Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Mining Engineering
A sedimentological approach for classifying sub-surface mine wastes: implications for shallow mine geothermal energy
Published: 2020-03-20
Subjects: Engineering, Mining Engineering
Following sub-surface coal extraction, workings become flooded and represent a potential aquifer for shallow geothermal development projects. We investigate the internal structure of collapsed mine workings in surface exposures of pillar and stall mine workings exposed through coastal erosion at Whitley Bay, NE England, UK. These workings collapsed in stages, leaving a clay-rich anthropogenic [...]
Simulating Electropulse Fracture of Granitic Rock
Published: 2019-11-23
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geology, Geotechnical Engineering, Mining Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Electropulse treatments employ a series of high-voltage discharges to break rock into small fragments. As these methods are particularly suited to fracturing hard brittle rocks, electropulse treatments can serve to enhance or substitute for more traditional mechanical approaches to drilling and processing of these materials. Nevertheless, while these treatments have the potential to improve [...]
Bluecap: A Geospatial Model to Assess Regional Economic-Viability for Mineral Resource Development
Published: 2019-08-29
Subjects: Engineering, Mining Engineering
Frontier mineral exploration is often exclusively focused on assessing geological potential without consideration for the economic viability of resource development. This strategy may overlook potentially prosperous zones for more geologically-favoured but financially-disadvantageous regions, or conversely, may introduce implicit biases against potential developments without due regard to [...]