The material of MINE 341 is applied to the design of an open pit mine. Special attention is given to the selection of equipment and the use of computers in strategic and detailed mine planning and scheduling. The course uses commercial mine planning software to enable small groups of students (2-4) to complete mine designs starting with topography maps, drill information, and mineral inventory block models. Several real deposit databases are used including gold, copper, copper/molybdenum, copper/zinc. The deposits are evaluated, feasibility assessed, and production decisions discussed.
(Lec: 1, Lab: 3, Tut: 1.5)