Published, sold and distributed by GEOVARIANCES 49 bis Av. Franklin Roosevelt, BP 91, 77212 Avon Cedex, France Web: http://www.geovariances.com Isatis Release 2011, March 2011 Contributing authors: Catherine Bleins Matthieu Bourges Jacques Deraisme Franois Geffroy Nicolas Jeanne Ophlie Lemarchand Sbastien Perseval Jrme Poisson Frdric Rambert Didier Renard Yves Touffait Laurent Wagner All Rights Reserved 1993-2011 GEOVARIANCES No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner. "... There is no probability in itself. There are only probabilistic models. The only question that really matters, in each particular case, is whether this or that probabilistic model, in relation to this or that real phenomenon, has or has not an objective meaning..." G. Matheron Estimating and Choosing - An Essay on Probability in Practice (Springer Berlin, 1989) 1 Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 1 About This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 2 In Situ 3D Resource Estimation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 2.1 Workflow Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 2.2 Presentation of the Dataset & Pre-processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 2.3 Variographic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 2.4 Kriging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 2.5 Global Estimation With Change of Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 2.6 Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88 2.7 Displaying the Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129 3 Non Linear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145 3.1 Introduction and overview of the case study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146 3.2 Preparation of the case study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148 3.3 Global estimation of the recoverable resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165 3.4 Local estimation of the recoverable resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176 3.5 Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .203 3.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222 2 5 Introduction 6 1 About This Manual Note - The present document only contains case studies related to a specific field of application. The full Case Studies Manual can be downloaded on Geovariances web site. A set of case studies is developed in this manual. It is mainly designed: for new users to get familiar with the software and gives some leading lines to carry a study through, for all users to improve their geostatistical knowledge by following detailed geostatistical workflows. Basically, each case study describes how to carry out some specific calculations in Isatis as precisely as possi- ble. The data sets are located on your disk in a sub-directory, called Datasets, of the Isatis installation directory. You may follow the work flow proposed in the manual (all the main parameters are described) and then com- pare the results and figures given in the manual with the ones you get from your test. Most case studies are dedicated to a given field (Mining, Oil & Gas, Environment, Methodology) and therefore grouped together in appropriate sections. However, new users are advised to run a maximum of case studies, whatever their field of application. Indeed, each case study describes different functions of the package which are not necessarily exclusive to one application field but could be useful for other ones. Several case studies, namely In Situ 3D Resources Estimation (Mining), Property Mapping (Oil & Gas) and Pollution (Environment) almost cover entire classic geostatistical workflows: exploratory data analysis, data selections and variography, monovariate or multivariate estimation, simulations. The other Case Studies are more specific and mainly deal with particular Isatis facilities, as described below: Non Linear: anamorphosis (with and without information effect), indicator kriging, disjunctive kriging, uniform conditioning, service variables and simulations. Non Stationary & Volumetrics: non stationary modeling, external drift kriging and simulations, volume- tric calculations, spill point calculation, variable editor. Plurigaussian: an innovative facies simulation technique. Oil Shale: fault editor. Isatoil: multi-layer depth conversion with the Isatoil advanced module. 8 Case Studies Young Fish Survey, Acoustic Fish Survey: polygons editor, global estimation. Image Filtering: image filtering, grid or line smoothing, grid operator. Boolean: boolean conditional simulations. Note - All case studies are not necessarily updated for each Isatis release. Therefore, the last update and the corresponding Isatis version are systematically given in the introduction. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 11 2 In Situ 3D Resource Esti- mation This case study is based on a real 3D data set kindly provided by Vale (Carajs mine, Brazil).
It demonstrates particular features related to the Mining industry: domaining, processing of three dimensional data, variogram modeling and kriging. A brief description of global estimation with change of support and block simulations is also provided. A simple application of use of local parameters in kriging and simulations is presented.
Reminder: while using Isatis, the on-line help is accessible anytime by pressing F1 and provides full description of the active application.
Last update: Isatis version 2012 12 2.1 Workflow Overview This case study aims to give a detailed description of the kriging workflow and a brief introduction to the grade simulation workflow of iron grades in an iron productive mine. This workflow over- view lists the sequence of Isatis applications as they are ordered in the case study in order to run through it. The list is nearly complete but not exhaustive. Next to each application, two links are provided: m the first link opens the application description of the Users guide: this allows the user to have a complete description of the application as it is implemented in the software; m the second link sends the user to the corresponding practical application example in the case study. Applications in bold are the most important for achieving kriging and simulation: l File/Import Users Guide Case Study Import the raw drillhole data. l File/Selection/Macro Users Guide Case Study Creates a macro-selection variable for each assay of the raw data based on the lithological code. It is used to define two domains rich ore and poor ore. l File/Selection/Geographic Users Guide Case Study Creates a geographic selection to mask 4 drillholes outside of the orebody. l Tools/Copy Variable/Header to Line Users Guide Case Study Copy the selection masking the drillholes header to all assays of the drillholes. l Tools/Regularization Users Guide Case Study Assays compositing tool. A comparison of regularization by length or by domains is made. This step is compulsory to make data additive for kriging. The composites regularized by domains are kept for the rest of the study. l Statistics / Quick Statistics Users Guide Case Study Different modes for making statistics are illustrated: numerical statistics by domain, graphic dis- plays with boxplots or swathplots. l Statistics/Exploratory Data Analysis Users Guide Case Study Isatis fundamental tool for QA/QC, 2D data displays, statistical and variographic analysis. l Statistics/Variogram Fitting Users guide Case Study Isatis tool for variogram modeling. Different modes are illustrated: In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 13 m manual: the user chooses by himself the basic structures (with their types, anisotropy, ranges and sills) entering the parameters at the keyboard or for ranges/sills interactively in the Fit- ting Window. This is used for modeling the variogramof the indicator of rich ore, m automatic: the model is entireley defined (ranges, anisotropy and sills) from the definition of the types and number of nested structures the user wants to fit. This is used for modeling the Fe grade of rich ore. l Statistics/Domaining/Border Effect Users Guide Case Study Calculates statistical quantities based on domains indicator and grades to visualize the behav- iour of grades when getting closer to the transition between domains. l Statistics/Domaining/Contact Analysis Users Guide Case Study Represents graphically the behaviour of the mean grade as a function of the distance of samples to the contact between two domains. l Interpolate/Estimation/(Co-)Kriging Users Guide Case Study Isatis kriging application. It is applied here to krige (1) the indicator of rich ore and (2) the Fe grade of rich ore on blocks 75mx75mx15m. In order to take into account the geo-morphology of the deposit, kriging with Local Parameters is achieved: the main axis of anisotropy and neigh- borhood ellipsod are changed between the northern and southern part of the deposit. l Statistics/Gaussian Anamorphosis Modeling Users Guide Case Study Isatis tool for normal score transform and modeling of histogram on composites support. This step is compulsory for any non linear application including simulations. It is applied here on Fe in the rich ore domain. l Statistics/Support Correction Users Guide Case Study Isatis tool for modeling grade histograms on block support. Useful for global estimation and for non linear techniques (see Non Linear case study). l Tools/Grade Tonnage Curves Users Guide Case Study Calculates and represent graphically the grade tonnage curves. From the different possible modes we compare the kriged panels and the distribution of grades on blocks obtained after sup- port correction. l File/Create Grid File Users Guide Case Study Creates a grid of blocks 25mx25mx15m, on which we will simulate the ore type (1 for rich ore, 2 for poor ore) and the grades of Fe-P-SiO 2 . l Tools/Migrate Grid to Point Users Guide Case Study Transfers the selection variable defining the orebody from the panels 75mx75mx15m to the blocks 25mx25mx15m. 14 l Interpolate/Conditional Simulations/Sequential Indicator/Standard Neighborhood Users Guide Case Study Simulations of the indicator of rich ore by SIS method. l Statistics/Gaussian Anamorphosis Modeling Users Guide Case Study That application is run again, for the purpose of a multivariate grade simulation, to transform Fe-P-SiO 2 grades of composites. The P grade distribution is modelled differently from Fe and SiO 2 , because of the presence of many values at the detection limit. The zero-effect distribution type is then applied. It results that the gaussian value assigned to P has a truncated gaussian distribution. l Statistics/Exploratory Data Analysis Users Guide Case Study The Exploratory Data Analysis is used for calculating the experimental variogram on the gauss- ian transform of P. l Statistics/Variogram Fitting Users guide Case Study The variogram fitting is used with the Truncation Special Option for modeling the gaussian experimental variogram of the gaussian transform of P. l Statistics/Statistics/Gibbs Sampler Users guide Case Study The Gibbs Sampler algorithm is used to generate the final gaussian transforms of P with a true Gaussian distribution instead of a truncated one. l Statistics/Exploratory Data Analysis Users Guide Case Study The Exploratory Data Analysis is used now for calculating the experimental variogram on the gaussian transform of Fe-P-SiO 2 . l Statistics/Variogram Fitting Users guide Case Study The variogram fitting is used for modeling the threevariate gaussian experimental variograms of the gaussian transform of Fe-P-SiO 2 . The Automatic Sill Fitting mode is used: the sills of all basic structures are automatically calculated using a least square minimization procedure. l Statistics/Modeling/Variogram Regularization Users guide Case Study The threevariate variogram model of the gaussian grades is regularized on the block support. A new experimental variogram is then obtained. l Statistics/Variogram Fitting Users guide Case Study The variogram fitting is used for modeling the threevariate gaussian experimental variograms of the gaussian transform of Fe-P-SiO 2 on the block support (25mx25mx15m). The Automatic Sill Fitting mode is used. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 15 l Statistics/Modeling/Gaussian Support Correction Users guide Case Study Transforms the point anamorphosis and the variogram model referring to the gaussian variables regularized on the block support. The result is a gaussian anamorphosis on a block support and a variogram model referring to the block gaussian variables (0-mean, variance 1). These steps are compulsory for carrying out Direct Block Simulations. l Interpolate/Conditional Simulations/Direct Block Simulations Users Guide Case Study Simulations using the Turning Bands technique in the discrete gaussian model framework (DGM). l Statistics/Variogram on Grid Users Guide Case Study Calculates, for QC purpose, the experimental variograms on the simulated gaussian block val- ues. l Statistics/Data Transformation/Raw<->Gaussian Transformation Users guide Case Study Transforms the block gaussian simulations into raw block values. l Tools/Copy Statistics/ Grid-> Grid Users Guide Case Study Calculates rich ore tonnage and metal quantities in the panels 75mx75mx15m from the simu- lated blocks 25mx25mx15m. l File/Calculator Users Guide Case Study Transforms the previous results into real ore tonnages and metals. l Tools/Simulation Post-Processing Users Guide Case Study Presents examples of Post-Processing of simulations. l 3D viewer Users Guide Case Study Some brief description of the 3D viewer module. 16 2.2 Presentation of the Dataset & Pre-processing The data set is located in the Isatis installation directory (sub-directory Datasets/Mining) and con- stituted of two different ASCII files: l borehole measurements are stored in the ASCII file called boreholes.asc; l a simple 3D geological model resulting from previous geological work (block size: 75 m hori- zontally and 15 m vertically) is provided in a 3D grid file called block model_75x75x15m.asc.). Firstly, a new study has to be created using the File / Data File Manager facility; then, it is advised to verify the consistency of the units defined in the Preferences / Study Environment / Units win- dow. In particular, it is suggested to use: l Input Output Length Options: Default Unit... = Length (m) Default Format...