ADAMA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

DEP’T OF APPLIED GEOLOGY

MINERAL EXPLORATION AND RESOURCE
EVALUATION
(Geol 4301)

By: selamawit D.
Course aim:
 The course aims to provide the students with :
 Basic knowledge and skills on the exploration and
prospecting of mineral resources;
 Basic understanding on exploitation of mineral resources
Learning Out comes:
 At the end of the course students will:
 Make the right decisions and to determine the technical
methods of mineral explorations
 Be familiar with the fundamentals of mineral/ore resources
evaluation and exploration.

2
 Course outline
Chapter One: Introduction to mineral resources and
exploration
1.1. Definitions
1.2. Historical background of mineral resources
1.3. Stages in mineral exploration and exploitation

Chapter Two: Geological Mapping and Prospecting

2.1. Geological Mapping and Prospecting
2.2. Traditional prospecting methods

3
Chapter Three: Methods of mineral prospecting
3.1 Geochemical Prospecting
 Distribution of elements
 Primary and secondary dispersion
 Types of geochemical survey
3.2 Geophysical prospecting
 Exploration geophysics
 Gravity, magnetic, electric and electromagnetic , Seismic
survey
3.3 Remote sensing

4
Chapter Four : Sub-Surface Sampling Methods
4.1. Pitting and trenching
4.2. Auger drilling
4.3. Hand-held percussion drills
Chapter Five : Mineral Resources Evaluation and Ore
Reserve Calculation
5.1 Ore and ores reserves
5.2 Cut-off grade
5.3 Mineral Evaluation
Chapter SIX: Exploitation of Mineral Resources
6.1 Introduction to Mining

5
 Course policy
Students:
 Should attend 85% of class to sit final exam.
 Should submit all assignments/home works on due time.
 Should actively participate in assignments and class room
lectures.

 Course Delivery: Lecture and group discussion.

 Course Assessment: Through continuous assessment (50%)

and final exam (50%).
 References
 Evans, A.M. (1993): An Introduction to Mineral
Exploration, Blackwell.
 Kessler, S.E. (1994) : Mineral Resources, Economics and
the Environment, 391 p.
6
 7

Chapter ONE
Introduction to Mineral Resource
and Exploitation
 1.1 DEFINITIONS
What is mineral exploration?
Mineral Exploration is the process of
finding economical accumulation of
minerals/rocks.

It is a scientific investigation of the

earth’s crust to determine, if there are
mineral deposits w/c may be
commercially developed 8
 What is a mineral?
 Geologists define a mineral as a :-
 Naturally occurring
 Solid substance
 Inorganically formed
 Definite chemical composition
 Show well-ordered atomic arrangement (Crystalline)
 Any substance should have to fulfill the following must
conditions to be called a mineral.
Examples:
quartz- SiO2 (oxide)
hematite- Fe2O3 (oxide)
Chalcopyrite-CuFeS (sulfide)
 IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
MINERALS & MINERAL RESOURCES?
Mineral resources can be defined as non-
living, naturally occurring substances that are
economically useful to us, whether organic or
inorganic in origin.

10
 Mineral deposit : - are concentrations of naturally
occurring minerals or rocks in/on the in earth's
crust in such form and amount that economic
extraction is possible currently or potentially.
 Ore minerals and cutoff grade

 Ore body (ore deposit) :- is a part of mineral

deposit from which mineral(s) can economically
extracted at present.

11
Ore – is a mineral or rock aggregate
containing an economic concentration of
metal(s)

Gangue Mineral – a mineral in an

orebody associated with ore mineral but
not economic
 Waste : Rock which is not ore. Usually
referred to that rock which has to be
removed during the normal course of
mining in order to get at the ore. 12
Gold

13
Galena

14
Gold containing quartz veins

15
Grade – concentration of a metal in
an ore body
Measured in %, ppm, ppb, Ounce
(oz)
An economic grade requires
concentration of elements well above
their normal abundance

Cutoff Grade – the minimum

economic grade required for
exploitation 16
 ECONOMICALLY IMPORTANT METALS
& THEIR AVERAGE GRADES
Typical
Metal Economic Grade
(% by weight)
Aluminum 30 Compare these
Iron 53 concentrations
Copper 0.5-4
to the normal
Nickel 1
abundance of
Zinc 4
Uranium 0.3 the elements in
Lead 5 the crust
Silver 0.01
Gold 0.0001-0.001

17
WHY EXPLORATION/PROSPECTING

Economic minerals seldom occur on

the surface

Economic minerals seldom occur

obvious (i.e. are hidden: buried)

Hence, indirect approach to detect

the presence of economic minerals is
needed 18
Mineralized bodies are small in size

Our continuous demand for mineral

raw materials b/c of:

Survival need

Development need
19
 WHY EXPLORATION/PROSPECTING
 In the search for mineral deposits it is impossible to
examine in details every square km of the area or
country by, for example, drilling. This would be too
expensive, time-consuming and in most cases
pointless. An area where required mineral resources
can be expected to occur is therefore delimited using
prospecting criteria, that is, geological features
which directly or indirectly suggest the presence of
a given deposit.

