Ian Nicolson B.

Cabano BSME 4B_F2

Engineering Research Methods January 31, 2019

“Resource Extraction from Technospheric Stocks and Anthropogenic Ores”

Narrative Report

Last January 28, 2019 in the afternoon, a Balik Scientist had a lecture series in the
Performance Arts Theatre entitled Resource Extraction from Technospheric Stocks and
Anthropogenic Ores” in the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines.
Students and instructors from different courses, department colleges were invited to join in the
lecture to listen in to the Balik Scientist Speaker named Dr. Ricardo Diaz Alorro. He is a Doctor
of Engineer from Curtin University School of Mines in Australia.

His lecture started off with the introduction to his University in its history with the number
of graduates and to what he has achieved learning in the said university. He did mention about
his work which is the 3R for Green Mining; a campaign for green mining in partnership of some
universities with different methodologies. He did introduced something which is Technosphere,
a material stock established by Human Agency by technological processes. Aerial,
subterranean, marine, even the rural and urban areas are under this Technosphere being
discussed. They have been involving metals mostly Mercury and other metals that can be
taken. They use plants that absorb such metals and then extract them from the plants to be
used in projects. They do incineration to burn the plants and extract the metals after
concentrating them from the plants, in that way, they won’t be able to contaminate the
environment due to burning. These metals can be used to make cars, cans, batteries, buildings,
and others.

An open forum was conducted at which some instructors and students asked the
speaker of how the disposal of plants used were done. The speaker said that it was done by
incineration. But he gave another way of disposal which is solidification of it to make the cement
stronger in build. He confirmed a question since mechanism of solidification of metals occurs by
nucleation and growth transformation, this nucleation is the physical process by which a new
phase is produced in a material. In the case of solidification, this refers to the formation of tiny
stable solid particles in the liquid and it is possible to remove sediments of zinc with this
process. The 3R for green mining campaign is a DOST-PCIEERO project in 2018-2020 an
approach to sustainable management of mining waste, reusing, recycling and reprocessing for
the environment.