NAME: PETER AYUBA AKPA

MAT. NO.: UJ/2015/EN/0005

DEPARTMENT: MININGS ENGINEERING

COURSE: MNE510Assignment

Q1Mineral development as a dependant on mines design.

ANSWER

Mineral exploration and development are information-gathering activities. In this sense, mineral
exploration and development represent a variety of activities that collect information necessary to
identify mineral deposits and then evaluate whether they should developed into mines. A company will
prepare a feasibility study, a technical and economic assessment that serves as the basis for making a
“go/no go” decision about whether to develop the mine. A feasibility study includes reserve estimates,
mine and plant designs, detailed cost estimates, full technical and economic assessments, and details of
possible financing arrangements. A so-called “bankable” feasibility study is a type of feasibility study
that a company would take to a bank or other entity in its search for financing.

Mine Design means the detailed engineered designs for all mine components stamped by a design
Engineer. The design Engineer uses information gathered from Mineral exploration and development,
and the results a company gets from it's feasibility study to design the mine so that risk, environmental
degradation be reduced to bearest minimum for the mining venture, while operation are carried out
condusively and profitably.

Mineral exploration and development are investigative activities prior to mining. The rewards of
successful exploration and development can be large, if a mineral deposit is discovered, evaluated, and
developed into a mine. For a mining company, successful exploration and development lead to
increased profits. For a local community or nation, successful mineral exploration and development can
lead to jobs—often well paying—that otherwise would not exist; to new infrastructure, such as roads
and electric power supplies, that are catalysts for broader, regional economic development; and to
increased government revenues that, in turn, can be invested in social priorities such as education,
health care, and poverty alleviation.

But mineral exploration and development carry with them risks, as well. For local communities and
governments, the risks come from the possibility that there will be significant external (or spillover)
effects from mining—for example, environmental degradation or strains on local communities and social
services when there is an influx of new people into a booming mining town. These spillovers may
outweigh the benefits from mining if most jobs go to outsiders, environmental degradation or
community disruptions are large, tax revenues accrue to national
governments and are not returned sufficiently to local communities, or governments spend mining
revenues unwisely.

Two important implications of viewing mineral exploration and mine development as investments are
(a) the mineral sector competes with other sectors for scarce investment resources, and (b) within the
mineral sector, countries compete with one another for investment.

Mineral exploration and development are the first stage in the process of mineral supply. The stages of
mineral supply are:- Mineral exploration and development, in which mineral deposits are identified,
evaluated, and prepared for mining. Exploration and development can be subdivided into four
substages: (a) grassroots exploration prior to detection of mineralization or identification of a geologic
deposit, (b) advanced-stage exploration evaluating a geologic discovery to determine whether it should
proceed to development, (c) deposit development, in which full technical and economic assessments
are carried out, and a decision is made on whether to proceed to mining, and (d) mine development, in
which a mine and all associated facilities and infrastructure are planned, designed, and constructed. Any
precise boundaries between these substages of exploration and development are somewhat arbitrary.
These substages perhaps most usefully are thought of as a continuum of activities. A word on the
distinction between mineral resources and mineral reserves: Resources are discovered during
exploration but not sufficiently well characterized to determine their exact size and quality and whether
they can be mined commercially. Reserves are developed (during development, of course); they are
known to exist with a high degree of certainty and capable of being extracted and recovered with
existing technologies for a profit. Reserves are a subset of mineral resources. Estimates of reserves
change over time as a result of exploration, depletion of deposits at existing mines, and changes in
technology, public policies influencing mining, and mineral prices and production costs.

Q2. The prehistoric mining activities paralles the history of civilized mining.

Roles of Mining in Human Civilization.

ANSWER

From time immemorial to the present, mining has played important roles in human existence and
civilisation. Since the beginning of civilization, human beings have used stones, ceramics and later,
metals found on or close to the Earth's surface. These stones and metals were used to manufacture
tools for agriculture and weapons for warfare. The Earth gives us many mineral resources. Gemstones
are mined for jewellery and a few industrial applications; other minerals for their properties and we
value most minerals for their elements that we can use to make other things. The first mineral mined by
man was flint, a fine-grained variety of quartz used to make weapons in early times.

