24-MMP-A5 Surface Mining Methods and Design · May 2013
Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)
EGBC National Exam — Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering, 09-Mmp-A5 Surface Mining Methods and Design, 2013-May. 3 hours duration; one handwritten 8.5×11 in reference sheet permitted (not an open-book exam); only approved Sharp or Casio calculators allowed. Question 1 is compulsory (40 marks, parts 1.1–1.7); candidates then select FOUR of the six optional Questions 2–7 (15 marks each) to complete the paper.
Reference texts: Hartman & Mutmansky, SME Mining Engineering Handbook, 3rd ed. (dewatering, slope stability classification, dragline stripping geometry, truck dispatch, mine closure); Hustrulid, Kuchta & Martin, Open Pit Mine Planning and Design (moving-cone and Lerchs–Grossmann pit optimization, capital-cost estimating, truck-shovel match factor); Lerchs, H. & Grossmann, I.F. (1965) “Optimum Design of Open-Pit Mines,” CIM Bulletin (the graph-theoretic 2-D worked example this question is drawn from); O’Hara, T.A. (1980) “Quick Guides to the Evaluation of Orebodies,” CIM Bulletin, Feb. 1980, and Mular, A.L. & Poulin, R. (1998) CANCOST, CIM Special Volume 47 (capital-cost formulae); Bieniawski, Z.T. (1989) Engineering Rock Mass Classifications (RMR system).
Question text not reproduced: the examination questions are © Engineers and Geoscientists BC. Open the official past paper (linked at the top of this page) to read the question, then follow the worked solution below.
1. Reclamation. In the Canadian open-pit context (governed provincially, e.g. BC’s Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines under the Mines Act), reclamation is the physical and biological restoration of mine-disturbed land – regrading waste dumps and pit walls to a stable, erosion-resistant landform, capping and covering acid-generating or otherwise reactive material, re-establishing topsoil and self-sustaining vegetation, and re-establishing surface drainage – to a land use approved in the mine permit, whether that is a stable, revegetated landform, agricultural or forestry capability, or a safe permanent water body in the case of a flooded pit.
2. Sustainability (3 marks). From an open-pit perspective, sustainability is broader than end-of-mine reclamation: it means operating and closing the mine so that its environmental, social and economic effects remain net-positive (or at least acceptable) over the long term after the ore body is exhausted – leaving a stable, self-maintaining landform requiring no perpetual active care; leaving water quality (including any acid rock drainage) managed passively rather than needing an indefinite treatment plant; and leaving the host community and regional economy with a viable post-mining future (economic diversification, transferable skills, retained infrastructure) rather than a single-industry town that collapses when the mine closes – the same theme developed quantitatively for the reclamation-bond financing in Question 6.
