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The need for university engineering graduates that are well equipped with requisite expertise and
knowledge to put to use the skills of engineering profession, and proficient in the use of tools
(both hand and machine) of trade cannot be overemphasised. An intensive field work is designed
to expose the students to most of the rudiments of the mining engineering profession. It is a
practical exposure covering mine survey, geometrical mapping of mineral deposits, mining
This field work is aimed at sharpening the skill of the students in their chosen career and to
engage them in the workshop and outdoor manual labour thereby appreciating the dignity of
labour. Field work is a skill training programme designed to expose and prepare engineering
students of the University for the Industrial Work Situation they are likely to meet after
graduation. Therefore, the field work will help develop the students in the following ways:
1. self-reliance
1.2 Aim and Objective: To expose the students to most of the rudiments of the mining
engineering profession like mine survey, geometrical mapping of mineral deposit, mining
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To provide students with an opportunity for a practical, “real world” experience for the purpose
of developing direct leadership, programming, and administrative skills sufficient for entry into a
professional carrier.
In the course of the field work we visited a coupe of places where exiting mining operations
(surface and underground) are carried out. The sites are listed below as follow:
1. Artisanal quarry site. Opposite university of Jos Senior Staff quarters Jos north, Plateau
State.
2. Slag global investment. Gada biyu community Toro local government area Bauchi state
(Gold mine)
3. Kuru Jenta Jos south Local Government Area, Plateau State. (Tin, Columbite and Zircon
Artisanal Mine)
5. Ric Rock Construction (RRC) Company; fobur, Jos East, Plateau State. (quarry site)
6. Eighteenth Engineering Company (EEC) shen local government area, Jos plateau State.
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CHAPTER 2
2.1.0 Location: Ring Road, Opposite University of Jos Senior Staff Quarters, Jos North, Plateau
State.
Elevation: 1209m
The area has an outcrop of a large rock mass. The rock mass is a coarse and fine granitic rock
mass
The site has an outcrop made up of a fine and course granitic rock. The rock has discontinuity
which the artisanal miners take advantage of. The operation of the site (artisanal quarrying) is
Spalling
Splitting
The rationale is to heat a rock and then allow it to cool. The thermal shock created by heating
and cooling cracks the rock enabling it to be removed for further breaking and splitting to
aggregate.
The heat as a result of the fire used to heat the rock, has the following effects:
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- Thermal gradient: i.e. cracks forming in the transition between hot and cold rock.
The resulting exfoliation of the rock will form pot lid shaped flakes, rapid heating
and extreme temperature cause spalling of ultra this flakes in granitic rocks. At
lower temp and with slower rise in temperature, the cracks will form deeper into
the rock.
- Expansion of minerals: minerals respond different to heat and most minerals show
temperature. Quartz bearing rocks should be the most suitable for quarry by
heating.
2.2.2 Spalling
flakes of materials that are broken off a larger solid body and can be produced by a variety of
crack. It does not really matter whether the spot chosen is flat or rounded.
- Holding the sledge hammer correctly to ensure maximum safety and control in the
swing.
The splitting is done with patience and persistence since there is no specific set of amount of
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Plate 2.1
- Development of local business around the quarry as a result of miners patronizing their
business.
Negative impact are Noise, air pollution (smoke particles), water pollution, waste generation.
2.5.0 THEODOLITE
A total station (TS) or total station theodolite (TST) is an electronic/optical instrument used for
electronic distance measurement (EDM) to measure both vertical and horizontal angles and the
slope distance from the instrument to a particular point, and an on-board computer to collect data
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and perform triangulation calculations. In its modern form it consists of a telescope mounted to
swivel both horizontally and vertically. Leveling is accomplished with the aid of a spirit level;
crosshairs in the telescope permit accurate alignment with the object sighted. After the telescope
is adjusted precisely, the two accompanying scales, vertical and horizontal, are read.
