Professional Documents
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Introduction
A. MISSION
B. VISION
MGB envisions a minerals industry that is not only prosperous but also socially,
economically and environmentally sustainable, with broad community and political support
while positively and progressively assist in governments program on poverty alleviation and
contributing to the general economic well-being of the nation.
MGB also aims to be the leading geoscience and geo resources Bureau serving the public
and nation with scientific reliability.
C. COMPANY PROFILE
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) is the primary government agency under the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), responsible for the conservation,
management, development and proper use of the country's mineral resources including those
in reservations, and lands of the public domain.
Under the Mining Act of 1995, the Bureau is responsible for the administration and
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disposition of mineral lands and mineral resources, and to undertake geological, mining,
metallurgical, chemical and other related researches as well as geological and mineral
exploration surveys and other related studies such as geo environmental, hydrogeological,
geochemical and geophysical surveys.
Geosciences Division
Conducts geological, geo environmental and mineral exploration surveys;
complements the Mine Management Division in the evaluation of mining rights
applications; and provides geological and geo scientific information and
geotechnical services to other Government agencies, mining contractors/permitees
and general public. This division is composed of the following: Geological Survey,
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Mineral Exploration and Laboratory Services Sections.
E. FUNCTIONS
Geosciences Division (GD)
Undertakes land and marine geo scientific surveys (including mineral exploration,
geological mapping, geo hazard assessment, groundwater resource exploration and
vulnerability assessment, and engineering geological and geo-environmental
studies)
Provides geological laboratory and information services.
Conducts geo hazard and risk assessment (including hazard modeling, and
engineering geological studies);
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Conducts relocation/resettlement and evacuation site assessment in support to
disaster risk reduction and management programs; and
Undertakes geological and review of engineering geological and geo hazard
assessment reports.
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Undertakes evaluation of applications for survey order and survey returns, and
survey plans in areas outside mineral reservations;
Undertakes initial evaluation of applications for survey order and survey returns,
and survey plans in areas within mineral reservations;
Verifies mining tenement boundaries in connection with mining applications and
in cases of conflicts/adverse claims/oppositions in areas outside mineral
reservations;
Assists in the evaluation of mining applications in relation to mining tenement
boundaries;
Manages the regional mining tenement control map;
Evaluates the deputation of Geodetic Engineers;
Evaluates mine safety and health programs and related permit applications;
Conducts monitoring of implementation of mine safety and health programs
and compliance with other mine safety and health requirements; and
Investigates incidents/complaints relating to mine safety and health.
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Social Development Section
LABORATORY ANALYSIS
A. Copper Determination
1. Weigh 0.5 gm sample.
2. Moisten it with water.
3. Add 20 mL Nitric acid and 15 mL Hydrochloric acid.
4. Digest until smaller volume.
5. Cool and add 100 mL water.
6. BOIL.
7. Cool and add enough Ammonium hydroxide to precipitate iron. Boil till slightly
ammoniacal.
8. Cool and add pinch of ammonium bifluoride.
9. Titrate copper using standard sodium thiosulphate
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SnCl 2
7. Boil and reduce with .
8. Cool
HgCl 2
9. Add 10 mL and 20 mL of Titrating solution and Diphenylamine
indicator.
K 2 Cr 2 O7
10. Titrate with standard until bluish black color.
C. Silica Determination
1. Weigh 0.5 gm of sample.
2. Moisten it with water.
3. Add 15 mL of concentrated Hydrochloric acid and few drops of
concentrated Nitric acid and digest.
4. Heat until decomposition is complete and adds 7 mL of Sulfuric acid and
let fume copiously.
5. Cool and add 25 mL of distilled water. Boil to dissolve the salts.
6. Filter through #40 Whatman filter paper. Use rubber policeman to transfer
all residue to the filter paper. Wash the residue well with hot water. The
residue is for silica determination. Filtrate is for other composition
required.
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E. Lime Determination
a.) Dissolve 18.61g disodium salt of EDTA and dilute to 1 liter with previously boiled,
cooled distilled water.
