Undergraduate - UnitMNE4040 - Mineral processing

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

print version

6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Engineering
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Mohan Yellishetty

Synopsis

This unit provides an introduction to the processing technologies used in the minerals industry, their characteristics and how and why they are used. This will also provide an introduction to the underpinning fundamental physical, chemical and transport processes, to demonstrate the influence of raw materials and market needs on processes and products, and the importance of the coordination between mining and processing. The processes used will apply to all minerals: metals, non-metals, coal and the aggregate.

A combination of a project based approach together with a sequence of sample tutorials, to provide practice and experience in the use of analysis and design tools, will be employed.

Outcomes

At the conclusion of this unit, students will be able to:

comprehend the principles of physical and chemical processes that allow selective separation of minerals from ores, and of elements from mineral concentrates, metals and materials to maximize the recovery of valuable resources.
synthesise the fundamental processes and equipment design to suit the process objectives and optimize the plant performance.
analyse the process route for a given ore deposit or source materials and evaluate its economic and environmental impacts and develop measures to improve it.
apply process flow sheets to synthesise the processes undertaken in mineral and material processing and to evaluate the suitability of a specific technology.

Assessment

Closed Book Examination (3 hours): 50%
Assignment/Practical/Project work (continuous assessment): 50%

Students are required to achieve at least 45% in the total continuous assessment component (assignments, tests, mid-semester exams, laboratory reports) and at least 45% in the final examination component, and an overall mark of 50% to achieve a pass grade in the unit. Students failing to achieve this requirement will be given a maximum of 45% in the unit.

Workload requirements

3 hours lectures, 2 hours practice classes and 7 hours of private study per week.

Chief examiner(s)

Professor Jeffrey Walker

Prerequisites

MNE3060

Co-requisites

None

Prohibitions