Feasibility Study - 2023 entry

The Feasibility Study provides a fitting climax to the Mining Engineering course; the culmination of three years’ hard work and study condensed into three weeks’ data crunching, decision making, blood, sweat and tears. 

The data provided is patchy and the available time ridiculously short….you’ll fall out with your team-mates, the IT system and the lecturers; but at the end of the day you’ll suddenly realise that what we’ve been trying to teach you IS important, how it all fits together and, most important of all, that you have got a future as a mining engineer.

The module aims to simulate the conditions and demands of a typical feasibility study. Working in small groups, and based on project data supplied, students design, cost and evaluate a mine and its financial viability.  The module integrates numerous aspects of the undergraduate course and provides an opportunity for a student to focus and apply the skills and knowledge they have acquired in an open ended assessment.

This is a group exercise which develops and draws on team working, time management and resource allocation skills. Students are introduced to the planning and construction of technical and scientific reports and gain experience in technical report writing and preparing and delivering a verbal presentation. 

This module forms an integral part of the requirement for accreditation to the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3).

On successful completion of this module, you should be able to:

Module Specific Skills and Knowledge:

1 gain experience on the collation, synthesis and interpretation of a wide range of technical data.
 

Discipline Specific Skills and Knowledge:

2 ability to analyse and synthesize information relating to the feasibility study of a mining venture.
 

Personal and Key Transferable/ Employment Skills and  Knowledge:

3 develop technical report writing skills;

4 develop preparation and delivery of a verbal presentation on a technical subject to a small audience;

5 improve time management, team-working and co-ordination of group activities.

Students carry out a feasibility study of a mining project.  It involves working in a group of typically 5 students and takes a possible mining project from the initial geological information, through the mine design and planning stage, to an economic evaluation.   

Weeks 1-3

The work and final report of each group would typically consider the following aspects, mirroring the sections normally found in a mining feasibility study, although the actual content and level of detail will change from year to year as different projects/datasets are examined. The distribution of tasks amoung the group is the responsibility of the students themselves.

- review and interrogate a block model; delineating orebody boundaries and preparing a mineral resource statement and indication of the basic geology of the area;

- consideration/selection of appropriate mining methods for the orebody;

- the production of an ore reserve statement, incorporating justification for choice of appropriate dilution, recovery and cut-off grade;

- a detailed open pit and/or underground design including geotechnical studies and mine design parameters. Including development schedules and stoping/pit bench schedules;

- development of a production schedule and selection of mining equipment to meet financial and operating criteria;

- selection of sites for the mill, the waste tips and the tailings dam and consideration of transport methods for movement of ore and waste;

- identification of most appropriate mineral processing route(s) for the ore. Selection of equipment for the mineral processing plant, using mill flowsheets, smelter schedules and costs;

- analysis of the various infrastructure requirements of the project, including power, process water, ventilation, communications, storage, supply logistics etc;

- schedule the development and construction of the project;

- identification of the management organisational structure, manpower requirements and appropriate occupational health and safety management strategies;

- calculation of the capital and operating costs of the project;

- generation of metal price forecast(s) and basic market survey for the saleable products;

- outline the anticipated environmental effects of the mineral operation and the necessary permitting/compliance regime;

- discussion of likely taxation, royalty and financing costs;

- production of a detailed cashflow analysis for the project and the calculation of suitable financial valuation indicators.

Basic reading:

All necessary reference and study material for each feasibility study project will be provided.

ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/

Other resources:

Course notes and coursework exercises from all previous modules.

Reading list for this module: