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The viability of energy mineral resources (EMR) construction projects is contingent upon the state of the world economic climate. Oil sands projects in Alberta, Canada exemplify large EMR projects that are highly sensitive to fluctuations in the world market. Alberta EMR projects are constrained by high fixed production costs and are also widely recognized as one of the most challenging construction projects to successfully deliver due to impacts from extreme weather conditions, remote locations and issues with labor availability amongst others. As indicated in many studies, these hardships strain the industry’s ability to execute work efficiently, resulting in declining productivity and mounting cost and schedule overruns. Therefore, to enhance the competitiveness of Alberta EMR projects, project teams are targeting effective management strategies to enhance project performance and productivity by countering the uniquely challenging environment in Alberta. The main purpose of this research is to develop industry wide benchmarking tailored to the specific constraints and challenges of Alberta. Results support quantitative assessments and identify the root causes of project performance and ineffective field productivity problems in the heavy industry sector capital projects. Customized metrics produced from the data collected through a web-based survey instrument were used to quantitatively assess project performance in the following dimensions: cost, schedule, change, rework, safety, engineering and construction productivity and construction practices. The system enables the industry to measure project performance more accurately, get meaningful comparisons, while establishing credible norms specific to Alberta projects. Data analysis to identify the root cause of performance problems was conducted. The analysis of Alberta projects substantiated lessons of previous studies to create an improved awareness of the abilities of Alberta-based companies to manage their unique projects. This investigation also compared Alberta- based projects with U.S. projects to point out the differences in project process and management strategies under different environments. The relative impact of factors affecting construction productivity were identified and validated by the input from industry experts. The findings help improve the work processes used by companies developing projects in Alberta. / text

The San Dimas mining district, including the Tayoltita mine, is a Tertiary silver-gold epithermal vein system deposited in a calcalkaline volcanic pile. Hydrothermal alteration and vein formation is temporally related to a granite batholith intruded into the volcanics. Alteration mineralogy in andesites is compatible with a hydrothermal flow model in which heated water rises through the batholith, cools to 260°C, and flows out into the volcanics. In the process, a(Na)⁺/a(H)⁺, a(K)⁺/a(H)⁺, a(Ca)⁺⁺/a²(H)⁺, a(SO₄)⁼.a²(H)⁺, and a(H₂S) increase; a(A1)⁺⁺⁺/a³(H)⁺ decreases; and a(Fe)⁺⁺/a² (H)⁺ remains constant, all relative to original fluid conditions in the andesites. Lateral elongation of Ag:Au ratio zoning plotted on vertical projections of veins is interpreted to reflect hydrothermal fluid flow principally in a horizontal direction during ore deposition. Quartz vein-filling, accompanied by chlorite, calcite, rhodonite, and adularia, is widest in a vertical interval approximately 500 to 1,000 meters below the original surface. Pyrite is widely distributed, but silver minerals, electrum, and base-metal sulfides are restricted to the upper portion of the vertical interval of veining in a zone termed the ore horizon. Paragenetic relationships among vein minerals of the Cinco Senores vein in the Tayoltita mine indicate that a(H₂S) decreased; a(Cu)⁺/a(H)⁺, a(Ag)⁺/a(H)⁺, and a(Au)⁺/a(H)⁺ increased; and a(Fe)⁺⁺/a²(H)⁺ and a(SO₄)⁼.a²(H)⁺ remained nearly constant during the initial stage of ore deposition. Fluid inclusion studies of quartz from the Cinco Senores vein indicate that ore deposited at an average temperature of 260°C from boiling fluids of apparent salinities ranging from 0.15 to 0.3 m(NaCl) equivalent. The greater apparent salinities probably reflect dissolved gases as well as chloride salts. Correlation of Ag:Au ratios in deposited vein with ice-melting temperatures in fluid inclusions suggests that evolution of ore fluids in space was accompanied by both increase in deposited Ag:Au ratios and decline in fluid solute concentration. Correlation of ice-melting temperatures with paragenetic age of associated quartz suggests that vein-depositing hydrothermal fluids evolved in both space and time from relatively concentrated to dilute conditions. Both boiling and mixing could have caused this decline in solute concentration.

