Amir Bijan Yasrebi

Email: aby203@exeter.ac.uk
Telephone: +44-7792463847

School: College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences
Department: Camborne School of Mines
Research Centre/Unit: Mining and earth science/ Excavation Mining Group

My name is Amir Bijan Yasrebi, and I obtained my BSc. and MSc in excavation mining engineering in Iran and I am currently undertaking my PhD in Open Pit Mining Optimisation with an emphasis on Ultimate Pit Limit at CSM. During my studies in Iran I have also undertaken various courses on energy, environment, mathematics, geology and natural resources.

I believe that the speedy trend of world-wide changes, complexity ofthe globalisation process and the reduction of natural resources mainly agricultural and environmental as well as minerals and energy on one hand and the interest of large multinational investing corporations on the other necessitate proper management of resources and consumption. Hence, the need for scientific research and the application of new management methodologies in order to identify mineral deposits and mine them as economic as possible is essential.

Given the above, during my BSc and MSc studies I have always been interested in economics and management and have participated in various national seminars in this regard.

As a mining engineer, my familiarity with the technical issues of mining along with knowledge of management techniques, economics, finance/resource management and methodologies for future-oriented analysis of concepts and issues has directed me towards my visions and enabled me to achieve my professional goals to pursue higher education in this kind of industry. Therefore, I went through the resume of Camborne School of Mines as well as the subjects of study and its reputation and finally realized that researching at CSM is closely connected with my personal and professional development, consequently this is why I chose CSM to conduct my research studies.

When I started my research on Ultimate Pit Limit I had many concerns due to the fact that I am utilising two new methods within my research namely ‘Fractal geometry in order to identify mineralization zones’ and ‘nonlinear programming to determine an optimised Cut-off grade’. I have chosen initially the material that I want to investigate which can include both metallic and non-metallic ores and secondly I have chosen a country where I could handle two parallel projects as both my main and comparative case studies. To do this, I had several meetings with my supervisors to erase my concerns and fears. I am Persian and I have been lucky to have good relationships with both the governmental and private sectors in Iran due fundamentally to my work experience undertaken there.

We decided to conduct research on copper as a target material because mining of copper ore and the related industries play an important role in Iran’s economy. Copper ore production in Iran accounts for 75% of the total production in the Middle East, so I chose a porphyry copper deposit in Iran called Songun Ahar located in the East Azarbaijan Province and secondly the Kahang deposit situated in central Iran, both being located on the Urumieh-Dokhtar copper belt of Iran.

At the beginning of my research, I never thought that I would have the opportunity to return to my home country to undertake my research. Fortunately, on 21^st of March 2011, which is ironically the Persian New Year, I packed my bags back and travelled back to Iran. I was very fortunate because the executive manager of the National Iranian Copper Industries Co. already knew me since he was one of my lecturers when I was taking my bachelor degree in Iran. Consequently we had some very productive meetings in a very friendly environment and ultimately I succeeded in convincing him of the benefits of working on these two projects mentioned above, to be delivered for both parties.

Activities related to my research include examining and studying the regional geological setting, mineralogy, mine topography model range, exploration operations carried out in the deposits and the economic principles to identify ore reserve estimation, pit geometric profile, overall pit slope angle, optimised Cut-off grade, determination of mining life, annual mine production, identification of appropriate discount rate, economic block model, grade block model, final pit limit, nested pits and pushbacks utilising Fractal Geometry and Non-linear Programming.

To achieve the success of this research, different components of the industry must be subject to economic analysis, also several software packages will be employed and as a result of this I have already been introduced to Rockworks software during my stay in Iran and this user-friendly software really helped me generate my initial 3D Geological and Grade Block models. I look forward to conducting my research at CSM in the coming years.