This book is concerned with the analysis of some of the internal, controllable factors that influence mining production effectiveness. It combines the best thinking in mining and management so that practitioners can devise a concrete strategy for generating maximum shareholder value.

Through an exploration of the links between geologic setting, mining and process technologies, economics, environment and stakeholder communities, this text addresses ways in which the mineral industry can be made safe, efficient and ecologically sustainable, focusing in particular upon the following key themes: a review of the current status of t

"Informed decisions concerning undiscovered mineral resources cannot be made without an understanding of the technological, environmental, or economic difficulties that might be encountered. Quantitative Mineral Resource Assessments: An Integrated Approach offers a modern quantitative assessment that explicates the diverse factors that affect mineral-related decisions, so that potential consequences can be more easily assessed, uncertainty and risk reduced, and courses of action determined without bias. The integrated approach focuses on three assessment parts and the models that support them and is designed so that consequences of alternative courses of action can be examined with respect to land use, exploration, or mineral-resource development. Drawing upon newly developed deposit density models, frequency distributions, and previously unpublished experiments, the book provides an essential and practical approach for making critical decisions." "Written for governmental and industrial policy makers, managers of exploration, planners of regional development, and similar decision makers, the book brings together for the first time the widely scattered literature on the subject. It also captures the necessary ingredients of the diverse disciplines of economic geology, statistics, mineral economics, and geology that are an integral part of quantitative mineral resource assessments. With this wealth of information, the book will serve not only as a guide for professionals but also as a comprehensive reference for those studying or researching mineral resources."--BOOK JACKET.

This book describes an innovative closed-loop concept that allows the feedback of online data from operational monitoring to create mining intelligence. The application of this concept promises significant improvements in economic and environmental key performance indicators for any mining operation. Combining theory with industrial case studies, the book guides readers through this process by providing theoretical background, addressing practical issues related to operational implementation, and illustrating the impact on selected examples. This new concept is presented using the example of a bulk and gold mining application, but is applicable at any mine where grade control is important. The book is of interest to industrial professionals involved in operational monitoring, mining intelligence, and mine planning optimization, as well as to researchers and academics in the field of applied geostatistics.

Minerals are part of virtually every product we use. Common examples include copper used in electrical wiring and titanium used to make airplane frames and paint pigments. The Information Age has ushered in a number of new mineral uses in a number of products including cell phones (e.g., tantalum) and liquid crystal displays (e.g., indium). For some minerals, such as the platinum group metals used to make cataytic converters in cars, there is no substitute. If the supply of any given mineral were to become restricted, consumers and sectors of the U.S. economy could be significantly affected. Risks to minerals supplies can include a sudden increase in demand or the possibility that natural ores can be exhausted or become too difficult to extract. Minerals are more vulnerable to supply restrictions if they come from a limited number of mines, mining companies, or nations. Baseline information on minerals is currently collected at the federal level, but no established methodology has existed to identify potentially critical minerals. This book develops such a methodology and suggests an enhanced federal initiative to collect and analyze the additional data needed to support this type of tool.

The committee assesses the USGS's responses to a 1996 program review, evaluates the minerals information team, and examines how the program's mission and vision might evolve to meet the nation's future needs over the next decade.