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Online Books 
Welcome to SME's Online Books!
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Politics of Mining: What They Don’t Teach You in School
Recent graduates and seasoned professional engineers frequently encounter situations where discussions are held that are counterintuitive to the logically trained engineering mind. "Other" influences, whether they be financial, social, cultural, environmental, or plain old stubbornness by someone higher up in the hierarchy, can sometimes overrule the logical decision-making process. This can be frustrating, to say the least. Therefore, this book explores some of the nontechnical issues that can have a major impact in the mining industry. Some of the topics are unique to the mining industry; others are encountered in other industries. However, all topics are geared to exploring issues that most engineers don’t learn in school.
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Improving and Optimizing Operations:
Things That Actually Work!
Plant Operators’ Forum 2004
Periodically, the Minerals and Metallurgical Processing Division of SME puts together a Plant Operators’ Forum at the annual meeting. Over the years, the attendees have found these forums to be quite valuable, and their popularity has steadily increased. After a number of difficult years for the minerals industry, it seems apparent that the industry could now be poised for growth and expansion. Explore topics such as “How the Mine Department Lies About Production and How the Metallurgist Catches Them,” “Does the Right Hand Know That the Left Hand is Mining?” and “How to Sell R&D in Your Organization—Without Begging.” The overall program was designed to tackle three major areas of focus—People, Processes, and Technology.
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Evaluating Mineral Projects: Applications and Misconceptions
Whether you're an experienced evaluator of mineral projects, a student, or a decision maker who is not a practitioner but must use evaluation results, this new book is an essential reference for your bookshelf. Designed to complement traditional engineering texts, this book emphasizes the concepts of mineral project evaluation rather than computational details. It describes various economic evaluation techniques typically employed (including conventional cost analysis, discounted cash flow, and option analysis), their uses, and their relationships with geological, technological, and financial evaluations. Also discussed are the strengths and weaknesses of commonly practiced evaluation methods.
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Golden Opportunities
GO, as it is known by, was primarily written for gold people but all of the articles will be of interest to others as milling practice is not limited to one metal. Some ofthe articles are perhaps out of date but if the reader will dig a little deeper he will find some mighty fine thinking that it will pay to absorb. |
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Mining Economics and Strategy
Economic skill is an essential partner to technical skill in every step of the mining process. An economic "mindset" begins before the first drill hole. This new book will help you effectively direct mining operations through the use of innovative economic strategies. The text covers what is meant by a cost-effective mining scheme, the economics of information, and the procedures for rational evaluation of uncertain projects. It defines "ore" from an economic perspective and covers the influence of scheduling on ore reserves. Discounted cash flow techniques, the most widely used evaluation technique for investment decision making, is covered in detail. |
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Mining Engineering Handbook
This comprehensive reference work distills the entire body of knowledge that characterizes mining engineering as a disciplinary field. The book devotes attention to all branches of mining--metal, coal, and nonmetal--and to all locales of mining--surface, underground, and hybrid. |
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Plant Operators' Forum 1999
Get into the lively exchange of information and audience discussion from the successful 1998 forum. Contents focus on front-line problems and solutions in the areas of maintenance and modifications, operations, instrumentation and process control, and open discussions. Includes "More Than Five Things I Never Want to See in Plant Design," "Horrible Spills I Have Seen and Done," and "If You're Not Using Predictive Tools, You're Behind the Curve." |
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Plant Operators' Forum 2000
This follow-up to the successful 1999 forum features topics including "Mine Development and Plant Expansion in the 21st Century," "Update on Cyanide Spill in Romania," "Information Management: When Do You Know You Have Enough?," "Observations on Operations-From Slightly on the Outside," and "100 Days to Y2K—We Think We Are Okay..." |
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Recommendations Concerning Estimation and Reporting of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves
This document summarizes recommendations made by the “SEC Reserves Working Group / Resources and Reserves Committee” (the Working Group) of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. (SME) concerning specific issues related to the public reporting of mineral resources and mineral reserves. |
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Slope Stability in Surface Mining
As we enter the twenty-first century, mines are being planned to reach depths of more than 1,100 meters, waste rock embankments have surpassed 600 meters in height, tailings dams have reached heights of 200 meters, and heap leach facilities have topped 150 meters. The push toward higher, deeper, and steeper, along with the larger and more productive equipment in use today, continues to test our tools and capabilities. Slope Stability in Surface Mining documents the progressive rise in technical understanding and sophistication in the field. Only be continuously collecting and exchanging information can design concepts, construction methods, monitoring strategies, and reclamation practices keep pace with the times. Slope Stability in Surface Mining creates a common platform on which to base correct, economical, and safe slope design and construction decisions. |
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Surface Mining, 2nd ed.
This SME classic is a reference book for the working engineer as well as a textbook for the mining student. Surface Mining takes the approach that exploration and mining geologists must be expert in a number of fields, including basic finance and economics, logistics, and pragmatic prospecting. |
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Underground Mining Methods: Engineering Fundamentals and International Case Studies
Underground Mining Methods presents the latest principles and techniques in use today. Reflecting the international and diverse nature of the industry, a series of mining case studies is presented covering the commodity range from iron ore to diamonds extracted by operations located in all corners of the world. Industry experts have contributed 77 chapters. This book is certain to become a standard for every practicing mining engineer and student alike. Sections include: General Mine Design Considerations, Room-and-Pillar Mining of Hard Rock/Soft Rock, Longwall Mining of Hard Rock, Shrinkage Stoping, Sublevel Stoping, Cut-and-Fill Mining, Sublevel Caving, Panel Caving, Foundations for Design, and Underground Mining Looks to the Future. |
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Virtual Atlas of Opaque and Ore Minerals in their Associations
The identification of ore minerals requires a trained eye that can recognise the subtle colour differences between minerals. Training students (and professionals) in this skill has traditionally been difficult - partly because of a lack of a colour guide to the characteristic optical properties and textures of ore minerals and ore-associations. One particular problem is that the same mineral can appear to be optically quite different in different associations.
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