Geological and Environmental Sustainability

Mining and mineral resources

Mining geology is an applied science which chains the principles of economic geology and mining engineering to the development of a defined mineral resource. Mining geologist and engineers work to develop an identified ore deposit to economically extract the ore. A mineral resource is a concentration or occurrence of material of intrinsic economic interest in or on the earth’s crust in such form, quality and quantity that there are reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. Mineral resources are further sub-divided, in order of increasing geological confidence, into inferred, indicated and measured categories. Inferred mineral resource is the part of a mineral resource for which tonnage, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a low level of confidence. It is inferred from geological evidence and assumed but not verified geological or grade continuity. It is based on information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes which may be of limited or indefinite quality and reliability.