24-MMP-A5 Surface Mining Methods and Design · December 2016
Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)
Surface Mining Methods and Design (09-MMP-A5) — December 2016 National Exam. Compulsory Question 1 (six sub-questions) plus all five optional Questions 2–6 are answered in full below (candidates select only three of Questions 2–6 in the real exam; all are solved here as a complete study resource).
Reference texts: Hustrulid, Kuchta & Martin, Open Pit Mine Planning and Design (3rd ed.) — pit optimization, Lerchs–Grossmann, floating cone, dragline stripping geometry; SME Mining Engineering Handbook (3rd ed.); BC Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines; Newnan, Eschenbach & Lavelle, Engineering Economic Analysis — sinking funds and future-worth factors.
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.
A cost index is a dimensionless ratio (normally expressed relative to a fixed base year =100) that tracks how the aggregate price of a defined "market basket" of labour, equipment, materials and services has changed over time, so that a cost known in one year's dollars can be escalated (or de-escalated) to another year's dollars via Cost₂ = Cost₁ × (Index₂ / Index₁) without re-estimating the project from scratch.
The Marshall & Swift (M&S) Equipment Cost Index tracks installed process-plant/mining-equipment costs and is the classic basis for scaling mill and mine-equipment capital costs (used implicitly by the Q3 power-law cost curves below). The Canadian Mining Journal / Camm-style capital and operating cost indexes (e.g., the paired capital-cost and operating-cost indexes used in Camm's parametric mine cost studies) separately escalate CAPITAL items (steel, concrete, fabricated equipment) and OPERATING items (labour, diesel, explosives, power), because these two baskets do not inflate at the same rate.
A single blended index masks large differences in the underlying escalation rate of its components — labour-heavy operating costs (wages, benefits) typically escalate with regional wage settlements while capital-equipment costs track steel/fabrication and currency exchange rates, and energy costs (diesel, power) can spike independently of both. Applying one index uniformly therefore systematically mis-states whichever sub-sector is escalating faster or slower than the blended average, is unreliable across long time spans (composition of the "basket" itself becomes obsolete as technology changes, e.g. autonomous haulage was not in a 1997 basket), and cannot be applied across international currency zones without a separate exchange-rate correction.
