Mining Engineering

When to use direct substitution when solving for limits?

Direct substitution is used when the function is continuous at the target point, or when an intermediate algebraic step converts the expression into a continuous function.

Mine

An excavation made in the earth to extract minerals.

Mineral

A naturally occurring, inorganic element or compound having an orderly internal structure, characteristic chemical composition, crystal form, and physical properties.

Rock

Any naturally formed aggregate of one or more types of mineral particles.

Ore

A mineral deposit that has sufficient utility and value to be mined at a profit.

Gangue

The valueless mineral particles within an ore deposit that must be discarded.

Waste

Material associated with an ore deposit that must be mined to access the ore and then discarded.

Metallic Ores

Ores containing ferrous metals, base metals, precious metals, or radioactive minerals.

Non-Metallic Ores

Nonfuel mineral ores not used for producing metals (industrial minerals), such as phosphate, potash, halite, trona, limestone, sand, gravel, and sulfur.

Fossil Fuels

Organic mineral substances (mineral fuels) that can be utilized as fuel, such as coal, oil, and natural gas.

Five Stages of Mine Life

Prospecting -> Exploration -> Development -> Exploitation -> Reclamation

Fire Setting

An ancient mining method where rock is heated with fire to expand it and then doused with cold water to contract and break it.

Sustainable Development in Mining

The overall process of developing a mine while planning for the future environmental and economic uses of the land.

De Re Metallica

The first major technical literature on mining, written by Georgius Agricola.

Sir Humphry Davy

Inventor of the miner's safety lamp.

Prospecting

The initial search for ores or other valuable mineral deposits.

Direct Method of Mineral Discovery

Visual examination of exposed surface deposits or loose fragments weathered from an outcrop.

Geophysics

An indirect prospecting method measuring gravitational, seismic, magnetic, electrical, electromagnetic, and radiometric properties of the earth.

Geochemistry

The quantitative analysis of chemical elements in soil, rock, water, and vegetation samples to detect mineral anomalies.

Geobotany

The analysis of plant growth patterns and species distribution as a guide to underlying mineralization.

Exploration

The stage of mine life that accurately determines the size, shape, grade, and economic value of a mineral deposit.

Reserve Estimation

The formal examination, volume calculation, and economic valuation of an orebody.

Development

The work of opening up a mineral deposit and establishing access for exploitation.

Stripping Ratio

The ratio of waste material removed to ore recovered.

Exploitation

The actual extraction of mineral work from the earth in economic quantities and delivery to processing facilities.

Stope

An underground production excavation in a metal mine.

Reclamation

The process of closing a mine and recontouring, revegetating, and restoring land and water quality.

Aqueous Extraction Method

Extraction methods relying on water or solvent solutions (such as sulfuric acid or cyanide) to extract minerals.

Placer Mining

Surface mining used to extract loose, heavy mineral deposits (e.g., gold, tin, diamonds) from sand and gravel.

Hydraulicking

Mining using high-pressure water streams directed against a bank to erode and break down rock or soil.

Dredging

Mechanical or hydraulic excavation of underwater mineral deposits using floating vessels.

Unsupported Mining Methods

Underground mining methods (room-and-pillar, stope-and-pillar, shrinkage, sublevel stoping) used in strong rock that require no artificial timber or fill support.

Room-and-Pillar Mining

The most common unsupported method for flat-lying deposits, leaving continuous pillars of ore to support the roof.

Supported Mining Methods

Underground methods (cut-and-fill, square-set, stull stoping) used in weak rock that require artificial backfill or timber framing.

Cut-and-Fill Stoping

A supported method where horizontal slices of ore are removed and replaced with waste backfill to support stope walls.

Caving Mining Methods

Underground bulk extraction methods (longwall, sublevel caving, block caving) where the ore or overlying rock is intentionally caved.

Longwall Mining

A high-efficiency caving method for flat seams (coal) where a long face is extracted and roof strata cave behind.

Block Caving

A large-scale, low-cost underground method where a weak orebody fractures and collapses under its own weight.

Production Cycle of Mining

Drilling + Blasting + Loading + Hauling

Enrichment Factor

The multiplier by which an element's average crustal concentration must be increased to form a mineable orebody.

Cutoff Grade

The minimum ore concentration/mass percentage required for the recovered value to equal the total costs of mining and processing.

Mineral Resource vs Mineral Reserve

A Resource has reasonable prospects for economic extraction; a Reserve is the economically mineable part of a Measured or Indicated Resource.

Kriging

A geostatistical grade estimation technique that calculates block values using a spatial weighted average of surrounding samples.

Detonation vs Deflagration

Detonation is a supersonic reaction accompanied by shock waves; deflagration is rapid subsonic combustion without shock waves.

Burden and Spacing

Burden is the distance from a blast hole to the nearest free face; Spacing is the distance between adjacent blast holes in a row.

Five Characteristics of Minerals

1. Naturally occurring

2. Inorganic

3. Solid

4. Definite chemical composition

5. Ordered crystalline structure

Mineraloid

A naturally occurring, inorganic solid that lacks a definite crystalline structure (amorphous), such as opal or volcanic glass.

