MINE 395 Mineral Deposit Modeling

Chapter 1: Mineral Inventory An Overview

Estimation of grde & location of material in the ground must be known w/ an adequate degree of confidence Ways to optimize productivity of mining operations o Move & process more tons w/ same/less equipment o Inventory/materials management & control o product content in material Improve grade control during mining grade for same tonnage tonnage but maintain same average grade Either one or the other or combo of both

Mineral inventories: Formal quantification of naturally occurring materials, estimated by a variety of empirically/theoretically based procedures OR a detailed breakdown of blocks whose individual sizes, locations & grades are well established Reserves are defined by economic feasibility studies Resources are less well established

Mineral inventory estimates: determines economic viability thats relatively assured in the case of RESERVES Global estimate - Concerned w/ average grade & tonnage of very large volumes of a deposit - To quantify a reserve/resource that will form the basis of continuing production - Justification for long term planning Global (aka. In-situ or geologic) resources: take into account of very general economic factors Local estimation - Feasibility stage & operating mines - Short term & medium range production planning - For classifying blocks as ore/waste (local blocks) Reserve audit - Comprehensive evaluation based on access to all geologic data, assays & other pertinent info - Purpose: o To provide confidence to the quality of data & methodologies used & general reliability of reported estimates ORE: mined as a profit 1|P a ge

WASTE: contains insufficient value to earn a profit Cutoff grade - Grade below which the value of contained metal/mineral in a volume of rock does not meet certain specific economic requirements - Used to distinguish blocks of ore from waste o Based on estimates (contains some error) rather than on true grades (which is unknown) - Cutoff grade = tonnage of ore & average grade of that tonnage Strip ratio: ; SR with cutoff grade

Cutoff grade is related to opex (operation expenditure) Where: OC = opex per ton milled FC = fixed costs/ton milled SR = strip ratio MC = mining cost/ton milled

Where: g = average grade of ore mined F = recovery proportion per ton milled P = realize value of metal per ton milled T = tons milled Changes in SR, metal prices, % recovery, etc, change the optimal cutoff grade o How much they are changed by are done by a sensitivity analysis

Two types of continuity: - Value - Geologic Resource: an in-situ mineral occurrence quantified on the basis of geologic data & a geologic cutoff grade only Ore reserve: used only if a study or technical & economic criteria & data relating to the resource has been carried out and is stated in terms of mineable tons or volume & grade Feasibility study: an evaluation to determine if the profitable mining of a mineral deposit is plausible Dilution - Result of mixing non-ore-grade material w/ ore-grade material during production 2|P a ge

Generally results in tonnage, in mean grade relative to original expectations 2 types o Internal (low grade surrounded by high grade o External (low grade marginal to high grade)

Regionalised variable - Variable in space w/ some degree of spatial autocorrelation - Consists of at least 2 components o Random o Structural Point Estimate (punctual): validate/compare estimation techniques & to estimate regular grid intersections as a basis for contouring (eg. Contouring cutoff grade to define ore/waste margin) Block estimate: made from the sample (point) database but are large volumes relative to sample volumes ~9% difference between point and block estimate

SMU (Selective Mining Unit) - Smallest block on which selection as ore/waste is commonly made - Generally determined from constraints associated w/ mining method to be used & scale of operation Reserve issues 1. Basic mistakes 2. Improper/insufficient sampling 3. Lack of mining knowledge Weaknesses & assumptions should be flagged so they can be improved as new info permits

Mine revenues: generally depend on the sale of metal concentrates through a smelter contract (lasts 15 years) In conclusion... - Samples for assay generally constitute ~0.00001 of the volume of a mineral deposit for which a mineral inventory is being estimated expect errors! - Each procedure used in a mineral inventory estimation should be documented o Cant just say for eg. polygonal o Must give details! Cause each method has some arbitrary/subjective decisions that should be summarized

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Chapter 2: Geologic Control of Mineral Inventory Estimation