CaCO3
b.) Standardize against pure CaCO3. Weigh 1 g of pure (oven- dried for 1 hr. at
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E. Fire Assaying
Fire assaying is carried out today much as they were then. This ancient
method is still taught in university courses for metallurgist because it offers a
convenient way of studying the reaction of igneous chemistry. It is still used in the
industries, mining and refineries, because modern science has been unable to
develop better method of determining precious-metal content of ores. This is
because, large samples can be economically and accurately assayed by fire method
but spectrographic methods of analysis are not adapted to operating on large
sample portions, while wet chemical method, involving digestion of large samples
would be very expensive.
APPARATUS
1. Muffle Furnace-oil fired or electric furnace
2. Balance and Weights- should be sensitive to 0.005 mg at least. It need not have a
capacity of more than 1,000 g but should be accurate with that load.
3. Cupels- a flat, shallow crucible of bone ash, used in cupellation.
4. Fusion Crucible-20 g capacity
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5. Annealing Crucible- 10 g Coors porcelain crucible
6. Iron Mould
7. Hot plate
REAGENTS:
A flux is a substance which when heated in contact with some difficulty
fusible compounds either combines in it or takes it into solution, in each case
producing a compound or mixture which is easily fusible at ordinary furnace
temperatures. The principal fluxes and other reagents used in fire assaying are the
following:
1. Borax and Borax Glass - these are active and readily fusible acid fluxes. These lower
the temperatures of slag formation and are considered excellent solvent for metallic
oxides. These are used as cover to prevent loss of ore which results from the escape of
gas at a temperature below that of incipient fusion.
2. Silica acid reagent which combines with metal oxides to form the slag, protects
crucible from corrosion.
3. Litharge-basic reagent and aids in the fusion of acid substance. When reduced, it
supplies the lead for the button.
4. Soda Ash- basic flux and when molten is very fluid and holds in suspension finely
ground infusible materials. To some extent, it reacts with metallic sulfides to form
alkaline sulfide and sulfates.
5. Flour-powerful reducing agent and reduces litharge to lead for the collection of gold
and silver.
6. Niter-this is a powerful oxidizing agent. It oxidizes sulfides, arsenides, antimonides. It
is used to control size of the button when the reducing effect of the charge is high.
ASSAY PROCEDURE
1.) The assay portion is weighed out.
2.) Fluxes are added plus litharge for the lead button and oxidizing agents or reducing
agents are also added for the control of the size of lead button.
3.) Mix thoroughly the reagents and the ore in the crucible.
4.) Place the crucible with the litharge ore plus the reagents into the fire assaying furnace
which has been preheated to the temperature of about 1000 C. The purpose of this
step is to fuse the charge.
5.) Once the charge is melted it is poured into the iron mold which has been previously
warmed.
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6.) When the material is already cold, break the color of lead from the slag and hammer
the lead into a cub to remove the slag.
7.) Place it in quarts (2pcs) into the lead button. In quarts is an alloy of lead and silver
wherein the amount of silver is known.
8.) Place the lead button in the red cupel which is inside the muffle furnace. Cupellation
is the oxidizing fusion of the lead button.
9.) Remove the cupel and weigh the dore and record the weight.
10.) Flatten the dore. Introduce it into the nitric acid and heat. The silver dissolves in the
acid while gold is undissolved. Wash the gold with warm distilled water and dry.
11.) Anneal the gold over the blue flame of the Bunsen burner.
12.) Cool and weigh the gold.
F. Water Analysis
The chemical composition of water changes on standing. Loss of CO2 from
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solution converts the bicarbonates to carbonates. Precipitation of CaCO3 affects the
validity of the pH, alkalinity, specific conductance, calcium, total hardness, and
dissolved solids. The shorter the time that elapses between the collection of the
sample and its analysis, the greater the validity of the analytical results.
