The students should develop the ability to: identify the properties of a unknown material (mineral, barren, tailings) plan the steps needed to reach the desired products through a physical-mechanical treatment process verify the validity of the results of tests carried out by them amd by other laboratories identify the discrepancies between the expected result and the one obtained and be able to trace their causes

The students should have knowledge of the fundamentals of physics, chemistry, statistics and material sciences in order to be capable of carrying out preliminary considerations to detect the main properties of materials.

Concepts on primary raw materials - Solid georesources production and economic layout - EU guide lines on sustainability - Sampling - Concepts on liberation of the grain, yield and concentration - Physical and mechanical main properties - laboratory test methods - General concepts pertaining to comminution - Alternative and rotating crushing machines; roller mills, impact crushers, milling, general concepts and technologies pertaining to screening - Separation and recovery efficiency - Industrial classification in a fluid medium, by fall, counter-current, mechanical, centrifuge, the pneumatic classifying systems, sink-float separation, hydraulic and pneumatic table flotation, magnetic separation, electric separation (15 h) Natural stones and aggregates - laboratory test for CE marking of natural stones and aggregates - the weathering of natural stone – the ageing tests – in situ NTD measurements - recycling of cutting sludges – (3h) Examples of mineral processing flowsheets and of barren recycling (3 h) Practical exercises in laboratory on run of mine and mine waste: sampling, particle size analyses, differential comminution, magnetic and electrostatic separation, densimetric separation in fluid medium, floatation, determination of the physical mechanical properties of stone materials. (21 h) Visits to industrial plants are planned in order to allow students to understand the real complexity of a treatment plant (10 h) Design of a process plant that will be presented during the final lesson. (8 h)

The course is organized as in the following: - in the lecture rooms, theory lectures (22 h); - practical exercises in laboratory (21 h); - visits to different industrial plants (10 h); - design of a process plant that will be presented during the final lesson (the last 8 h). Lectures are devoted to the presentation of the course topics, in their theoretical aspects and applicative examples. Exercises classes shall be carried out in the Solid Processing Lab where students, in workgroups, will apply the treatment processes learned in the theoretical lessons, on samples of different materials, with the assistance of the instructor. Visits to industrial plants are planned in order to allow students to understand the real complexity of a treatment plant

Notes shall be made available by the lecturer. Moreover, the following texts can be consulted in DIATI library: Barry A. Wills - Mineral Processing Technology : An Introduction to the Practical Aspects of Ore Treatment and Mineral Recovery, Edition 7, 2011, Butterworth-Heinemann Gupta and D. S. Yan - Mineral Processing Design and Operation : An Introduction, 2006, Elsevier Manning D.a.C. Introduction to industrial minerals. Chapman and Hall Ed. , 1995 Industrial Minerals (periodic)

Exam: Individual essay; Group project;

The final evaluation is the average of the following two phases: 1) the project of treatment will be presented by each group on the last day of the lesson, to the colleagues of the course and to the experts called by the teacher (time for each presentation: 15 minutes). Its rating will weigh as much as 50% of the final vote. 2) Each student must deliver at least two days before the final examination a report on one of the didactic visits and a second report on one of the laboratory exercises carried out. The vote attributed to the reports will weigh for the remaining 50% of the final vote.

In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.