Mounted on a tripod with adjustable legs, the theodolite is used in the field to obtain precise
angular measurements for triangulation in road building, tunnel alignment, and other civil-
engineering work. The transit is a variety of theodolite that has the telescope so mounted that it
Fig 2.1
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2.5.1 BOOKING
Table 2.1
2.5.3 FUNCTIONS
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CHAPTER 3
3.1.0 Location
N: 100 91 58.511
The area has an outcrop of metamorphic rock which is porous, and quartz which are scattered all
over.
Prior to the mining of Gold at the site, it was tin and columbite that was mined before Gold was
discovered. The discovery of Gold made the miners shift their attention from tin and columbite
to search for Gold. within a short time hundreds of artisanal miners flooded the place all mining
for Gold.
Slag global investment is a sole proprietorship organization owned by Barr. Mohammed Bashir
Mohammed. Who acquired all the necessary legal requirement to mine like Exploration License,
Small Scale Mining list, Mining List, license from the government, got consent and pay royalty
1. Mining
2. Grinding/Milling
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3. Processing/concentration
3.2.1 Mining
The Gold mineral is deposited in seam i.e. horizontally underground. Therefore a pit is dug into
the ground until the Gold deposit is reached, its sample is taken for sampling and if the result of
the sampling shows grade that is viable for mining, then the ore will be followed horizontally as
it is dug, excavated and taken to the surface by means of lever, rope and legs made of wood on
Table 3.1
Grinding machine is the most sophisticated machine use in the mining operation of the site in
which weakly consolidated run of mines are grinded into powder. As shown in table 3.2 below
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Plate 3.2
The method employs gravity separation techniques using sluice box or pinched sluice which is a
simple, yet effective tool which allows the operator to process a great deal of material (gold) than
The pinch sluice is basically an inclined slope over which a slurry containing particle of different
specific gravity flows. Due to the gravitational and frictional forces occurring and a narrowing of
the sluice deck (pinching), segregation occurs with the finer heavier particles migrating to the
button of the flowing film while the lighter coarse, to the top. The concentrate is separated from
the tailing either by means of a slot (concentrate take-off) near the end of the sluice, i.e. the fine
heavy particles are removed from the main tailing stream which passes over the slot and
discharge at the end of the sluice or by means of riffle on a sluice box trapping the concentrate
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Plate 3.3
The concentrate is further washed with white mercury to further coagulate and purify it.
- Creation of employment.
- Business opportunities for local people as some of them provide grinding service to miners.
NEGATIVE IMPACT: mercury amalgamation process lead to socio economic problems like
poor health and safety conditions, others include child labor, limited education and health
facilities.
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- In addition to support the needs of a gold mine, these leads to improvement of roads, water
and electricity supplies in long term benefits to businesses and communities across the area
- Mercury attacks the CNS and affect brain functioning and in extreme case of exposure will
lead to death.
- Environmental degradation including toxic pollution of air, land and water, destruction of
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CHAPTER 4
4.1.0 Location
Kuru gada biyu Jos South Local Government Area, Plateau State.
Elevation: 12.35m
The site comprises individuals or group of individual mining for tin and columbite using crude
method (Artisanal). The mining activity is carried out underground. The general operation of the
1. Mining
2. Washing
3. Drying
5. 4.2.1 Mining
The mining method employed at this site is underground mining method because the mining is
not exposed to the atmosphere. The geology and geography of the area suggest that the ore is an
alluvial/placer deposit. Few crude instruments like digger, hoe, shovel, miner lamp used for
lightening of pit are used to reach the deposit in order to excavate the ore. A vertical pit is dug
until the seam deposit is reached. The seam of the ore is mined and followed horizontally in a
tunnel like opening created as the mining activity is carried out, as the mining is carried out
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underground water seep into the pit which is sucked out by a suction pump powered by a
generator. The water pumped out of the pit is usually impended in another pit which is usually
used in washing the run – off mine. As the washing is carried out the water is always impended
The run off mine in the pit is excavated and loaded into a bucket and transported out of the
underground using a setup of a wooden leg, in which pulley with a strong flexible rope is resting.
