing):
 Mechanical behavior of discontinuities in rocky massifs
 Reservoir engineering and geomechanics: advanced concepts
12H
The Program

Chapter 4: Renewable energy and environmental mitigation
 Renewable Energy: Introduction, challenges and opportunities
 Geothermal energy: deep wells drilling techniques and well design
 CO2 storage: mitigation techniques
 Wastes storage: tunnelling and stability.
12H
The Program

 L’étudiant est évalué par :
 Une note du contrôle continu CC : étude de cas (case study)
 Une note d’examen (final exam)
 La moyenne est calculée comme suit :
Moyenne = CC*40%+Examen*60%
Assesment

1. Your expectations from the course?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
2.
Natural Resources and Engineering Projects (applications/advantages)?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
3. Natural Resources and Society (your everyday life./impacts)?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Expectations

Kais Ben Abdallah PhD. P. Eng.
Email: kais.benabdallah@esprit.tn / benabdal@ualberta.ca
Tel.: 54.863.638
 Assistant Professor – Coordinator of the Civil Engineering Program at National Engineering School of
Bizerte(ENIB), Tunisia.
 +5 years of experience in North America and Tunisia (in geotechnics, geomechanics, and oil industry);
 Research Engineer (remote), RG2-Alberta, Canada.
 PhD in Civil Engineering from ENIT - Shell Tunisie-UofA: Problems of the integrity of a fractured reservoir in
the Gulf of Gabes - Offshore platform stability;
 Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Alberta, Canada; Civil engineering
degree, École Polytechnique de Montréal –McGill University, Canada;
 Member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geophysicists of Alberta (APEGA)
 Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers-North America
 Member of the Tunisian Association of Rock Mechanics
 Consulting-research project (in progress):
 CO2 Storage in marginal fields, Gulf of Gabes, Tunisia (ETAP, ENIT, RG2, and Ecole de Mines)
 ML application in geotechnical assessment, Tunis urban area
Contact Information . Professor

Lecture.1. Mining Engineering

“No substance has been as important as metal in the story of man's control of his
environment. Advances in agriculture, warfare, transport, even cookery are
impossible without metal. So is the entire Industrial Revolution, from steam to
electricity.”
Read more: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab16#ixzz13XSEyvNz
Mining Engineering
Importance of Mining Processing

Bronze Age- Bronze is in use in Sumer, at Ur, in around 2800 BC
Iron Age - from the 11th century BC onwards, steel replaces bronze weapons. It
becomes essential, from now on, to have a good steel blade rather than a soft and
indifferent one.
Mining Engineering
Importance of Mining Processing

Mining Engineering
Mining in Tunisia
History of the mining activity in Tunisia:
The mining activity in Tunisia gets way back in time to the Roman era, which was
characterized by a small-scale exploitation of the outcropping indications. During the
modern era (from 1890 until nowadays), too many stratums have been discovered, Thus:
 The production of phosphate started in 1996,
 that of iron in 1906 and,
 that of the concentrated Plumb and zinc in 1892.
Ref. https://www.onm.nat.tn/en/index.php?p=indminier

Mining Engineering
Mining in Tunisia
Today’s mining activity in Tunisia
Actually, the deposit and mineral-index map of Tunisia took out around 600 deposits and
indices, from which over 50 deposits were exploited and some are still in activity.
The 2005 assessment of the iron-ore market is summarized as follows:
 55 MT of the iron ore (10 MT of which is extracted from the north basin: Tamerza,
Dhouahria and Boukhchiba, and 45 MT of which are from J.Jerissa in the Dome
zone).
 2,3 MT plumb iron ore
 2 MT of zinc iron ore
 More than 25 MT of salt was extracted from sea and the Sebkhet along the shore and
is composed of NaCl and a marginal quantity of brome.
 0,9 MT of fluorine spare and 0,6 MT of Barytine and 322 MT of phosphate.