= Decimal (10,2) l Graphical Axis Units: X Coordinate = Length (km) Y Coordinate = Length (km) Z Coordinate = Length (m) 2.2.1 Borehole data 2.2.1.1 Data import The boreholes.asc file begins with a header (commented by #) which describes its contents: # # structure=line , x_unit=m , y_unit=m , z_unit=m # # header_field=1 , type=alpha , name="drillhole ID" # header_field=2 , type=xb , f_type=Decimal , f_length=8 , f_digits=2 , unit="m" # header_field=3 , type=yb , f_type=Decimal , f_length=8 , f_digits=2 , unit="m" # header_field=4 , type=zb , f_type=Decimal , f_length=8 , f_digits=2 , unit="m" # header_field=5 , type=numeric , name="depth" , ffff=" " , bitlength=32 ; # f_type=Decimal , f_length=8 , f_digits=2 , unit="m" # header_field=6 , type=numeric , name="inclination" , ffff=" " , bitlength=32 ; # f_type=Decimal , f_length=8 , f_digits=2 , unit="deg" # header_field=7 , type=numeric , name="azimuth" , ffff=" " , bitlength=32 ; # f_type=Decimal , f_length=8 , f_digits=2 , unit="deg" # # field=1 , type=xe , f_type=Decimal , f_length=8 , f_digits=2 , unit="m" # field=2 , type=ye , f_type=Decimal , f_length=8 , f_digits=2 , unit="m" # field=3 , type=ze , f_type=Decimal , f_length=8 , f_digits=2 , unit="m" # # field=4 , type=numeric , name="Sample length" , ffff=" " , bitlength=32 ; # f_type=Decimal , f_length=6 , f_digits=2 , unit="m" # field=5 , type=numeric , name="Fe" , ffff=" " , bitlength=32 ; # f_type=Decimal , f_length=6 , f_digits=2 , unit="%" # field=6 , type=numeric , name="P" , ffff=" " , bitlength=32 ; # f_type=Decimal , f_length=6 , f_digits=2 , unit="%" # field=7 , type=numeric , name="SiO2" , ffff=" " , bitlength=32 ; # f_type=Decimal , f_length=6 , f_digits=2 , unit="%" In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 17 # field=8 , type=numeric , name="Al2O3" , ffff=" " , bitlength=32 ; # f_type=Decimal , f_length=6 , f_digits=2 , unit="%" # field=9 , type=numeric , name="Mn" , ffff=" " , bitlength=32 ; # f_type=Decimal , f_length=6 , f_digits=2 , unit="%" # field=10 , type=alpha , name="Lithological code ALPHA" , ffff=" " # field=11 , type=numeric , name="Lithological code INTEGER" , ffff=" " , bitlength= 8 ; # f_type=Integer , f_length= 4 , unit=" " # # ++++ --------- +++++++++ --------- +++++++++ --------- +++++++++ # ++++++++++ --------- +++++++++ --------- +++++++++ --------- +++++++++ --- ------ +++++++++ --------- --------- *---- 1 026 1400.00 -195.00 804.21 144.46 90.00 0.00 1 1400.00 -195.00 799.71 4.50 65.90 0.13 0.20 0.90 0.07 6 6 2 1400.00 -195.00 795.32 4.39 66.70 0.12 0.10 0.90 0.08 6 6 3 1400.00 -195.00 791.22 4.10 67.70 0.11 0.20 0.50 0.08 3 3 The samples are organized along lines and the file contains two types of records: l The header record (for collars), which starts with an asterisk in the first column and introduces a new line (i.e borehole). l The regular record which describes one core of a borehole. The file contains two delimiter lines which define the offsets for both records. The dataset is read using the File / Import / ASCII procedure and stored in two new files of a new directory called Mining Case Study: 18 l The file Drillholes Header, which contains the header of each borehole, stored as isolated points. l The file Drillholes, which contains the cores measured along the boreholes. (snap. 2.2-1) You can check in File / Data File Manager (by pressing s for statistics on the Drillholes file) that the data set contains 188 boreholes, representing a total of 5954 samples. There are five numeric variables (heterotopic dataset), whose statistics are given in the next table (using Statistics/Quick Statistics...): We will focus mainly on Fe variable. Also note the presence of an alphanumeric variable called Lithological code Alpha. Number Minimum Maximum Mean St. Dev. Al 2 O 3 3591 0.07 44.70 1.77 4.14 Fe 5069 4.80 69.40 60.51 14.19 Mn 5008 0. 30.70 0.58 1.75 P 5069 0. 1. 