The Mining Project Evaluation Certificate Program is designed to provide formalized education in mining project evaluation. The program aims to equip students with skills that allow them to evaluate mining projects in order to facilitate investment decisions.

Students admitted to this program must take four required courses (12 credit hours) as outlined below, and obtain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better to earn the certificate. 

Curriculum

12 credit hours (four courses) and must include at least three courses from the following:

MIN ENG 5522 Ore Reserve Analysis and Geostatistics: Principles of geostatistics, theory of spatially correlated random variables, variance and co-variances and their application on the evaluation of mineral resources, ore reserve estimation, strategic exploration, and production planning. Real case studies from mining industry will be presented. Delivery: Main Campus & Online/Spring Semester

MIN ENG 5532 Advanced Mining Economics: Mining industry & national economics. Social & economics significance of mined commodities. Marketing of mined commodities. Innovation approaches to mine financing, project loans, and leasing. Mining feasibility studies, government influence & policy, mining industry foreign investment, investment strategies, mining taxation, cost predictions. Delivery: Main Campus & Online/Fall Semester

MIN ENG 5913 Advanced Computer Aided Mine Design: Project-based mine planning and design course. Engineering design process applied to computer-aided mine planning and design. Mine layouts, production planning, and materials scheduling optimization. Delivery: Main Campus & Online/Fall Semester

MIN ENG 6522 Mining Property Feasibility Studies and Evaluation Procedure: A systematic phased approach is presented, designed to increase the level of confidence and accuracy of estimates, moving from exploration through to a "bankable" study. Liability, ethics, resource/reserves, political/social/investment risk, economic parameters, and due diligence are discussed. Delivery: Main Campus & Online/Spring semester

Select one course from the following:

MIN ENG 5212 Aggregates and Quarrying: Advanced coverage of topics on the stone and aggregate industry, including surface and underground operations, plant equipment, economics, marketing, transportation, and environmental topics. The course will include at least one field trip and a design project. Delivery: Main Campus & Online/Spring Semester

MIN ENG 6912 Simulation of Mining Systems: Overview of stochastic simulation. Model formulation using general purpose process simulation software. Model verification and validation. Simulation experimentation. Delivery: Main Campus & Online/Fall Semester

MIN ENG 6932 Advanced Mining Systems: Principles of design for the development and production of hard rock mineral deposits that require integrated surface and underground mining methods. Cost considerations leading to optimization. Terminal feasibility report required. Delivery: Main Campus & Online/Fall Semester

MIN ENG 6936 Surface Mine Design: This course will focus on the determinants of surface mine design, geomechanical and geometrical mine design for open pit and strip mining; mine layouts optimization; mine environmental systems; and research directions in surface mine design and optimization. Delivery: Main Campus & Online/Spring Semester