Mining Engineering
Mining in Tunisia

Mining Engineering
Aspects of Mining Processing
Main aspects of mining processing:
1. Geology , 2. Mining, and 3. Processing
•All 3 aspects must be favorable to make a deposit economically viable:
 Geology: Find it! Is it big enough to be economic?
 Mining: Dig it! Is it economically recoverable from the ground?
 Processing: Extract it! Is it economically separable from the host rock?
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUpnRHxoKc4
 https://www.facebook.com/SaskatchewanJobs/videos/saskatchewan-mining-rio-tinto/266467351129436/

Mining Engineering
Mining Terminology:
 Ore : Rock that contains a mineral or minerals in sufficient quantities as to make commercial
extraction (mining – milling) profitable.
 Grade : A measure of concentration of a mineral/metal contained in rock (or ore).
• Gold and other precious metals – g/t or oz/t,
• base metals - %,
• uranium – kg/tonne,
• rare earth elements – ppm.
 Cut off Grade : The minimum concentration or grade of mineral that is required for rock to be
considered ore.
 Waste : Not Ore.
 Ore Body: A mineralized deposit (resource) whose characteristics have been examined and
found to be commercially viable. The extents of the ore body are determined by the cut-off
grade.
 Host Rock: The rock containing an ore deposit. Typically composed of 2 or more minerals.
 Gangue: Minerals in the ore body that are not of economic interest

Mining Engineering
Mineral Processing
 Is the recovery of valuable minerals from ore
 Takes place in a mill, aka concentrator - because it concentrates valuable
minerals by removing unwanted material.
 The two main products are the concentrate streams (valuable minerals) and the
tailings streams (rejects).
Processing

Mining Engineering
Disciplines related to mineral processing:

Mining Engineering
Field Description Example of topics
Mineral Processing
Beneficiation or
Mineral Dressing
Theory and practice of liberation of
minerals from ores and their separation
by physical methods at ambient
conditions
Crushing and grinding, magnetic and
electrical methods, flotation, etc.
Extractive metallurgy
Chemical methods sometimes at high
temperature and pressure for treating
ores to recover their metal values in a
pure form
Leaching, precipitation, electrolysis,
oxidation, reduction, etc.
Metal Processing
Physical metallurgy
Study of physical properties of metals
and alloys, preparation of alloys
Crystal structure, effect of impurities,
metallography, heat treatment, etc.
Engineering metallurgy Processing of metals in the molten state Casting, welding, etc.
Mechanical metallurgy Processing of metals in the solid state Forging, rolling, extrusion, piercing
Powder metallurgy
Processing of metal powders into
finished products
Preparation of metals in powder form,
hot pressing, etc.
Fields of Metallurgical Engineering

Mining Engineering
Engineering Terminology in Mineral Processing
 Circuit: The path that the ore that is being processed takes as it proceeds from one processing point to
another.
 Flow Sheet: Drawing that indicates the path that the mineral takes within a process. Several circuits are
often contained within a flow sheet
 Recovery Rate: The percentage of valuable metal/mineral, by mass, in the concentrate from the feed
 Concentration: Another word for grade
 Heads: A term that is used to denote the mineral found in the FEED to a circuit.
 Head Grade: aka feed concentration
 Concentrate: a purified mineral. May require further downstream processing to convert for end uses.
Examples: Copper and nickel sulfides
 Tailings - Material rejected from a mill after the recoverable valuable minerals have been extracted.
 Industrial mineral: is used for end purpose without chemical alteration. Examples: gravel, coal
 Mineralogy: Description of mineral contents

Mining Engineering
The goals of mineral processing are to:
 separate economic mineral particles from waste or gangue
 subject minerals to processes in order to concentrate them or to extract metals from them
Many forms of mineral processing depends on feed material and desired product

Mining Engineering
Mineral:
a) A solid naturally-occurring compound having a definite chemical composition.
b) Inorganic substance that are extracted from the earth for use by man.
c) A naturally occurring inorganic element or compound having an orderly internal structure and
characteristic chemical composition, crystal form, and physical properties.
Nonmetallic has some commonalities with metal processing, but lots of differences:

Mining Engineering
Example of Minerals:
Gangue is the unwanted impurities like rock
material, dust, soil, sand, earthy particles,
limestone, mica, etc.

Mining Engineering
Mineralogy determines recoverability

Mining Engineering
Impact of mineralogy:
 We mine rocks but we concentrate minerals.
 Gangue minerals also important
 Understanding mineralogy allows design of processes
 Important for feasibility studies

Mining Engineering
What is mineral processing?
 Processing: Extract values, reject waste
 Conversion of mined ore into usable product
 More expensive/challenging with lower grade ores
 Numerous processing methods
Mineral Processing Methods = beneficiation + extractive metallurgy
Beneficiation is any process that improves (benefits) the economic value
of the ore by physically removing the gangue. Typical beneficiation
processes include crushing, roasting, magnetic separation, flotation, and
leaching.
Extractive metallurgy:
 Chemical reactions of the processes
 equipment where reactions take place
 Flowsheets – combinations of processes