The pulley is usually controlled and winded by a few laborers to bring out the run of mine. See
Plate 4.1
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4.2.2 Washing
The next operation after the mining is washing of the run off mine which is a mud. The washing
a. First washing: the first washing is carried out on a rest. The washing is aimed at
separating the concentrate by removing the mud and large rocks like quartz from the
run off mine, the water used for the washing is the initially impeded water sucked
from the pit during mining. The water is pumped and a hose is directed towards the
run off mine to wash the mud (fine particles of tailing) away, while Large rocks are
hand-picked from the rest in the process. The water used in washing and mud is
directed to another pit for impediment, for subsequent recycling. See plate 4.2 below
Plate 4.2
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b. Second washing: is carried out in sluice box employing gravity separation technique
4.2.3 Drying
The concentrate from the second washing is dried at this stage. Although little bit of tailing is
found in the concentrate, the final separation is carried out at the next stage. As shown in plate
4.3 below
Plate 4.3
The dried concentrate is further separated from its associated waste using pan which us a basic
tool in gravity separation of heavy materials from their associated waste. See plate 4.4
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Plate 4.4
- Provide financial security and grow business of those that provide service to miners.
- The washing stage lead to erosion and abandoned mine ponds for the unimpeded water
- Deforestation
- land degradation
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CHAPTER 5
The different sites we visited are Jolex construction company Nigeria limited (JCC), Ric Rock
construction company (RRC) and Eighteenth Engineering Company (EEC). All in Jos plateau
State.
• The operation of a quarry begins with site clearing and stripping the overburden (the soil and
subsoil above the bedrock) with an excavator and placing it in haul trucks designed for earth
• The overburden is used to create noise attenuation berms, is directly placed to achieve
progressive and final rehabilitation, or is stored on site for future rehabilitation needs.
• Soils are removed in phases to allow vegetation to remain intact as long as possible, which
5.1.2 Drilling
• After the overburden is stripped, the rock is fractured through blasting. A hammer drill drills
• The drill works on the top of the rock face and drills vertical holes into the rock in an
appropriate blast pattern, using hydraulics. The drill uses air to blow the drilling fragments out of
the hole.
•different drill hole pattern are A(Square), B(Rectangle) and C(Staggered) as shown in fig 5.1
below
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Fig 5.1
• After being drilled, the holes are protected from storm water and debris with cup-like hole
plugs to ensure integrity when the explosives are loaded. See plate 5.1
Plate 5.1
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5.1.3 Blasting
• Blasting is the most efficient way to fracture rock for processing. The blasted rock is called
muck or boulder. Rocks in the muck pile larger than site process can handle are sold for
landscaping and erosion control. They may also be broken down so they fit into the primary
crusher opening.
• A face loader transfers the rock from the muck pile to a haul truck. The face loader has a spade
• The haul truck transports the rock to the processing plant. The loader bucket is sized to be able
to efficiently load the haul trucks with only full buckets. See plate 5.2 and 5.3
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The crushers fragment the rock by compression or impact and the screens separate the stone by
size.
• The primary crusher is a compression jaw crusher. Haul trucks back into the crusher to unload
the rock. A grizzly screen allows smaller rocks to continue through the process. A hydraulic
hammer breaks up rocks that don’t pass into the crusher. The operator monitors the crusher from
Plate 5.4
• From the primary crusher the rock moves by conveyor to the primary screen. Granular products
• Any oversized material goes to the secondary crusher, which is a compression cone crusher.
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Plate 5.5
• From the secondary crusher, rock is screened to separate it into different sizes. Depending on
the size of the stone it moves on different conveyors for further processing or for sale. See plate
5.6 below
Plate 5.6
• Oversized rock from the secondary crusher is sent to the tertiary crusher, which is a
compression cone crusher and is then returned to the screen deck for sizing.