0.06 0.08 Si O 2 3594 0.05 75.50 1.54 4.32 In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 19 2.2.1.2 Borehole data visualization without the 3D viewer Note - To visualize boreholes with the Isatis 3D viewer module, see the dedicated paragraph at the end of this case study. All the 2D Display facilities are explained in detail in the Displaying & Editing Graphics chapter of the Beginner's Guide. To visualize the lines without the 3D viewer, perform the following steps: l Click on Display / New Page, l In the Contents, for the Representation Type, choose Perspective, l Double-click on Lines. An Item Contents for: Lines window appears: m In the Data area, select the file Mining Case Study/Drillholes, without selecting any vari- able as we are looking for a display of the boreholes geometry. m Click on Display, and OK. The Lines appear in the graphic window. l To change the View Point, click on the Camera tab and choose for instance: m Longitude = -46 m Latitude = 20. l Using the Display Box tab, deselect the toggle Automatic Scales and stretch the vertical dimen- sion Z by a factor of 3. l Click on Display. l You should obtain the following display. You can save this template to automatically reproduce it later: just click on Application / Store Page as in the graphic window. (fig. 2.2-1) 20 The data set is contained in the following portion of the space: Most of the boreholes are vertical and horizontally spaced approximately every 150m. The vertical dimension is oriented upwards. 2.2.1.3 Creation of domains In order to demonstrate Isatis capabilities linked to domaining, a simplified approach is presented here. It consists in splitting the assays into two categories: m the first one called rich ore corresponds to the lithological codes 1, 3 and 6, m the second one called poor ore corresponds to the lithological codes 10 and above A macro-selection final lithology[xxxxx] is created using File / Selection/Macro ... After asking to create a New Macro Selection Variable and defining its name final lithology in the Data File, you have to click on New. (snap. 2.2-2) Minimum Maximum X 0.009 km 3.97 km Y -0.35 km 3.77 km Z -54.9 m +811.8 m In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 21 For creating Rich ore, Poor ore and Undefinedindices, you should give the name you want (this has to be repeated three times). Then in the bottom part of the window you will define the rules to apply. For each rule, you will have then to choose which variable it depends to, here Litho- logical Code Integer, and the criterion to apply among the list you get by clicking on the button proposing Equals as default: m in the case of Rich ore you choose Is Lower or Equals to 9 m in the case of Poor ore you choose to match 2 rules (see snap shot on the previous page). m in the case of Undefined you choose to match any of two rules (see next snap shot). (snap. 2.2-3) 2.2.1.4 Drillholes selection From the display of the drillholes, we can see that 4 are outside of the area covered by the other drillholes. We will mask these drillholes for the rest of the study by using the File / Selection / Geo- graphic menu. The procedure "File / Selection / Geographic" is used to visualize and to perform a masking opera- tion based on complete boreholes or more selectively on composites within a borehole. We create the selection mask drillholes outside in the Drillholes header file. 22 (snap. 2.2-4) When pressing the "Display as Points" button, the following graphic window opens representing by a + symbol in green (according to the menu Preferences / Miscellaneous). the headers of all the boreholes in a 2D XOY projection. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 23 (snap. 2.2-5) By picking with the mouse left button the 4 boreholes, their symbols are blinking, they can then be masked by using the menu button of the mouse and clicking on Mask, the 4 masked boreholes are then represented with the red square (according to the menu Preferences / Miscellaneous). In the Geographic Selection window the number of selected samples (i.e.boreholes) is appearing (184 from 188). To store the selection you must click on Run. 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 X (m) 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 Y
( m ) 24 (snap. 2.2-6) This selection is defined on the drillhole collars. In order to apply this selection to all samples of the drillholes, a possible solution is to use the menu Tools / Copy Variable / Header Point -> Line. (snap. 2.2-7) 2.2.1.5 Borehole data compositing The compositing (or regularization) is an essential phase of a study using 3D data, especially in the mining industry, although the principle is much more general. The idea is that geostatistics will consider each datum with the same importance (prior to assigning a weight in the kriging process 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 X (m) 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 Y