Mining Engineering
Typical Beneficiation Steps
Comminution: Reduction of particle size Starts at mine with blasting
Two basic types of equipment used:
 Crushing – breakage by compression
 Grinding – breakage by abrasion and impact

Mining Engineering
Comminution Equipment
Crushing – breakage by compression Grinding – breakage by abrasion and impact

Mining Engineering
Classification : Separation based mainly on particle size
Behavior affected by size, shape, and density of the particles
Two common types of classifiers:
 Screens – dry method, coarser particles
 Hydrocyclones – wet method, finer particles

Mining Engineering
Classification Equipment
Screens – dry method, coarser particles Hydrocyclones – wet method, finer particles

Mining Engineering
Separation Techniques take advantage of the differences in characteristics between
minerals:
Flotation: Attachment of minerals to air bubbles - hydrophibicity
Magnetic Separation: Apply magnetic field
Gravity Separation: differences in specific gravity of materials
Electrostatic Separation: Apply electrostatic polarity
Particle size distribution has large influence on results

Mining Engineering
Flotation cell

Mining Engineering
Magnetic separator

Mining Engineering
Gravity separation - jig

Mining Engineering
Electrostatic separator

Mining Engineering
Dewatering: To remove water from a substance. Also refers to the circuit where this takes place.
Dewatering Techniques:
 Thickener: Allow gravity settling
 Filter: Apply air pressure to draw water out
 Centrifuge: Apply centrifugal force
 Dryer: Apply heat to evaporate
Thickener Filter Dryer

Mining Engineering
Post-Mining Activities
Waste Disposal - "Mining is waste management ..."
The majority of tonnage mined must be disposed of as tailings, and the water used must be treated and
released
 Tailings Dam: Built from ground waste rock discharged after processing from the mill
 Acid Mine Drainage: produced by exposing sulfide minerals to air and water, resulting in oxidation that
generates acid.
 Waste Rock: Unprocessed non-mineralized / low grade mined material
 Water Balance: Accounting of water inputs and outputs from a mine/mill site.
 Water Treatment: The removal of harmful contaminants from water

Mining Engineering
Tailings Dam

Mining Engineering
Waste Rock Pile

Mining Engineering
Acid Mine Drainage

Mining Engineering
Water Balance

Mining Engineering
Mineral Economics - Review
Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)
 NPV (net present value) is a means of comparing a dollar today to the value of the same
dollar in the future. For mining projects, we apply NPV to determine if a project is worth
more than it costs.
 Free Cash Flow (FCF) is the operating cash flow minus capital includes Taxes, Dividends,
Royalties, Depreciation and Amortization. I.e. the amount of money left after the bills are
paid
 Discount Rate is rate that future cash flows are discounted to determine present value.
This is different than interest.
 IRR (internal rate of return) is the discount rate that results in an NPV of 0.

Mining Engineering
Net Present Value is common way to evaluate a project
 Value = Free Cash Flow
 Rate = Discount Rate
 n=Total number of periods
 i=Period
Payback period - the time required for the operating revenue to pay back all the costs,
including the initial capital investment used to construct the project.

Mining Engineering
Typical mining project annual cash flow pattern
R = revenue, C = costs, T = taxes, A = annual loan payment (principal + interest), F = cash flow
and K= capital costs.

Mining Engineering
Mining Project Economics
What happens when project parameters are changed?
Must start with a reasonable base case scenario (technically feasible) before economic
optimization (fine tuning)
Strong inter-relationships between:
 Tonnage
 Grade
 Capital costs
 Operating costs
Has effects on:
 Mine life
 Cutoff grade

Mining Engineering
Capital and Operating Cost Estimation vs. Tonnage
 Work by OHara (1980), OHara and Suboleski (1992) and USBM (1987) suggest that the curves for
capital and operating costs can be reasonably approximated by exponential equations, with the
general form:
 Cost = K tx
Where:
K = a constant specific to the particular cost
t = production rate in tonnes per day
x = an exponent
 Capital costs typical range: 0.5 to 0.7
 0.6 is a reasonable first estimate
 Operating costs in $/t typical range -.3 to -.1
 -0.2 is a reasonable first estimate
 WARNING: These equations should not be used for detailed estimating, although they can give
guidance for order of magnitude estimating.

