Statistics for Mining Engineering

Many areas within mining engineering gather and use information that is statistical in nature. This information is provided by observing the realities of activities such as the operation of pieces of equipment and their systems, the processes of the development of mining works, the surface subsidence that accompanies underground mining, the displacement of rocks surrounding surface pits and underground drives and longwalls, etc. In addition, the actual modern machines that are used in surface mining are equipped with diagnostic systems that automatically trace all important machine parameters and send this information to the main producer’s computer. Such data not only provide information on the technical properties of the machine but it also has a statistical nature. Furthermore, all information gathered during stand and lab investigations where parts, assemblies and whole devices are tested in order to prove their usefulness, has a stochastic character. All of these materials need to be developed statistically and, what is important, mining engineers must make decisions based on these results whether to undertake some necessary actions, connected with the further operation of the machines, the further development of the works, etc. For these reasons, knowledge about modern statistics is necessary for mining engineers; not only on how statistical analysis of data should be conducted and statistical synthesis should be done, but also on understanding the results obtained and how to use them to make appropriate decisions connected with a mining operation. This book on statistical analysis and synthesis is preceded by a short repetition of the probability theory. A special section about statistical prediction is also included. The text is illustrated by many examples taken from mine practice, moreover the tables required to conduct statistical inference are attached.