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Mine Water Management Program Part 3

Soil, Erosion and Sediment Control, Tailings and Residue

Delivered by Sustainable Minerals Institute

Overview

Learn the skills needed to implement best practice management of soils, tailings and residue for mine site rehabilitation and closure.

You’ll focus on all aspects of soils management, including understanding the fundamentals of soil physics, soil hydrology, soil chemistry, soil sampling and characterisation of soil physical, chemical and hydrological properties. This will provide essential knowledge that will form the basis for further studies in managing soils on mine sites.

Learn about erosion and how to effectively manage erosion and sedimentation on site, and also learn how to control and manage the impacts of tailings and residue on water quality and how to deliver sustainable waste disposal structures. You'll engage with practical examples, analyse mine site data and identify the tasks that need to be undertaken.

Upcoming courses

Delivery mode
online, self-paced
Date
No dates currently available
Time commitment
70 hours

Register your interest to be notified when new courses are scheduled

Who should attend

This course is developed for environmental personnel working for mining companies to give them the foundational skills for managing water resources on a mine site. It is also suitable for professionals working with the mining industry including:

  • environmental consultants
  • water resources engineers and scientists
  • government regulators and policy makers
  • academics and researchers.

This course is targeted at professionals with less than 10 years experience working in the mining industry.

Entry requirements

You'll need an ArcGIS Pro license. If you don't have access to this software through your work, a personal ArcGIS Pro licence can be purchased on Esri’s website for US$100 for a one-year licence.

Computer system requirements: preferably 16GB of RAM (memory); 8GB is a minimum. All GIS workflows provided in the courses were tested with a 16GB Memory system, Intel i7 processor (3GHz), Intel Iris Xe integrated GPU (8GB), and Samsung NVMe SSD.

What you'll learn

  • Acquire knowledge of the basic principles of soil chemistry, soil physics and soil hydrology.
  • Develop knowledge in the characterisation of soil properties.
  • Understand how mining impacts soil properties and the regulations related to soils management.
  • Understand the importance of effective erosion and sediment control.
  • Implement effective erosion and sediment control practices on mine sites.
  • Performing soil loss erosion modelling using the GIS-based RUSLE tools using a real-world mine site case study site.
  • Build safe and stable mineral residue facilities for tailings and waste rock.

Time commitment

This is an online course that will require roughly 70 hours to complete.

  • over 1 semester
  • Enrolments are accepted for 2 weeks after the official start date

Assessment

Assessments are part of every key subject area in this course, and are all related to a case study mine site that will accompany participants during this course.

Course participants will perform the following tasks as part of assessments:

  • Excel-based derivation and calculation of key soil parameters in regard to soil physics, hydrology and chemistry and reporting of these.
  • GIS-based soil loss modelling using the RUSLE, including derivation of RUSLE parameters with GIS-based approaches and excel-based work on rainfall data.
  • Determining appropriate erosion and sediment controls.
  • Identifying potential soil cover types for the waste rock dumps and tailings storage facility.

Certification and accreditation

Students who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion to verify their skills and achievements.

Facilitators

Dr Robynne Chrystal, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Water in the Minerals Industry (CWiMI)
Dr Robynne Chrystal
Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Water in the Minerals Industry (CWiMI)
Dr Mandana Shaygan
Dr Mandana Shaygan
Research Fellow, Centre for Water in the Minerals Industry (CWiMI)
Associate Professor Mansour Edraki, Group Leader, Environmental Geochemistry, Centre for Water in the Minerals Industry (CWiMI)
Associate Professor Mansour Edraki
Group Leader, Environmental Geochemistry, Centre for Water in the Minerals Industry (CWiMI)

Cost

Applicant Price
Individual domestic (ex. GST) A$3,000
Individual international (GST not payable) A$3,000

Please see the Terms and Conditions – UQ Pay (PDF, 123.12 KB).

GST is excluded from the cost

Students that enrol in all 3 Mine Water Management Program courses receive a 10% discount if they pay for all 3 at once. Companies with 5 or more attendees receive a 10% discount.

Payment options

We accept credit cards (Visa/MasterCard) for payment, including corporate credit cards. If you do not have access to a card, please contact our team at education@smi.uq.edu.au to discuss your options.

Related courses

This course is part of the Mine Water Management Program suite. There are 3 courses within this suite – see the other related courses below:

Contact

Sustainable Minerals Institute

For more professional development options, visit the Sustainable Minerals Institute website.