The Minerals and Mining Business

This course is a part of Foundations of Modern Mining, a 6-course Professional Certificate series from edX.

The industrial advancement of mankind is inextricably linked with natural resources. We cannot underestimate our collective reliance on minerals and mineral products, not only for industrial and commercial progress, but also in the health and agriculture industries. Mined ore, as well as the commensurate beneficiation, processing and refining of the product, provides the industrial sector with the required material to further shape and fabricate this material into the end product to be used for the benefit of mankind.

In this course we will look at how minerals extraction or production only occurs after discovery, exploration, research, analysis and planning have all been completed. Planning requires a firm knowledge of a commodity’s future market in terms of supply and demand, its value or forecast price, the capital outlay (development costs) and the costs to produce it and, critically, how the development of that deposit will be funded. This funding may take the form of equity, debt or potentially derivative or convertible instruments or through other innovative funding mechanisms such as metal streaming, farm-ins and participation funding (joint ventures).

We will also look at the number of people either directly or indirectly linked to the mining business, with the multitude of stakeholders ranging from employees, service providers, financiers and investors through to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and activists.

Throughout the course we reference the value-chain which represents the stages and processes that a minerals project will go through to produce mineral products. Each stage provides a value-add to the previous stage and there are opportunities to invest at each of the major stages.

This interactive course incorporates videos, expert insights, simulations and discussions to deepen your current understanding of the minerals and mining sector.

What you'll learn

• Students who complete this course will be able to:
• Explain how new mineral deposits are found and describe the economic factors that govern their discovery and development
• Show how a mining plan addresses the complete lifecycle of a mine, from initial infrastructure requirements through to operation, closure and rehabilitation
• Monitor the ‘living plan’ of a mine and establish how extraction and processing of minerals is constantly adjusted to suit market conditions
• Explain how economics and market forces influence the decision to close a mine
• Discuss the concept of a value chain and how value is generated and measured across different mine-life stages for various stakeholders