At least 500,000 years ago pre historic people used flint (fine-grained quartz) for knives and arrowheads.
Other important early uses of minerals include mineral pigments such as manganese oxides and iron
oxides for art, salt for food preservation, stone for pyramids and metals such as bronze (typically tin and
copper), which is stronger than pure copper and iron for steel, which is stronger than bronze. In recent
time, lithium which is vital for rechargeable batteries in just about every device from phones to cars has
prospect of being extracted from the granite beneath Cornwall's landscape and is being developed by a
firm Cornish Lithium led by Jeremy Wrathall, a graduate of Camborne School of Mines.

Minerals and their derivatives, being products of mining, are essential for everyday life and the
sustainable development of human civilization. It is difficult to imagine what life would be like without
them. Since his earliest days, man has used the minerals and rocks of the earth to his advantage,
whether as tools and weapons, building materials, or personal ornaments. One of the first forms of
trading was concerned with the mutual exchange of useful minerals and rocks. Certainly, the selection of
suitable rocks as material for tools set man on the path to civilization. If we look back through time to
the fundamental physical needs for Man's survival and development, we can identify food, shelter,
warmth and perhaps adornment. All these, have to a large extent, relied on the application of minerals,
to sustain every facet of human development.

Brief History of Mining

The history of mining is closely related to the development of human civilization. Many important
developments recorded in history books are associated with and are identified by various minerals or
their derivatives. For example: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Steel Age, Nuclear Age (1945 to present
date). In addition, many milestones in human history were achieved with minerals providing the
impetus.

Since the beginning of civilization people have used products of mining such as stone and ceramics and,
later, metals found on or close to the Earth's surface. These were used to manufacture early tools and
weapons. For example, high quality flint (very hard sedimentary mineral or stone in form of nodules)
were used to set fire and break rock. Flint mines have been found in chalk areas where seams of the
stone were followed underground by shafts and galleries. The ancient Romans were known to have used
large volumes of water for hydraulic mining which exposed the outcrop. The exposed rock was then
attacked by fire - setting to heat the rock and quenched with a stream of water. The thermal shock
created by heating and quenching, cracked the rock, enabling it to be removed. The Industrial
Revolution of the 18th century saw further advances in mining technologies, including improved
explosives and steam-powered pumps, lifts and drills. The Romans used hydraulic mining methods on a
large scale to prospect for veins of ore especially a now obsolete form of mining known as hushing. It
involved building numerous aqueducts to supply water to the mine-head where it was stored in large
reservoir and tanks. When a full tank was opened, the wave of water sluiced away the overburden to
expose the bedrock underneath and any gold veins. The rock was then attacked by fire-setting to heat
the rock, which would be quenched with a stream of water. The thermal shock cracked the rock,
enabling it to be removed, aided by further streams of water from the overhead tanks. The Roman
miners used similar methods to work cassiterite deposits in Cornwalll, south-west of England. Roman
techniques were not limited to surface mining. They followed the ore veins underground once surface
mining was no longer feasible with use of adits. The same adits were also used to ventilate the workings,
especially important when fire-setting was used. At other parts of the site, they penetrated the water
table and dewatered the mines using several kinds of machine, especially reverse overshot water-
wheels. These were used extensively in the copper mines at Rio Tinto in Spain.
Mining as an industry underwent dramatic changes in medieval Europe. The mining industry in the early
Middle Ages was mainly focused on the extraction of copper and iron. Other precious metals were also
used mainly for gilding or coinage. Initially, many metals were obtained through open-pit mining and ore
was primarily extracted from shallow depths, rather than through the sinking of deep mine shafts.
Around the 14th century, the demand for weapons, armour and horseshoes greatly increased the
demand for iron. The overwhelming dependency on iron for military purposes helped to spur increased
iron production and extraction processes.