1. pH
It is a term used universally to express the intensity of the acid or alkaline
condition of a solution. It is the condition in expressing hydrogen-ion
concentration or more precisely the hydrogen ion activity. Most natural waters
range between the pH 6-9. The pH measurement is an important consideration in
determining the corrosive action of water and assessing treatment practices for
industrial processes. Acidic waters can exert stress; acidic condition kills aquatic
life, while basic condition affects the reproduction of aquatic species. The
determination of pH is carried out on an unfiltered sample.
REAGENTS:
1. pH 4 buffer solution: Dissolve 10.2 g of anhydrous potassium biphthalate,
KHC 8 H 4 O4
, using recently boiled and cooled distilled water, and dilute to 1 liter.
2. pH 7 buffer solution: Dissolve 1.361 g of anhydrous potassium dihydrogen phosphate,
KH 2 PO 4 Na 2 H PO 4
, and 1.420 g of anhydrous disodium hydrogen phosphate, ,
both of which have been dried overnight between 100 C and 130 C, and dilute to 1 liter.
Use previously boiled and cooled distilled water.
3. pH 9 buffer solution: Dissolve 3.81 g of sodium tetraborate decahydrate,
Na 2 B4 O7 10 H 2 O
(borax), using previously boiled and cooled distilled water, and
dilute to 1 liter.
Prepared standard buffers are commercially available if desired.
PROCEDURE:
1. Allow the pH meter with an appropriate warm up period. (as per manufacturers
instruction)
2. Calibration of the instrument as per manufacturers instruction. Measure pH in
accordance with the manufacturers instructions and with minimum aeration.
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2. TOTAL DISSOLVED SOLIDS (TDS) Evaporation Method
Total dissolved solids just like suspended solids are both natural and man-
made, their origin extending from industrial pollution to mineral deposits. Total
dissolved solids are important since they can be present in concentrations which
are carcinogens, mutagenic, teratogenic to human beings or toxic to wildlife or
aquatic species.
The quality and quantity of dissolved solids are major factors in determining
the variety and abundance of plants and animal life in the aquatic system. TDS is
the portion of the residue that passes through 0.45 micron filter.
APPARATUS:
1. Platinum evaporating dish, 100 mL capacity.
2. Steam Bath
3. Drying oven
4. Filter paper- 0.45 micron
PROCEDURE:
1. Filter about 1 L of water sample using a 0.45 micron filter paper. (Shake the
water sample before filtration)
2. Pipet into a tared platinum evaporating dish a volume of well-mixed, filtered
sample that will yield between 25 to 250 mg residues.
3. Evaporate the sample to dryness on a steam bath.
4. Dry in an oven to constant weight at 105 C -110 C. (about 2 hours)
5. Cool to room temperature in a desiccator and weigh the dish immediately.
PROCEDURE:
1. Direct Method
a. Wash with distilled water the 0.45 micron filter paper. Do this twice.
b. Dry the washed filter paper at 105 C -110 C for 1 hour. Weigh. (A)
c. Shake the unfiltered water sample and take an aliquot of 25mL-100mL. The
volume to be taken depends on the amount of suspended materials in the water
sample.
d. Filter the aliquot portion using the weighed filter paper with the aid of the
magnetic funnel and suction.
e. Dry the filter paper together with the residue at 105 C -110 C for 1 hour. Weigh
(B).
Recording
Drying
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Crushing
Mixing
Cutting
Screening
Weighing
Recording
In line with the above mentioned priority agenda, the Mines and Geosciences
Bureau together with other sectors of DENR, in the performance of its mandate under a
regime of good environmental governance, will continuously implement in FY 2015 the
following major programs that would ably create high impact and provide for longer-
term solutions to more pressing environmental issues and concerns:
1. National Greening
2. Cadastral Survey and Land Management and Disposition
3. Forest Protection and Anti-illegal Logging
4. Protected Areas and Biodiversity Conservation
5. Clean Air, Clean Water and Solid Waste Management
6. Geo-hazard Assessment and Mapping, and Ecosystems
7. Research and Development
8. Good Governance and Anti-corruption
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