Geology affects estimation procedures in ways such as: 1. Geologic mapping & general geologic history 2. 3D (geometric) modeling 3. Ore deposit (genetic) models 4. Mineralogic attributes 5. Continuity - #1-4 directly affects #5 Geologic mapping - Property geology might be mapped at a scale of 1:5000 but mineral deposit geology might be 1:1000 or even more detailed Types of info recorded & displayed on map include: 1. Rock types 2. Faulting 3. Folding 4. Fracture/vein density & orientation 5. Evidence of primary porosity/permeability 6. Successive phases of mineralization - All obtained from logging drill cores want a clear, accurate & standardized logging procedure o Drill cores may require re-log when more geologic info & concept evolve - Each drill hole should be surveyed to ensure correct positioning of samples & geologic features in space Geologic info that contributes to mine planning: 1. Depth & character of overburden 2. Extent (thickness, strike length, depth) of mineralization 3. Nature of deposit margins (gradational, sharp, sinuous, etc.) 4. Character of ore continuity w/in separate geologic domains 5. Drillability of rocks (strength) 6. Blasting characteristics 7. Pit-slope stability 8. Distribution of rock types (esp w/ regard to internal & external dilution) 9. Water inflow Geologic factors affecting selection of UG mining method: 1. Deposit geometry 2. Rock types 3. Bedding thickness, strike & dip 4. Folding & faulting 5. Geologic contacts 6. Fractures, cleavage & hardness 4|P a ge

7. Wall characteristics 8. Hydrology, aquifer, water quantity, temp, pH, etc. Recognition of preferred structural directions is useful geologic info at early stage of exploration in design of drilling (esp orientation of drill holes) & sampling programs can contribute to a high quality info base on which to build a mineral inventory Geometry of ore & associated structures & rock units has direct implications to mine planning affects probability of ore/waste selection & impact on mine design Software packages - Insight into their built-in interpolation routines is important for user cause they can oversimplify geologic contacts or domain boundaries - Interpretations can change significantly even in cases which relatively short range interpolations have been made in developing a 3D image of a deposit/mineral zone o Whenever possible, indicate the location of data on which interpretation is based Types of errors incorporated in process of geologic modeling: 1. Inaccuracies associated w/ original data 2. Sampling & analytical errors 3. Errors due to natural variations 4. Errors in data capture (eg. Mistake made during data input into databases) 5. Computer-derived errors Smooth interpolation is not necessarily reality & large local errors are possible Ore/waste contacts should be accessed at several localities in a deposit as early in data gathering as possible - At each locality, the ore/waste contact should be studied & mapped in great detail over a distance greater than common interpolation distance (eg. Avg spacing between drill sections) & the real pattern compared w/ a smooth interpolation Ore/waste boundaries: common practice to estimate boundaries by use of a cut-off grade contour A simple way to examine boundary zone of domains is to examine all available profiles that cross the boundary as well as the average of all those grade profiles Ore deposit models: generally developed from an especially important deposit/from the combined info of numerous similar deposits Ore deposit models incorporate specific info & concepts that are of direct importance to resource/reserve estimation: 1. External form & extent of a mineralized field 2. Nature of ore/waste contacts 3. Internal form & local physical continuity of mineralization 4. Large-scale continuity of mineralized ground/structure 5|P a ge

5. Mineral zoning 6. Relation of various deposit attributes to controlling structures or lithologies - All must have good documentation The most important aspect of a model: required an internal integration of all types of information Routine mineral estimation should include identification of both gangue & ore minerals, the occurrence & association of which should be described in a thorough & systematic manner (eg. Grain size dist., shape, etc) Domains are important in mineral inventory estimation cause characteristics of one domain can have a very diff impact on estimation than do characteristics of another domain Geologic domain too small to be mined selectively prob isnt worthy of formal delineation

