23864 - Quarries and Environmental Recovery

Learning outcomes

Students will get basic knowledges in the field of planning and designing of open pit mines. They will acquire the technical knowledge pertinent to a wide spectrum of quarry engineering practice, with special emphasis on general principles and fundamentals and design techniques.

Course contents

The course deals with exploitation of industrial and non-metallic minerals' deposits and of ornamental stones' ones. The teaching programme includes theoretical and practical lectures which cover the various technical aspects of quarrying operations in relation to the geological, hydrogeological and geotechnical characteristics of the deposits (geological modelling of deposit, geostatistic resource evaluation, technical and economic pit design, methods and planning quarry exploitation; optimization of the equipments and plants selection, technical aspects related to rock blasting and slope stability, and impact of quarrying on the environment).

In details the course develops the following subjects:

1) Legal aspects;

2) Definition and characterization of industrial minerals and ornamental stone deposits. Orebody description and geometry;

3) Characterization of ores, standardization of materials' quality;

4) Quarrying methods: choice of the optimum method in consideration of safety and health of workers and in consideration of environmental impact;

5) Excavation techniques: rock blasting, mechanical excavation. Drilling systems and machines. Factors influencing drillability. Excavation design. Geomechanical and structural parameters;

6) Transport and haulage systems and equipments;

7) Site reclamation (surface and ground water management, site waste management, tailings and slime ponds);

8) Environmental planning procedures (initial project evaluation, strategic plan);

9) Environmental impact evaluation (noise, dust, ground vibrations and air blast, visual impacts and landscape ecological disturbance);

10) Mine planning: development phases,  planning costs, mining revenues and costs (economic concepts including cash flow, estimating revenues and costs), feasibility study preparation,  critical path representation;

11) Production planning:  mine and mill plant sizing, material destination consideration, production scheduling;

12) Ornamental stones processings: block-cutting (diamond wire, discs, water-jet…),  slabs' cutting (granite and marble frame sawing), surfaces' finishing, special processings.

 

Readings/Bibliography

·        Hustrulid, W. & M. Kuchta. 1995. Open pit mine planning and design. Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema

·        Benito Soria, A. & C. Lopez Jimeno. 1996. Manual de Rocas Ornamentales. Madrid: Entorno

·        Per-Anders Persson & R. Holmberg J. Lee. 1994. Rock blasting and explosives engineering. CRC Press

·        Technical and scientific articles

·        Teacher's notes.

Teaching methods

Theoretical lectures on the program subjects; discussion on many case histories on which the students will be called to solve some practical issues concerning  the different topics .

Assessment methods

Oral examination to control the theoretical and practical knowledge. The students can develop a design of a quarry which will be evaluated during the exam session.

Degree theses: mainly on design and planning of quarries

Teaching tools

Transparents, power point, VHS

Office hours

See the website of Daniela Boldini