Black powder was first used in mining in Hungary in 1627. Black powder allowed blasting of rock and
earth to loosen and reveal ore veins. Blasting was much faster than fire setting and allowed the mining
of previously impenetrable metals and ores. The widespread adoption of agricultural innovations such
as the iron plow share, as well as the growing use of metal as a building material, was also a driving
force in the tremendous growth of the iron industry during this period. As miners dug deeper to access
new veins, flooding became a very real obstacle. The mining industry became dramatically more
efficient and prosperous with the invention of mechanical and animal driven pumps.

Mining in the United States became prevalent in the 19th century and the U.S. Mining Act of 1872 was
passed to encourage mining of U.S. federal lands. Western cities of the United States such as Denver and
Sacramento originated as mining towns like Jos is known as a mining town in Nigeria. As new areas were
explored, it was usually the gold (placer and then lode) and then silver that were taken first, with other
metals often waiting for railroads or canals. Coarse gold dust and nuggets do not require smelting and
are easy to identify and transport.

In the early 20th century, the gold and silver rush to the western United States also stimulated mining
for base metals such as copper, lead and iron as well as coal. Areas in modern Montana, Utah, Arizona,
and later Alaska became predominant suppliers of copper to the world, which was increasingly
demanding copper for electrical and households goods. Canada's mining industry grew more slowly than
did the United States' due to limitations in transportation, capital and U.S. competition; Ontario was the
major producer of the early 20th century with nickel, copper and gold.

Meanwhile, Australia experienced the Australian gold rushes and by the 1850s was producing 40% of
the world's gold, followed by the establishment of large mines such as the Mount Morgan Mine, which
ran for nearly a hundred years. Now, in the early 21st century, Australia, Canada, Republic of South
Africa, Chile, Peru, Zambia, Ghana and Democratic Republic of Congo and perhaps Russia remain the
major world mineral producers.

Mining in Nigeria

Mining is an ancient activity known to have been carried out in some parts of what is now known as
Nigeria. Many communities have for a long time depended on mineral resources within their domain for
social, economic and technological use. Using simple processes, various minerals were extracted in
ancient communities for the production of such items as farm tools, earthen wares and artefacts.
Communities searched for natural resources such as clays, lead, zinc, tin and iron within their
environment.

Between 400 BC and 200AD vibrant societies and kingdoms such as the Nok culture, which flourished in
central Nigeria, exploited iron and clay minerals to produce the famous terracotta figurines, farm tools
etc. At about 705AD, the Igbo Ukwu bronze civilization reached its pre-eminence with the production of
bronze objects such as pots, ornaments, insignia of office etc Between the 11 and 12th centuries, the Ife,
Benin and Oyo kingdoms mined and used a variety of minerals.

Mining as known today in Nigeria began within the period 1902 and 1923 following the commissioning
of the mineral surveys of the Southern and Northern Protectorates in 1903. In 1905, carefully planned
mining activities, as opposed to rudimentary or simple approach to mining, were initiated by the Royal
Niger Company on the Jos plateau to mine minerals such as tin, columbite and tantalite. In 1906, coal
exploration and production began in 1906. By 1919, the Geological Survey of Nigeria was established to
take over the work of the Surveys of the Southern and Northern Protectorates.

The Minerals Ordinance (equivalent to the current Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007) of 1946 and
the Coal Ordinance of 1950 provided the legal framework for the development of minerals in Nigeria. Up
to about 1972, mining activities were by private companies, government only provided conducive
environment for mining companies to operate. Examples of Minerals produced in Nigeria: Iron ore,
Gold, Coal, Cassiterite (tin ore), Limestone, Marble, Baryte, various Gemstones, Copper ore, Lead ore,
Zinc ore, Tantalite, Columbite, Kaolin etc

Coal and cassiterite (tin ore) became the major mineral export commodities. Indeed the (solid) mineral
sector was said to have contributed immensely to the Nigerian national economy and was the largest
employer in the non-agrarian sector. Coal was used to generate electricity and to power the Nigerian
railway trains. As time went by, diesel replaced coal in the Nigerian railway and gas replaced coal for
power generation in the defunct Nigerian Electric Power Company (later known as Nigerian Electric
Power Authority -NEPA and now Power Holding Company of Nigeria -PHCN). The civil war in the late
sixties to the beginning of 1970s, adversely affected the coal mining industry. The coal mines were
abandoned and were left to be flooded.