Chapter 3: Continuity
Two types of continuity are recognized in mineral inventory studies 1. Geologic 2. Value Geologic continuity: physical or geometric occurrence of geologic features that control localization & disposition of mineralizations - The features can be lithologic or structural, primary or secondary & commonly theres a complex interplay of more than one control - Geologic continuity is a geometric feature & a function of scale - Physical continuity of mineralized ground should be viewed in terms of the sample size - Within a zone of sheeted veins, its evident that the physical continuity of a single vein is more extensive within the plane of a vein than across the vein - Experience suggests the preferred directions of geologic continuity commonly are also preferred directions of grade continuity - Adopting a deposit model introduced implicit assumptions about both geologic continuity & value continuity - Generally, the limiting scale on which one needs to define geologic continuity is the size of the SMU - In terms of value continuity, the required scale of knowledge is substantially less than the dimensions of the SMU - The question of scale is important for samples used in reserve estimation o Mainly for constraints of possible mining methods & the implications to ore/metal recovery Value continuity: a measure of the spatial character of grades, mineral abundances, vein thicknesses, or some other value or quality (or impurity) measure, throughout a specified domain of interest Continuity of grade is linked closely with the concept of homogeneity of mineralization 6|P a ge

Value continuity is a question of degree Grades normally are continuous over much shorter distances than the dimensions of the controlling geologic structure

Primary factors that affect the estimation of value continuity in a particular geologic environment: 1. Mineral/metal concentrations 2. Mineral distribution patterns & controls at various scales Geological domain: spatial entity that represents a well-defined mineralized body For mineral inventory purposes, it may be desirable, even necessary, to subdivide a deposit into separate domains, using as a basis the geologic features that control or characterize mineralization Many problems in establishing physical continuity are related to shortcomings of the geologic information base

Chapter 4: Statistical Concepts in Mineral Inventory Estimation An Overview

Samples in mining evaluation projects generally are not randomly located in space, but are more or less regularly positioned; sample patterns vary from fairly regular to highly irregular, 2D or 3D spatial arrays of data Central tendency: preferential clustering of values in a data set Median: measure of central tendency; value corresponding to the middle data item in a ordered data set Mode: narrow class intervals of data that are more abundant than are data in both adjacent class intervals (ie. Local peaks on a histogram) Dispersion: measure of the spread of data values Standard deviation (or variance; dispersion variance): a characterization of the dispersion of a set of values Standard error of the mean (error variance): an estimate of the average error made in estimating the true mean (of the population) by the mean of the data set Error dispersion is much less than data dispersion Covariance: a quantitative measure of the systematic variations of 2 variables Skewness: an indication of the departure of tails of a distribution from symmetry about the mean Histograms: graphs showing frequency of a variable within the contiguous value intervals (commonly a uniform class interval) that extends over the range of the variable 7|P a ge

Probability density functions (PDFs): mathematical models used to describe the probability that random draws from populations defined by the functions meet particular specifications Nomral or Gaussian probability density function: bell shaped curve, symmetric about the mean value Binomial distribution: probability that a characteristic occurs in some items of a data set; a discrete distribution Poisson experiment possesses the following properties: 1. Number of successes occurring in one time interval or specified region are independent of those occurring in any other disjoint time interval or region of space 2. Probability of a single success occurring during a short time interval or in a small region is proportional to the length of the time interval or the size of the region; does not depend on the number of successes occurring outside this time interval or region 3. Probability of more than 1 success occurring in such a short time interval or falling in such a small region is negligible Cumulative distributions: data grouped into class intervals for the purposes of constructing a histogram Probability graphs: practical, graphic means of evaluating the form of the cumulative distribution of a set of numeric data Correlation: measure of similarity between variables or items Correlation coefficients have a variety of applications in resource/reserve studies. Necessary in certain formal calculation procedures such as: 1. Error estimation for grades determined from separate estimates for thickness & accumulations 2. Construction of the correlogram autocorrelation function 3. Establishing models of one variable in terms of another 4. Examining interrelations among many variables 5. Dealing with many variables to provide indications to zonal distributions of metals Autocorrelation: correction of a variable with itself, the paired values being separated in either time or space

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