Business Decisions

You may not think of an engineer making business decisions under the mine manager. But in reality they advise the manager on what to do. Engineers look at samples to determine if it feasible to mine in that location or another on the property. This is critical to the overall profitability of the mine. They have to determine were the richest deposits of the mineral ore or coal is and make decisions from that. Once they have located the deposit, they must determine the size of it. This is called reserves. The reserve is what determines the life of the mine. If the reserve of mineable material is large, the mine will be able to stay in one location. The reason I say mineable material is because some material is in to small of a deposit and cannot be feasibly recovered. If it is feasible to mine, then engineers begin the mine planning process. This process determines the mine down to fine details. They must first decide on the type of mine. The two most basic forms are surface and underground mining. There are other classifications within surface mining and underground mining but for now we will stick with the two main ones. They must then form the plan for water runoff, mine ventilation, mine direction and size, and the machinery and power needed.