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• Transfer or drop points are where stone drops from one conveyor to another, from a screen to a
Walker encloses these transfer points with rubber to deaden the sound and suppress any airborne
dust.
• The screens vibrate to separate stone into different sizes. The biggest screen is on top. There are
typically three or four stages of sorting by each screen. The different sized stone drops out of the
• The discharge chutes are staggered at the point the rocks drop out so that rock is dropping on
• The screens are changed depending on the type of products being made.
• Walker builds stockpiles to minimize dust emissions. Their heights are typically kept below the
level of on-site perimeter berms. Stockpiles of finer material are stored away from property lines.
• Stockpiles are designed so that highway trucks coming to pick up stone products where
possible can drive to the pile, be loaded and drive away with ease.
• The operation is designed for safety by physically separating the highway trucks that come in
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- They all have magazine
- The different aggregate size produced are 3quater, 3eight, half inch and stone dust.
Dust control system No water sprinkler No water sprinkler Has water sprinkler
Reciprocating pump Pit doesn’t have Pit has Pit doesn’t have
Direct employment
Indirect employment
- Deforestation
- land degradation
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Noise pollution (sound from machine)
5.5 MAGAZINE
In the course of our visit to RRC Company we went to their magazine which is described below
The permanent structured magazine is further divided into three, which are
ii. High explosive permanent magazine: it has on it an inscription of unique no 1606 and
60,000kg.
iii. Amonium nitrate permanent magazine: it also has an inscription of unique no 1606
and 30,000kg.
The magazine is built with reinforced concrete. The entrance of the three magazine, has a slab
blocking the entrance is called dead man stone. See plate 5.7, 5.8 and 5.9 below
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Plate 5.7 plate 5.8
Plate 5.9
It also has windows which are fortified with metal made of iron in which powered charcoal is
added to the smelted metal to harden the metal in a process called Annelling.
The explosives are kept on wood acting as lagging material. The explosive and it is accessories
are kept at different magazine for safety reasons to avoid occurrence of accident.
i. Security house: which is at the entrance of the magazine which is equipped the
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iii. Thunder arresters
v. Sand pile surrounding each magazine to prevent encroachment in the case of fire
accident.
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CHAPTER 6
6.1.0 GEOLOGIC FIELD MAPPING: Is the process of selecting an area of interest and
identifying all the geologic aspect of that area with the purpose of preparing a detail geologic
report which must include a map. Basic instrument used for field mapping are; GPS, Hammer,
The three basic reason for which geologic field work is carried out are;
The three phase in which our geologic mapping was carried out are; planning, data collection and
reporting. The data collected are recorded in the table 6.1- 6.4 and map (topographic geologic
and rose diagram) which summarizes the geologic data which was gathered in the field
Data entry, data display, data management, information retrieval and analysis.
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6.2.3 Data collected they are presented in the table 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4
Table 6.1
soil;clay
Rock; granitic,
Rock; granitic,
Rock; granitic,
Table 6.2
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B4 90 5710411 80 541 4011 1223 Rock; granitic,
Table 6.3
Table 6.4
sedimentary zone
30m eastward
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6.2.4 Topographic map and Rose diagram
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Geologic map
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CHAPTER 7
7.1 Definitions
Economic geology is the study of the formation and extraction of earth materials that have some
economic potential in society. Economic potential means that they are materials that are
currently valuable or may potentially be valuable in the future. These economically valuable
materials are generally called mineral resources and include minerals and ore deposits. Ore
deposits are just useful rocks that are mined for a profit, such as gold, tin, columbite and copper.