Polymorphism

The ability of a chemical composition to form multiple distinct crystal structures (e.g., Diamond and Graphite, both $C$).

Streak

The color of a mineral when ground into a fine powder, which remains constant despite surface impurities.

Cleavage vs Fracture

Cleavage is breakage along structural planes of weak atomic bonds; fracture is irregular breakage occurring when atomic bond strengths are equal in all directions.

Silicon-Oxygen Tetrahedron

The fundamental building block of all silicate minerals, consisting of $(SiO_4)^{4-}$.

Classes of Silicate Minerals

1. Nesosilicates (Isolated, $1:4$)

2. Sorosilicates (Paired, $2:7$)

3. Cyclosilicates (Rings, $1:3$)

4. Inosilicates (Chains, Single $1:3$, Double $4:11$)

5. Phyllosilicates (Sheets, $2:5$)

6. Tectosilicates (3D Framework, $1:2$)

Phases of the Bacterial Growth Curve

1. Lag phase (metabolic adaptation, minimal division)

2. Log/Exponential phase (rapid binary fission)

3. Stationary phase (cell division rate equals death rate)

4. Death phase (cell mortality exceeds division)

Bacterial Binary Fission Steps

1. Chromosome duplication

2. Cell elongation

3. FtsZ ring assembly & septum formation

4. Pinching and division into two daughter cells

Bacterial Endospores

Dormant, highly resistant, dehydrated survival structures produced by certain Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus, Clostridium) under extreme environmental stress.

Sporulation vs Germination

Sporulation is the process of forming a dormant endospore from a vegetative cell; germination is the revival of an endospore back into an active vegetative cell.

Quorum Sensing

Cell-to-cell chemical signaling mechanism where bacteria release autoinducers to coordinate group gene expression based on cell density.

Extracellular Polymeric Substance (EPS)

A sticky hydrated matrix (polysaccharides, proteins, DNA, lipids) secreted by bacteria in biofilms for attachment, structure, and defense.

Oxygen Requirement Classes in Microbes

1. Obligate aerobes (require $O_2$)

2. Obligate anaerobes (poisoned by $O_2$)

3. Facultative anaerobes (prefer $O_2$, but can ferment/respire without it)

4. Aerotolerant anaerobes (do not use $O_2$, but tolerate its presence)

5. Microaerophiles (require reduced $O_2$ levels)

Protective Enzymes Against Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) converts superoxide radicals ($O_2^-$) to $H_2O_2$; Catalase and Peroxidase decompose $H_2O_2$ into water and oxygen.

Catabolism vs Anabolism

Catabolism breaks down complex molecules to release energy (exergonic); Anabolism uses energy to synthesize complex cell components (endergonic).

How Enzymes Lower Activation Energy

Enzymes position substrates in optimal orientations, strain chemical bonds, and provide favorable microenvironments, accelerating reaction rates without altering overall $\Delta G$.

Competitive vs Noncompetitive (Allosteric) Inhibition

Competitive inhibitors bind directly to the active site; noncompetitive inhibitors bind to an allosteric site, inducing a conformational change that inactivates the active site.

Feedback Inhibition

A metabolic control mechanism where the end-product of a pathway allosterically inhibits an early enzyme in that pathway when product levels are high.

Oxidation and Reduction (OIL RIG)

Oxidation is the loss of electrons or hydrogen atoms; Reduction is the gain of electrons or hydrogen atoms.

Net Yield of Glycolysis (EMP Pathway) per Glucose

$1\text{ Glucose } (6C) \rightarrow 2\text{ Pyruvate } (3C) + 2\text{ net ATP } + 2\text{ NADH}$ (occurs independently of $O_2$).

Decarboxylation Steps in Respiration

The release of carbon as $CO_2$: 2 $CO_2$ released during the pyruvate bridge step + 4 $CO_2$ released in the Krebs cycle = 6 $CO_2$ total per glucose.

Net Yield of Krebs Cycle per Glucose

2 turns per glucose yield $2\text{ ATP/GTP}$, $6\text{ NADH}$, $2\text{ FADH}_2$, and $4\text{ CO}_2$ via substrate-level phosphorylation.

Electron Transport Chain & Chemiosmosis Mechanism

Electrons from NADH/FADH2 flow through membrane-bound carriers, pumping $H^+$ to generate a Proton Motive Force (PMF). $H^+$ movement through ATP synthase generates ATP via oxidative phosphorylation.

Primary Biological Purpose of Fermentation

To oxidize $NADH$ back to $NAD^+$ by transferring electrons to an organic molecule, allowing glycolysis to continuously produce ATP in the absence of respiration.

Lactic Acid vs Alcoholic Fermentation

Lactic acid fermentation reduces pyruvate directly to lactate; alcoholic fermentation decarboxylates pyruvate to acetaldehyde, then reduces acetaldehyde to ethanol and $CO_2$.