GEOL1045-1 : Economic and societal issues in mining

Study Programmes 2016-2017

GEOL1045-1

Economic and societal issues in mining

Duration :

15h Th, 30h Proj., 2d FW

Number of credits :

Master in geology and mining engineering, professional focus in geometallurgy (EMERALD)		5
Master in geology and mining engineering (120 ECTS)		5

Lecturer :

Eric Pirard

Language(s) of instruction :

English language

Organisation and examination :

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents :

Industrial representatives will provide specialized seminars to introduce topics that are not traditionally covered by Academic Education. Here is an example of the subjects that have been covered in the previous years:

Bankable Feasibility study
Corporate responsibility: social and environmental aspects
Health and Safety in open pit mines and plants
Funding of Junior mining companies
Legislative aspects of mining exploitation
Mining codes and taxation issues
Introduction to benchmarking software
Introduction to financial modelling

Learning outcomes of the learning unit :

To be aware of the importance of the legal, social and environmental aspects of mine exploitation
To know basic safety rules to follow in a processing plant environment
To be able to detect unsafe behavior or potentially harmful situation in a processing plant environment or a quarry
To review and to criticize one company commitment and achievement regarding social and environmental aspects
To briefly analyze one country's political and legislative policy regarding mine exploitation and their impacts

Prerequisite knowledge and skills :

none

Planned learning activities and teaching methods :

Interactive seminars and workshops with professionals.
Open debate on questions such as environmental impact, law, ethics, etc.
Supervision of a joint progress report.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :

Recommended or required readings :

Documents and reports from companies provided by the invited experts.

Assessment methods and criteria :

Groups of students are formed to analyze a real case on the aspects covered by the seminars. Each student specifically focuses on one of the aspects but has to review those covered by the other members of the group. Key facts are orally defended by each student possibly questioned on any part of the joint report. Final marks are the result of the assessment of each student's contribution to the joint written report and (the oral presentation).

Students who failed the first examination have the opportunity to improve the chapter that he/she was responsible for in the joint report. He/she also writes a short report addressing the Bankable feasibility aspects of his or her mining project. The final resit mark takes the new written report into account.

Work placement(s) :

Organizational remarks :

Contacts :

Rosalia Fiorentino emerald@ulg.ac.be