( m ) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 25 for example) as it does not make sense to combine data that does not represent the same amount of material. Therefore, if data is measured on different support sizes, a first, essential task is to convert the information into composites of the same dimension. This dimension is usually a multiple of the size of the smallest sample, and is related to the height of the benches, which is in this case 15m. l This operation can be achieved in different ways: m the boreholes are cut into intervals of same length from the borehole collar, or in intervals intersecting the boreholes and a regular system of horizontal benches. It is performed with the Tools / Regularization by Benches or by Length facility, consists in creating a replica of the initial data set where all the variables of interest in the input file are converted into com- posites. m the boreholes are cut into intervals of same length, determined on the basis of domain defini- tion. Each time the domain assigned to the assay is changed a new composite is created. The advantage of that method is to get more homogeneous composites. It is performed with the Tools / Regularization by Domains facility. m We will work on the 5 numerical variables Al 2 0 3 , Fe, Mn, P and SiO 2 . m The regularization by length is performed on 5 numerical variables Al 2 0 3 , Fe, Mn, P and SiO 2 and on the lithological code, in order to keep for each composite the information on the most abundant lithology and the corresponding proportion. The new files are called: - Composites 15m by length header for the header information (collars). - Composites 15m by length for the composite information. m Regularization mode: By Length measured along the borehole: this is the selected option as some boreholes are inclined, with a constant length of 15m. m Minimum Length: 7.5 m. It may happen that the first composite, or the last composite (or both) do not have the requested dimension. Keeping too many of those incomplete samples will lead us back to the initial problem of having samples of different dimensions being con- sidered with the same importance: this is why the minimum length is set to 7.5 m (i.e. half of the composite size). 26 (snap. 2.2-8) m Three boreholes are not reproduced in the composite file as their total length is too small (less than 7.5m): boreholes 93, 163 and 171. There are 1282 composites in the new output file. l The regularization by domain will calculate composites for two domains rich ore and poor ore. The macro selection defining the domains in the input file is created with the same indices in the output composites file. The selection mask drillholes outside is activated to regularize only the boreholes within the orebody envelope. Only Fe, P, SiO2 are regularized. The new files are called: m Composites 15m header for the header information (collars). m Composites 15m for the composite information. m The Undefined Domain is assigned to the Undefined index. It means that when a sample is in the Undefined Domain the composition procedure keeps on going (see on-line Help for more information). m The Analysed Length is kept for each grade element. m The option Merge Residual is chosen, which means that the last composite is merged with the previous one if its length is less than 50% of the composite length. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 27 (snap. 2.2-9) There are 1556 composites on the 184 boreholes in the new output file. From now on all geostatis- tical processes will be applied on that regularized by domains composites file. Using Statistics / Quick Statistics we can obtain different types of statistics, as for example: The statistics on the Fe grades by domains. You note that after compositing there are no more Undefined composites. 28 (snap. 2.2-10) (snap. 2.2-11) l Graphic representations with Boxplots by slicing according the main axes of the space. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 29 (snap. 2.2-12) 30 In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 31 32 l Swathplots by slicing according the main axes of the space. (snap. 2.2-13) (snap. 2.2-14) The swathplots along OY shows for Fe rich ore a trend to decrease from South to North. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 33 2.2.2 Block model 2.2.2.6 Grid import The block model_75x75x15m.asc file begins with a header (Isatis format, commented by #) which describes its contents: # # structure=grid, x_unit="m", y_unit="m", z_unit="m"; # sorting=+Z +Y +X ; # x0= 150.00 , y0= -450.00 , z0= 310.00 ; # dx= 75.00 , dy= 75.00 , dz= 15.00 ; # nx= 28 , ny= 47 , nz= 31 ; # theta= 0 , phi= 0 , psi= 0 # field=1, type=numeric, name="geographic domain", bitlength=32; # ffff="N/A", unit=""; # f_type=Integer, f_length=9, f_digits=0; # description="Creation Date: Mar 21 2006 15:13:15" # #+++++++++ 0 0 0