Mining Engineering
 Capital and Operating Cost Estimation vs. Tonnage
 If a cost is known accurately, this relationship can be used to factor the cost up or down for
differing production rates, within reasonable limits:
 Cost at t1 = C1 = K t1x
Cost at t2 = C2 = K t2x
Then:
C1/C2 = (K t1x) / (K t2x)
= t1x / t2x (because K is common it can be eliminated)
= (t1 / t2)x
Simplified: C1 / C2 = (t1 / t2)x
Then:C2 = C1 (t2 / t1)x
 For a capital cost or annual operating cost, if C1 and t1 are known, and x can be estimated
from experience then C2 can be estimated for a given t2.
 Example:
 For capital cost at 20,000 t/d is $30 million, then at 25,000 t/d can be estimated at:
 C2 = $30’000’000 (25000 / 20000)0.6
= $30’000’000 (1.1433)
= $34’298’000
For operating cost of $10.00/tonne, and an exponent of -.2 the unit cost at the higher tonnage
will be:
 C2 = $10.00 (25’000 / 20’000)-0.2
= $10.00 (0.9564) = $9.56

Mining Engineering
 Capex and Opex vs. Production Rate

Mining Engineering
An NPV curve is theoretical, always check that the inputs are realistic!
NPV Curve

Mining Engineering
 Mineral Economics – Operating Costs
 Overall operating costs are broken down into 3 basic areas for economic analysis:
 Mining – determine mine plan input costs, production rate and fully diluted (Run-of-Mine =
ROM) grade
 Milling – determine process flowsheet input costs, recovery rate, product quality
 General and Administrative (G & A) – determine overhead costs :
 Administration (HR, payroll)
 Management (site + head office)
 Safety & Health
 Environment
 Quality Management
 G&A tends to be fixed REGARDLESS of production rate!

Mining Engineering
 Mineral Economics – Operating Costs
Typical relative cost of beneficiating an ore
Operation %
Crushing 5 - 20
Grinding 25 - 75
Flotation 25 -45
Dewatering and
drying
10 -20
Other operations 5 - 10

Mining Engineering
Mineral Economics - Project Stages
 Project Stages
 Idea stage
 Conceptual stage
 Pre-feasibility stage
 Market Studies
 Feasibility studies
 Financial analysis
 Preliminary design
 Final design and construction
 Commissioning and start up
 Closing reports

 Idea Stage : identify the need for a project to be started or conceptualized
 philosophic - decide whether this is the type of project that they would like to pursue
 Discussions of cost and schedule at the idea stage are normally limited to a broad
definition
 Informal - sometimes mentioned to get a reaction
 Ideas can begin with anyone in the organization
 Conceptual Study: establish the shape of the project, and get a better feel for its scope
and size
 Costs can be put to a concept. However, the accuracy of investment costs may be
wildly out, probably +/-50%.
 Rough estimate based on experience and judgment
 Estimate's usefulness is in establishing an idea of the costs commensurate with the
aims of the project
Mining Engineering

 Pre-feasibility Study : comprehensive study of viability of a mineral project
 mining method has been established
 effective method of mineral processing has been determined
 financial analysis based on reasonable assumptions of technical, engineering, legal,
operating, economic, social, and environmental factors
 determine if all or part of the mineral resource may be classified as a mineral reserve
 Feasibility Study: comprehensive study of a mineral deposit
 all geological, engineering, legal, operating, economic, social, environmental and other
relevant factors are considered in sufficient detail
 could reasonably serve as the basis for a final decision by a financial institution to
finance the development of the deposit for mineral production.
Mining Engineering

 Detailed design and construction: Engineering design and construction are inseparable, even
though two distinct groups normally perform the work.
 Preliminary design - establish a definite time frame for freezing the process and plant designs
so that cost and schedule upsets are minimized effective method of mineral processing has
been determined
 definitive estimate to an accuracy of 10 to 15% to control the job – requires about 20 percent
of the total engineering must be done, as measured by completion of drawings.
 be leery of both steam-rolling a design freeze prematurely, vs. allowing people to continuously
change their minds
 Commissioning: checkout period prior to starting the plant
 Sometimes the entire plant is run for a period of time without material
 Startup usually begins on a reduced output basis, gradually increasing until planned output
capacity is reached
Mining Engineering

 Project "emotional" stages:
 Euphoria
 Wandering off track
 Catch up and control
 The Boggs
 Project Manager panic
 Frantic catch up and control
 Loose ends
 Sign off
Mining Engineering

Mining Engineering
Mineral Economics - Resource and Reserve Categorization
 Resource and Reserve Categorization

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