Cassiterite mining thrived, Makeri Smelter Company (now defunct) was established for smelting
cassiterite (SnO₂) to produce tin (Sn). Nigeria was one of the largest producers of tin in the world.

After the Civil War, the government, in 1972, promulgated a decree known as the Indigenisation Decree
allowing the Nigerian Government to acquire controlling shares in major companies. Many of the mining
companies owned by expatriates were acquired by government. The result was that most of the
expatriates left Nigeria with valuable expertise and technology. Many of the tin mining companies were
merged and workers were rationalised. In the 1980s, price of tin crashed due to over-supply in the world
market. Tin in many areas has been substituted by cheaper metals.
Q3. Differentiate between exploration and exploitation of an Ore.

ANSWER

i. EXPLORATION OF AN ORE: Trying to find ore is called mineral exploration, or just exploration.
Exploration is done in many steps, and often takes several years or even decades before an ore body can
be defined and potentially mined. Few exploration projects lead to mining. Exploration usually starts in
the office, by reviewing an area of interest. A literature study is often made, trying to collect all the
available data to get to know the area. Field work is then done to further increase the knowledge about
the area by mapping the surface, as well as trying to find anomalies such as high metal contents in soils,
water or rocks. After gathering enough information, and if the area is deemed interesting enough for
investment, drilling can be done to find out more about the rocks. By drilling the exploration geologists
can take out cores of rock from the ground, which can be examined in the search for valuable minerals.

Drilling continues until the project is deemed a failure and then abandoned, or until an ore body can be
defined enough to start planning and starting the mine. The exploration project is dependent on if the
mineralization can be deemed profitable, but also on permitting from a governmental institution. In
most legislations, the company that wants to open a mine needs to show how the mine will impact the
environment and how prevention and mitigation of these effects will be managed. This step is called an
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

ii. EXPLOITATION OF AN ORE: Exploitation in the context of mining domain is extraction or winning of
the ore. It is synonymous to terms such as production and mining. Exploitation of ore is done post
exploration and access to the ore body. The exploitation stage is the set of mineral extraction operations
taking place in the concession area, collection, benefit and closure and abandonment of the
infrastructure.The exploitation stage is the set of mineral extraction operations taking place in the
concession area, collection, benefit and closure and abandonment of the infrastructure.

The commercial exploitation stage of a concession contract officially starts when the Building and
Assembly stage finishes. Concessionaires must inform in writing the mining and environmental
authorities of the completion of the Building and Assembly stage. The commencement date will be
taken into account as the contractual commencement date of the exploitation stage.

Q4. Name all the deposit, reserve and Location of Tin, columbite and Coal.

ANSWER

COAL

Coal was first discovered in Enugu in 1909. Ogbete Mine began the extraction of coal by 1916. By 1920,
coal production reached 180, 122 long tons (183,012t). Nigeria's peak coal production was in the late
1950s, and by 1960 production was at 565,681 long tons (574,758 t). The Nigerian Civil War caused
many mines to be abandoned. After the war ended in the early 1970s, coal production to the desired
level has not been really successful. Attempts to mechanize the industry in the 1970s and 1980s were
ultimately unsuccessful and actually hindered production due to problems with implementation and
maintenance. Nigeria is seriously considering coal as an alternative power source as it attempts to
reform its power sector. At present, coal is being mined in Maiganga, Gombe state for cement making;
Okaba in Kogi state for electricity generation. The estimated reserve of coal is 600 million tonnes
proven while 3 billion tonnes is indicated.

TIN, COLUMBITE AND TANTALITE

Tin and its associated minerals (columbite, tanatalite) are mined on the Jos plateau. Columbite and
tantalite are ores used to produce the elements niobium and tantalum. Columbite and tantalite are
collectively known as coltan. Tantalum is a valuable rare element used in electronics manufacturing.
Occurrences are also reported in Kogi and Kwara States