Mining Series

Six-Part Series:
Developing Economic Mineral Deposits

The Women’s Mining Coalition periodically publishes white papers related to current issues affecting the mining industry. Pertinent white papers from other organizations are also included on this page.

Part1 - Mineral Exploration: Essential to Discovering Economic Mineral Deposits

The mineral exploration process is the first step in the discovery of economic mineral deposits that are required to provide the raw materials needed to manufacture countless products essential for our everyday lives.

Feasibility Studies are the next step in the process and are crucial in the determination of the technical and economic viability of a mineral deposit. This paper outlines the basic steps of the feasibility process and the information that goes into these documents.

Upon completion of exploration and discovery and the determination that the deposit is both technically and economically feasible to mine, a mining company must make the ultimate decision as to whether they wish to proceed to the mine development stage or if they will sell the project to another mining company

Once the final decision is made to proceed to the mine development stage, the culmination of
many years of exploration, feasibility determination, financing, and permitting come to fruition.
At this point in the process, a company will have spent a minimum of tens of millions of dollars
to conduct the exploration and analyses required to “prove up” a deposit, as well as working
through the permitting process.

At the end of mine life, two major components of the mining life cycle begin. Reclamation is the physical process of reclaiming a mine site based on the recontouring and revegetation of all areas that were disturbed during the mining process. Closure is the process by which the mine facilities are dismantled, removed, or demolished. Because these two processes are intricately intertwined, they will be discussed together in this, the final paper in the Mining Process series.