20
WHO EXPLORES MINERAL RESOURCES?

Conducted at different level of

organizations

I. Individuals

II.Companies
• Private
• Government owned
21
CONSIDERATIONS DURING MINERAL
EXPLORATION
Mineral exploration is:
 Risky but high rate of return
 Complex, require skilled man power as well
as laborers.
 Capital intensive:-analysis & requires
infrastructure
 Time taking
 influenced by economic, social and
environmental 22

Hence careful planning before start

 Key factors to consider:

 Probability of success
 Capital and running costs
 Demand & Price: Economic
Deposit vs Geologic deposit
 Host country factors
 Competition
 Exploration Strategy
 Environmental Regulations 23
 1.2 STAGES IN EXPLORATION AND
EXPLOITATION OF A MINERAL DEPOSIT
 General: Search/Discover +
Evaluate + Mining
 3 questions to answer for successful
exploration:-
What to look for…commodity
Where to look for…region/area
How to look for…exploration
method 24
 A step-by-step activity
 Each step opens/closes the next step

 Expected results of Mineral

Exploration:
Delineate large region for further
work
Identify area of mineralization

Locate the orebody

25
Asyou pass from one step to the
next

Area of search is narrowed down

Detailed mapping & sampling

26
 Crucial decision making at each stage

 Early stages incur low cost but extremely

risky

 The late stages are expensive but low

risk (?risks are always present?)

27
Exploration project aborts when:
No promising prospects (absence of
the resource)
Financial & technical problems
Weather/climate

Instability and many others

28
 STAGE 1 – EXPLORATION PLANNING
 Is generally desk work (may involve
simple field visit)
 MEX planning involves the following
activities:
 Commodity selection
 Region selection: prospect generation
 Preliminary result evaluation
 Organization
 Budgeting 29
 STAGE 2 - RECONNAISSANCE STAGE
 Major objective is target generation within
the selected region

 Conducted both:
 In office (desk study) and
 Field visit

 Methods are of regional scale

 The objective is to identify mineralized

areas for further investigation towards 30
prospect identification.
 STAGE 3 – PROSPECTION (TARGET
IDENTIFICATION)
It is the systematic process of searching
for an unknown deposit
Detailed ground works of geology,
geophysics, geochemistry
Expected results: discovery of a
prospect that will be the target for
further exploration.
generate ore fields
31
 STAGE 4 – GENERAL EXPLORATION
(PRELIMINARY EXPLORATION)

 preliminary target investigation, screening or

target testing.
 It involves the initial delineation of an identified
target mostly by surface mapping, sampling
(drilling), and limited interpolation based on
indirect methods of investigation
 estimate size, shape and grade
 Results are adequate for deciding whether
detailed exploration is warranted. 32
 STAGE 5 – DETAILED EXPLORATION
(INVENTORY DRILLING)
Devoted to ore body exploration
Three dimensional delineation and sampling
of a known target from outcrops
bulk sampling (pilot mining) for processing
tests (pilot tests).

33
 STAGE 6 – CONSTRUCTION AND MINE
DEVELOPMENT

Prepare the mining site for extraction

Mainly construction works

Site
preparation
Employment
Material purchase
34
 STAGE 7 – EXPLOITATION

 Technically called MINING:-the actual

recovery of minerals from the earth in quantity
 Exploration during production

 Two major activities

 Removal of ore
 Ore dressing

35
 STAGE 8 – MINE CLOSURE
Every mineral deposit has a finite life
and will be exhausted

Activities include

Dismantling equipments

Reduce number of workers, and

Environmental rehabilitation
36
 Smelting
Mineral processing
Refining

Mining/Exploitation
Marketing
Mine Development

Closure
Feasibility

Office Study
Pre-feasibility
Reconnaissance phase
37
Exploration
Prospecting
 38

Individual Assignment (10%)

 Read historical background and development

of both mineral exploration and exploitation
and write a precise note (1-2 pages)

(Submission Date: Nov. 2, 2021)

I THANK YOU SO MUCH

39