The Business of Mining complete set of three Focus books provides readers with a holistic all-embracing appraisal of the analytical tools available for assessing the economic viability of prospective mines. Each volume has a discrete focus. This third volume commences with Our Earth, its Minerals and Ore Bodies, followed by a review of mineral exploration and sampling of mineral deposits. It continues with detailed sections covering the reporting of mineral resources and reserves in Australia, and concludes with the basic principles and application of the various methods of estimating the in-situ mineral resources and ore reserves.

The books were written primarily for undergraduate applied geologists, mining engineers and extractive metallurgists and those pursuing course-based postgraduate programs in mineral economics. However, the complete series will also be an extremely useful reference text for practicing mining professionals as well as for consultant geologists, mining engineers or primary metallurgists.

Emeritus Professor Odwyn Jones commenced work as a mining trainee with the UK National Coal Board (NCB) in 1950 and was granted an Industry Sponsored Scholarship a few years later to read for a mining engineering degree at the University College of Wales, Cardiff, where he graduated with a BSc with first class honours. He then returned to the industry, obtaining his Colliery Manager's Certificate.
In 1957 he accepted the position of Lecturer in Mining Engineering at the Royal College of Science and Technology, Glasgow, which later became Strathclyde University. His part-time research, involving both laboratory work and field-testing at a local colliery, was sponsored by the NCB, and he graduated with a PhD from the University of Glasgow in the mid-1960s.
In 1970 he accepted the position of Principal Lecturer in Environmental Technology of Buildings at the Polytechnic of the South Bank, London, before moving on to Bristol Polytechnic in 1973 as Head of Department of Construction and Environmental Health.
In 1976, Emeritus Professor Jones and his family moved to Western Australia where he took up the joint posts of Principal of the WA School of Mines, Kalgoorlie, and Dean of Mining and Mineral Technology at the WA Institute of Technology, which later became Curtin University.
In 1991 he transferred from Kalgoorlie to the University's main campus in Perth as Director University Development (International) and Director of the Brodie-Hall Research and Consultancy Centre.
Having retired from the University in 1995, he served as Visiting Professor at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, for a term before assisting Perth's Central TAFE in developing its minerals and energy-related programs, where he stayed until 2001.
He is a longstanding Member of Engineers Australia, and Fellow of both the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (UK).
He was Deputy Chairman (1981-98) and Chairman (1998-2013) of the Research Advisory Committee of the Minerals and Energy Research Institute of WA, a Statutory Authority operating under its own Act of Parliament.
His recent awards include an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2005 and the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy's Service Award for 2012-13. He was inducted into the Australian Prospectors and Miners Hall of Fame in September 2013.

Dr Mehrooz Aspandiar graduated from the University of Pune in 1987 with a BSc in Geology and then completed his MSc and PhD in Geosciences at the Australian National University.
He joined Curtin University as a lecturer on a joint position with the Cooperative Research Centre for Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration (CRC LEME) in 2000 and became a full-time teaching staff member in applied geology in the WA School of Mines at Curtin University in 2008.
Dr Aspandiar was involved with the education and technology transfer programs of CRC LEME and coordinates and teaches into several University programs related to mineral exploration and mining geology. His research deals with mineral exploration in general and the application of regolith to mineral exploration in particular. He was a core member of the AMIRA Project Predictive Geochemistry in areas of transported overburden from 2006 to 2008.
As part of CRC LEME, Dr Aspandiar contributed to teaching short courses on regolith geology and mineral exploration for the Geoscience Honours Program of the Minerals Tertiary Education Council (MTEC) from 2004 to 2008. He subsequently coordinated and taught the Mining Geology short course at WA School of Mines Kalgoorlie for the Geoscience Honours Program for MTEC from 2009 until 2015.
He is currently the course coordinator for the undergraduate BSc (Applied Geology) course at Curtin University and serves as the Director of Teaching and Learning at the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University. He is a Member of Geological Society of Australia.

Dr Allison Dugdale graduated from The University of Melbourne with a BSc (Hons) in 1986, and subsequently completed a PhD in Economic Geology focused on the Bronzewing Gold Deposit at The University of Western Australia in 2002.
Dr Dugdale has 13 years mineral industry experience throughout Australia, predominantly focused on mineral exploration with Newmont Holdings Pty Ltd at the Telfer Gold Mine and then with Western Mining Corporation in North Queensland and at the Leinster Operations in Western Australia. In addition, Allison has eight years' experience as a research academic at the University of Melbourne, where her research focus was on orogenic gold mineralisation and associated hydrothermal alteration.
She joined Curtin University in 2013 as a sessional lecturer and was promoted in 2015 to Senior Lecturer in economic geology, mineral exploration and professional practice. She is also a Member of Geological Society of Australia, Australian Institute of Geoscientists and the Society of Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits.

Neal Leggo is a geologist with over 30 years' experience including management, mineral exploration, consulting, resource geology, underground operations and open pit mining. He has worked in a variety of Australian geological terrains and specialises in copper, gold, silver-lead-zinc and iron ore for which he has the experience required for code-compliant reporting. He also has experience with uranium, vanadium, manganese, tin, tungsten, nickel, lithium, niobium, gemstones, mineral sands and industrial minerals.
Mr Leggo provides a range of consulting services including code-compliant (JORC, NI43-101, VALMIN) reporting and valuation, technical studies, reviews and management of exploration projects. He offers extensive knowledge of available geological, geophysical, geochemical and exploration techniques and methodologies, combined with strong experience in resource estimation, feasibility study, development and mining of mineral deposits.
Mr Leggo has a BSc (Hons) in Geology from the University of Queensland and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geologists and MSEG.

Ian Glacken is an experienced resource industry professional. Ian was trained as a Mining Geologist and Geostatistician in the UK, the USA and in Australia, obtaining a Bachelor's and two Master's degrees, along with a graduate diploma. He has professional memberships of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and the Institute of Materials, Mining and Metallurgy (UK). Ian has worked for mining and exploration companies in gold, nickel, copper, uranium and base metals and has been a consultant since 1998. He is currently the Director of Geology at Optiro, a boutique consulting and advisory group based in Perth, Western Australia.

Bryan Smith graduated with a PhD from Melbourne University in 1966, was a Research Scientist with CSIRO Division of Soils until 1972 and an Exploration Geologist/Geochemist with AMAX based in Kalgoorlie for 2 years and then spent 11 years with WMC also based in Kalgoorlie and 3 years with CSR Minerals based in Perth, was General Manager Exploration for Aztec Mining based in Perth for 7 years, then established his own consultancy: Bryan Smith Geosciences P/L and has been operating since 1994 mainly in WA but also in NT, NSW, Sth. Aust., Qld, and Indonesia. Member of GSA, AIG, AIMM and Assoc. Expln. Geochemists. Member of Mining Industry Liaison Committee from 1993 to 2018, member of MERIWA - later transformed to MRIWA - from 2005 to 2018. Council member of the Assocn. of Mining and Expln. Companies from 1993 to 2018.