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Course: Structural Geology and Mining

Course: Structural Geology and Mining

Ingeoexpert

Curso online


390
IVA exento

Duración : 6 Meses

The purpose of the course is to introduce to the students the practical aspects of mainly the relationship between structural geology and mining, with emphasis on open pits and some lesser mention of underground scenarios. Consequently, the five course modules are:

Stereonet use and use of the DIPS program

Geological mapping both for mineralization and for geotech purposes and the types of structures and major faults worldwide and their significance

Modes of failure

Groundwater and it’s role in mining including underground and its’ effect on pit slope failures

Mining and society

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Objetivos

Once these modules are completed, the student will be able to understand the role of structural geology, mainly for slope stability, but also for mineralization and to grasp the close relation between mining and society and how related issues affect the role of geologists, geotechnical engineers, mining engineers and engineering geologists at the present time. The ultimate goal will be for the student to become comfortable with all these topics and to see that this is only an introduction and with their own experience in applying this knowledge they will most likely come up with their own ideas as well. As we say at Highland Valley Copper “it takes 20 years to get 20 years experience”. As for the presentation of the course it most likely will include the following; Text to read and comprehend Tutorials including color illustrations Case studies Videos as available

A quién va dirigido

The course is aimed at all those technical people who are engaged in dealing with the geology and geotechnical aspects of open pit mining and using applied geology to solve mining/blasting problems and dealing with the major structures and main structure sets at a producing mine. It also should be of assistance to mining engineers especially those involved in short or long term planning. As for the career opportunities for the course, it should enhance the ability of the students to work in an active open pit mine, at any stage of its’ development, including pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, overburden stripping or full mining production of ore, waste and overburden. It also should benefit geologists and geotechnically trained geologists who are mapping the surface in the vicinity of open pit mines or underground mines. While the main emphasis is on open pit mapping, also underground mapping will be touched upon as to general techniques, precautions etc. and problems with groundwater underground.

Temario completo de este curso

  1. Stereonet use and DIPS program and case study
  • Overview of use of stereonets for analysis of geological structures (discontinuities) in an open pit
  • How to plot structures manually on a stereonet both the planes and the poles to the planes to see the relationship between them
  • Exercises in plotting planes and poles to planes
  • Use of contoured pole plots for stereonet analysis
  • Necessity for many dip and dip direction readings to get reliable averages for structural trends
  • Use of the DIPS program; how to make a spreadsheet and how to enter data
  • How to do a pole plot and how to do a great circle plot
  • How to plot the trend of a pit slope ie with its dip and dip direction
  1. Geological mapping
  • Overview of major structures in the world ie Lornex Fault at HVC, West Fault at Chuquicamata, East Africa Rift Valley and the Labrador Trough (is it a fault trough or a syncline?).
  • The types of structures and how they were formed include faults, shears and joints and a brief mention of folds and also foliation in metamorphic rocks and bedding in sedimentary rocks.
  • Three main types of geological mapping including surface small scale, open pit medium scale and underground large scale and the techniques involved. The goal is to represent the rock accurately and concentrate on the most important features.
  • The practice of interpretation of plan and cross-sectional views of the area that has been mapped ie how to do it and also how to interpret it and how one doesn’t really know the geology of an area until one can draw a cross-section of it to see it in 3-D. The art of interpretation involves, for one thing the ability to work between plans and cross-sections and relate the two. In this digital age it is less common to use maps on paper but this skill still requires the use of paper maps. Also it will be shown how to decide what to show on the cross-sections including surface mapping results but also diamond drill lithological, alteration and structural information and how to interpret it.
  1. Modes of failure (Slope stability) in open pits
  • Why it is important to understand the main modes of failure in open pit mines at relatively shallow depths on discontinuities that define toppling, wedge and plane failures and also how circular failures develop. The emphasis is on actual failures encountered in the field in an actual open pit mine and the conditions of them in the field (practical orientation).
  • Relationship between pit slope failures and the safety of personnel and equipment and how to minimize and if possible mitigate the effect of these failures by pit design, mining practice (ie strategy and tactics of mining.
  • Structures in feasibility studies before a mine is developed to help sequencing etc) and by depressurizing and dewatering groundwater that exerts pressure on the structures to decrease slope movements and diverting surface water to reduce recharge to the critical bedrock.
  • Personal experience with toppling, plane and wedge type of failures at Highland Valley Copper and how to handle them.
  • Case study of geotechnical mapping for blast-ability at Highland Valley Copper as an example of a practical application of mapping to a mining situation. Also it is an example of a specialized type of rock mass rating but mainly for the purposes of determining blastability.
  • The use of oriented core to determine the location and orientation of major anticipate potential types of failures and how this can be taken into account with the pit design. The meaning of a structural domain and how it is important to map the whole pit both for geotechnical purposes and for mineralization so that the pit can be divided into different design sectors depending on the differing structural domains.
  • The role of long and short term planners in relation to such mapping information. The inter-ramp angles and the overall slope angles and their relationship. Example of flattening the slope from about 37 degrees angle to 25 degrees in the Lornex Fault Domain done by the long term planners.
  • The relationship between economics and pit design and how the whole west wall of the Lornex Pit in waste was shut down for about one year in 1982 which meant the waste stripping to expose ore was delayed (due to the mining recession at that time). The effect of 1 degree steeper or flatter of a pit slope on economics (ask Peter Witt re this).
  1. Groundwater
  • Overview of groundwater occurrence
  • Groundwater in unconsolidated sediments and aquifers vs aquitards
  • Two types of aquifers ie confined and unconfined
  • Groundwater in bedrock and variable permeabilities
  • Darcy’s law
  • The problems with groundwater in open pits
  • How to alleviate groundwater pressures (ie wells, horizontal drainholes and surface water diversion) to reduce slope movements
  • Monitoring of groundwater levels and pressure (types of piezometers and their roles)
  • Piezometer installation techniques
  • Case study of the effects of groundwater on an open pit
  1. Mining and society
  • The Renaissance and Agricola’s studies and their content from De Re Metallica and the Knappschaft and the conquistadores and the mit’a how it was created and used originally by the Incas and then how it was perverted by the Spaniards so it became a form of indentured slavery in the mines especially of Potosi.
  • The Industrial Revolution and the development of geniuses like William Smith, Darwin, Hutton, Lyell and Humboldt and their observations and theories and close relation to the Industrial Revolution.
  • Modern globalization and ‘free trade’ agreements and the race to the bottom and Mines Acts and Reclamation Codes and environmental protection and global warming and the struggle of the environmentalists and the necessity of geology and geosciences taking these things into account where they are impacted by mining and mineral exploration for example.
  • On First Nations (in Canada) and the Impact Benefit Agreements and land claims and respect for the historical claims to the land and the water. Aboriginal mining as done with the mit’a in the Inca society, the Navajo coal and the Manitoulin flint (?) mine on Manitoulin Island in the Great Lakes of Canada. Also, the red ochre mined by the local First Nations from the bluffs along the Tulameen River near Princeton BC and traded far and wide to other parts of North America (for pigment, for war paint, etc)
  • Consultation demands such as insisted upon by the people of Peru. This means a duty to consult with the local community and/or indigenous people before proceeding with a mining venture.
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