M.Phil. (Economics) / The study of certain minerals and their relationship to economic indicators requires not only research to establish the economic significance of these commodities, but also the use of statistical techniques to place the data in context by analogy with cyclical events and changing economic circumstances. It is inevitable that a great deal of information will be generated, and that extensive use must be made of the computer throughout the work. The approach used involves the extensive use of graphical and statistical methods to demonstrate the market relationships with time and with selected economic indicators, of six non-ferrous minerals, lead, nickel, tin, copper, aluminium and zinc. These minerals were selected because they represent a good cross-section of the metals that find wide applications in industry, and are economically important. Comparative analyses are made of South Africa as a major producer and exporter of minerals, and of this country's main trading partners, West Germany, Japan and the USA, the major consumers and importers of minerals in the Western World. The statistical information for this study covers a 30 year period, namely 1953 to 1982, and is examined on the premise that general economic variables are causal factors in determining the cyclical behaviour of the market for minerals. Therefore it is obligatory to first examine and explain the nature of business and market cycles and events in the Republic of South Africa, the USA, West Germany, and Japan, and then to relate these to the supply and consumption of the minerals concerned. The relationships between production of minerals for use as raw materials, the production of refined mineral products and the consumption, prices, and stocks of these commodities are explored, and the behaviour of these parameters is explained by reference to familiar and well-used economic indicators such as the Gross National Product (GNP) and the Consumer Price Index(CPI). Subtleties in the relationships between the selected minerals and economic indicators are presented. Two.. fundamental approaches, graphical and statistical, are used in the formal analysis of the problem of quantifcation of the significance of minerals as economic indicators. Simultaneous enhancement, both graphically and statistically, between the parameters has important implications regarding the conclusions drawn in this thesis. A central issue is the statistical evaluation of all the possible combinations of the selected minerals and economic indicators, based on correlation coefficients. Promising results are classified on the basis of high levels of correlation between the various parameters. The consistency with which a mineral achieves high correlation coefficients is defined by a scoring system, whereby sequences of correlation coefficient values are totalled and averaged. Cause and effect cannot simply be assumed, nor can it be proved by statistics. However, statistical verification procedures provide a great deal of assistance in the interpretation of correlation coefficients. The results obtained from the statistical analysis show that some mineral commodities are more closely linked to overall economic conditions than others. These are aluminium, copper and lead...

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M.Com. (Mining Economics) / This study indicated that price cyclicity in commodity markets is caused by various factors, and that this in itself can cause certain short and long term effects for mineral producers. One short term effect of price cyclicity is its potential influence on the stockpiling activities of mineral producers. Data on the activities of the producers of 24 mineral products in South Africa during the period 1980 - 1985 were analysed to quantify the potential influences. The only mineral products that show a significant inverse relationship between export prices and stockpiling in real terms, are diamonds and antimony. In both instances producers tend to stockpile if the price of the product declines, and to sell stocks if the price increases. This tendency is probably related to the relatively dominant position in the production and marketing of minerals that South African producers of these mineral products have achieved in the world market. Due to the confidentiality of statistics, the data of other dominant producers, for example the South African platinum producers, could not be included in the analysis. With the possible exception of the dominant producers, speculative stockpiling by South African producers is the exception rather than the rule...

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 6 November 2015. / Environmental degradation and pollution continue to characterise the mining sector in South Africa despite a robust legislative framework which is aimed at enhancing sustainable mining practices. Of particular concern is the impact of mining on biodiversity. During 2013 the Departments of Environmental Affairs and Mineral Resources, together with the South African Mining and Biodiversity Forum, an alliance of stakeholders from industry, conservation organisations and government facilitated by the Chamber of Mines of South Africa, released the South African Mining and Biodiversity Guideline (SAMBG), which aim to mainstream biodiversity into the mining sector. The guideline seek to integrate biodiversity considerations into planning processes and manage biodiversity through the lifecycle of a mine, and so contribute to better outcomes. In addition to the guideline, mining companies that obtain funding from financial institutions that are signatory to the Equator Principles are required to implement IFC Performance Standard 6 (IFC PS6) which also deals with biodiversity conservation. There is a concern that the SAMBG adds further to the burgeoning pile of standards, guidelines and best practices that mining companies are required to meet, but without necessarily adding anything new. This research project deals with this concern through a review of the SAMBG to assess their potential contribution to biodiversity conservation and to determine, through a comparative analysis, whether any overlaps and gaps exist between the guideline and IFC PS6. A qualitative methodology was used to understand how the Aichi Biodiversity Targets are addressed by the SAMBG. Based on this review a conclusion as to the role of the SAMBG amongst the range of guidelines and standards was drawn. The research indicated that there is alignment between the SAMBG, the IFC PS6, the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and South African national environmental legislation. They all aim to achieve a similar outcome, the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, but provided different levels of detail and are targeted at slightly different audiences.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2013. / Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) has been a crucial industry in Africa for centuries. In Burkina Faso approximately 95 kms northeast of the capital city Ouagadougou near the village of Dem and on a ferricrete capped ridge to the west of the village, it is possible to find a number of opencast workings and underground mines that show evidence of extensive artisanal mining for iron. Iron mining worked quartz-vein hosted and lateritic ore. Nearby, waste piles, processing sites and at least eleven (11) Bloomery furnaces are exposed on the alluvial plain. Petrographically the ore bearing rocks consist of goethite-hematite as the dominant oxides with silica. Geological and ethnographic studies conducted in 2011 focussed on detailing and mapping the mine site and host rocks (including ore rocks), and establishing the age of mining, processing and forging of ore. Selected charcoal samples were collected from furnaces sites. Limited AMS radiocarbon dating of six (6) samples was performed at Beta Analytic laboratory in Miami, Florida, USA and suggested that iron forging may have begun in the 15th century, which could also be the age of mining and processing of ore. The site has characteristics such as impure slag, eleven (11) large furnaces, hundreds of tuyeres, and crucibles, and clay fragments. Remnant slag samples were collected for petrographic and mineralogical study to deduce the mineral composition of the slag. The slag samples contained high concentration of fayalite, quartz, magnetite and hematite and low concentration of iron metal and ulvospinel suggesting an iron silicate slag of low melt temperature was formed in the furnaces.