Environmental and Economic Relevance of Georesources

The course aims at providing a basic knowledge of the most common mineral commodities (georesources), their availability in nature, their global distribution (and in particular in Italy), the most common mining methods, market of the mineral commodities, environmental effects of mining activities and mineral processing, management of georesources within the framework of circular economy, and the Italian mining law.

Knowledge and understanding: Students should demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the subject matters and, with the support of advanced textbooks, reach a level of proficiency including leading edge aspects of this field. By the end of this course, students are expected to master the essentials of: raw materials deposits; the main mineral commodities, their market, uses and relevant industrial transformation processing; the most common exploration, mining and production methods.
Making judgements: Students should develop the ability to gather and interpret data to make independent judgements, being also aware of the relevant economic, social, scientific or ethical consequences;
Communication skills: Students are expected to learn how to communicate information, ideas, raise problems and propose solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences;
Learning skills: Students should develop the necessary learning skills for them to undertake further studies with a high degree of autonomy.