Evaluation and Management of Georesources
Objectives
This curricular unit has the objective of present the techniques and methodologies used to evaluate mineral resources of several types: metallic, nonmetallic, water and oil. Are the tools necessary for these goals are taught
General characterization
Code
10744
Credits
6.0
Responsible teacher
José António de Almeida, Maria da Graça Azevedo de Brito
Hours
Weekly - 4
Total - 70
Teaching language
Português
Prerequisites
Knowledge of geostatistical and economic geology and mineral resources taught at earlier curricular units.
Bibliography
[1] A. G. Journel and C. Huijbreghts (1978) Mining Geostatistics, Academic Press.
[2] Amílcar Soares (2000) Geoestatistica para as Ciências da Terra e do Ambiente. IST Press.
[3] M. Revuelta & C. Jimeno (1997) Manual de Evaluación y Diseño de Explotaciones Mineras, Entorno Grafico, SL, Madrid
[4] E. Orche (1999) Manual de Evaluación de Yacimentos Minerales. Gráficas Arias Montano, Madrid
[5] M. Bustillo Revuelta e Carlos López Jimeno (1996) Recursos Minerales, Gráficas Arias Montano, Madrid
[6] J. Caers (2011) Modeling uncertainty in the Earth Sciences. Wiley-Blackwell.
Teaching method
The course includes lessons supported by PowerPoint and board and participated practical classes in a computer lab, where students solve two problems and a final integration project of several topics
Evaluation method
The evaluation may be of the continuous type (1 test) or final examination. Also includes solving five problems and a project and their report and discussion. The test relate to the subjects taught with Powerpoints. It have a duration of 2 hours and account 25% of the final grade. This component can be replaced by final examination on the scheduled date. The five problems and the final project are partially solved in practical classes. The problems are solved and presented individually or in grups of two students and the project in groups of 2 students; usually problems and projects have small differences between groups. Each problem accounts 5% of the final grade and the project 50%. There are no thresholds for the tests and problems, however the minimum project grade is 10 / 20.
Subject matter
1) Variables of economic interest in mineral resources of metallic and non-metallic deposits, energy and environmental systems. Starting information and types of information. Classical methods of valuation reserves: volumes and average levels. Concept of accumulation, average grade, cut-off grade and dilution. 2) Support. Sampling. Representativeness of the sample. Composite samples, advantages and limitations. 3) Estimation geostatistics. Variography and kriging. Normal kriging, kriging with secondary information. Estimation errors, and simple quadratic. Estimation with cutoff. Limitations of binarization of an estimated map. 4) Strategies conditioning continuous variables to categorical variables. Simulation of categorical and continuous variables. Simulation algorithms sequential indicatrix and Gaussian. Concept of local and global uncertainty. 5) Application of simulation techniques in the evaluation of mining projects. Measurement and processing times activities. Objective of a simulation process. Transfer function. Conceptual model for the application of simulation to the activities of a mining and transport. 6) Economic analysis of mining projects. Cost estimates: types and methods. Capital costs and operating costs. Investment Analysis. Methods of depreciation or amortization of equipment. Criteria for evaluation of projects: static and dynamic. Sensitivity analysis. Analysis of economic risk. 7) Characterization of mineral deposits metallic and nonmetallic. Block selection. Parameterization of reserves. Curves tonnage / cut-off grade and average grade / cut-off grade. Sequences of operation. Universe partition an area of exploration. Combinatorial in simple examples of farms with free selection rules, and wall and ceiling open. Economic optimization of opencast. Economic value of the blocks. Rhythm and exploration sequences. 8) Characterization of reservoirs. Variables of interest: saturation, permeability (absolute, effective and relative), porosity. Modeling of fluvial and carbonated reservoirs. Fractured reservoirs.