Oil and gas are also commonly referred to as mineral resources, despite the fact that they are not
actually minerals. These materials include precious and base metals, nonmetallic
7.2.0 Granite
Granite is a fine or coarse-grained, quartz, mica and feldspar-bearing igneous rock that are made
up entirely of crystals. People have used granite for thousands of years. It is used as a/an
i. construction material; Crushed stone is the most basic use of granite. Crushed granite
is used as a sub-base and base material in road and highway construction. It is used
as crushed stone-media in sewage system drain fields and as a base material for
foundations and construction slabs, buildings, bridges, paving, monuments, and many
ii. dimension stone; in Indoors, polished granite slabs and tiles are used in countertops,
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iv. decorative stone; Crushed granite in attractive colors is used as a landscape stone and
in planters.
v. and it has also been used to manufacture a wide variety of products like asphalt.
7.2.1 Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from Latin: stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin
is a silvery white metal that characteristicly has a faint yellow hue due to slight oxidation.Tin is
Tin has many uses. It takes a high polish and is used to coat other metals to prevent corrosion,
such as in tin cans, which are made of tin-coated steel. Alloys of tin are important, such as soft
solder, pewter, bronze and phosphor bronze. A niobium-tin alloy is used for superconducting
magnets.
Most window glass is made by floating molten glass on molten tin to produce a flat surface. Tin
salts sprayed onto glass are used to produce electrically conductive coatings.
The most important tin salt used is tin(II) chloride, which is used as a reducing agent and as a
mordant for dyeing calico and silk. Tin(IV) oxide is used for ceramics and gas sensors. Zinc
Some tin compounds have been used as anti-fouling paint for ships and boats, to prevent
barnacles. However, even at low levels these compounds are deadly to marine life, especially
7.2.2 Columbite
black mineral group that is an ore of niobium. It has a sub-metallic luster and a high density and
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7.2.3 Gold
Of all the minerals mined from the Earth, none is more useful than gold. Its usefulness is derived
from a diversity of special properties. Gold conducts electricity, does not tarnish, is very easy to
work, can be drawn into wire, can be hammered into thin sheets, alloys with many other metals,
can be melted and cast into highly detailed shapes, has a wonderful color and a brilliant luster.
mechanical strength have engraved the use of the metal and its alloys in dental
ii. Electronics: A small amount of gold is used in almost every sophisticated electronic
device. This includes cell phones, calculators, personal digital assistants, global
positioning system (GPS) units, and other small electronic devices. Most large electronic
iii. Environmental: Gold catalysts can easily oxidise carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide at
ambient temperature.
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CHAPTER 8
SUMMARY
The field work was an exciting experience because we had first hand exposure of industrial scale
production which is comparatively different from the laboratory and class experience we have
had so far. In the course of the field work we started by visiting an Artisanal and Small Scale
Mining (ASM) quarry site and then latter visited mechanized quarry site from which we
appreciate the advantages of technology (Machineries). We also visited ASM sites for gold, tin
and columbite. All of these sites visited covered aspect of mining (surface and underground) and
processing of the minerals. Finally we carried out a detailed geologic field mapping and the
CONCLUSION
At the end of the field work I have learnt most of the rudiments of the Mining Engineering
profession covering aspects like mine survey, geometrical mapping of mineral deposit, mining
RECOMENDATION
1. SAFETY: Safety is very paramount in any mining site both ASM and mechanized
mining. It is observed that the ASM sites, mine with little or no Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE). I therefore strongly suggest that at all stages of the mine PPE like
safety boot, reflective jacket, helmet, nose mask, miners head lamp e.t.c. should be put on
in order to forestall to the bare rest minimal level accidents associated with mining.
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2. TECHNICAL KNOW HOW AND PRODUCTIVITY: There is the realization that
development, and technological information are the basis for creating value added to the
creating capacities including, human resources and research infrastructure and innovation
3. TOXIC SUBSTANCE: I recommend that Strict rules enacted and stringent punishment
4. It is observed that the water pumped out from the pit( in the gold, tin and columbite site)
are not properly channeled. I therefore recommend that proper channels should be
constructed for the water to avoid erosion, and creation of pond which can breed
5. I strongly suggest that JCC and RRC Quarry sites should adopt water sprinkling system
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REFERENCES
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