The file contains only one numeric variable named geographic domain which equals 0, 1 or 2: l 0 means the grid node lies outside the orebody, l 1 means the grid node lies in the southern part of the orebody, l 2 means the grid node lies in the northern part of the orebody. Launch File/Import/ASCII... to import the grid in the Mining Case Study directory and call it 3D Grid 75x75x15 m. You have now to create a selection variable, called orebody, for all blocks where the geographic code is either 1 or 2, by using the menu File / Selection / Intervals. 34 (snap. 2.2-15) 2.2.2.7 Visualization without the 3D viewer Note - To visualize with the Isatis 3D viewer module, see the dedicated paragraph at the end of this case study. Click on Display / New Page in the Isatis main window. In the Contents window: l In the Contents list, double click on the Raster item. A new Item contents for: Raster window appears, in order to let you specify which variable you want to display and with which color scale: m Grid File...: select orebody variable from the 3D Grid 75x75x15 m file, m In the Grid Contents area, enter 16 for the rank of the section XOY to display. m In the Graphic Parameters area below, the default color scale is Rainbow. m In the Item contents for: Raster window, click on Display. m Click on OK. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 35 l Your final graphic window should be similar to the one displayed hereafter. (fig. 2.2-2) The orebody lies approximately north-South, with a curve towards the southwestern part. The northern part thins out along the northern direction and has a dipping plane striking North with a western dip of 15 approximately. This particular geometry will be taken into account during vario- graphic analysis. 500 1000 1500 2000 X (m) 0 1000 2000 3000 Y
( m ) 36 2.3 Variographic Analysis This step describes the structural analysis performed on 3D data set. In a first stage we consider the Fe grade only of the rich ore (univariate analysis) on the 15 m composites. The estimation requires to estimate for each block the proportion of rich ore and its grade. The analysis has then to be made: l on the indicator of rich ore variable, which is defined on all composites l and on the rich ore Fe grade, which is defined on rich ore composites. The Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) will be used in order to perform Quality Control, check sta- tistical characteristics and establish the experimental variograms. Then variogram models will be fitted. 2.3.1 Variographic analysis of rich ore indicator The workflow that has been applied illustrates some important capabilities of Exploratory Data Analysis, the decisions that are taken would probably require more detailed analysis in a real study. The main steps of the workflow, that will be detailed in the next pages are: l Calculation of the rich ore indicator. l Variogram map in horizontal slices to confirm the existence of anisotropy. l Calculations of directional variograms in horizontal plane. For simplification we keep 2 orthog- onal directions East-West (N90) and North-South (N0). l Check that the main directions of anisotropy are swapped when looking to northern or southern boreholes. l Save the Indicator variogram in the northern part (where are most of the data), with the idea that the variogram in the Southern part is the same as in the North by inverting N0 and N90 directions of the anisotropy. In practice this will be realized at the kriging/simulation stage by the use of Local Parameters for the variogram structures. l Variogram Fitting using a combination of Automatic and Manual mode. 2.3.1.1 Calculation of the indicator Use File / Calculator to assign the macro-selection index corresponding to rich ore to a float vari- able Indicator rich ore. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 37 (snap. 2.3-1)
2.3.1.2 Experimental Variogram of the Indicator Launch Statistics/Exploratory Data Analysis... to start the analysis on the variable Indicator rich ore: 38 (snap. 2.3-2) Highlight the Indicator rich ore variable in the main EDA window and open the Base Map and His- togram: In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 39 (fig. 2.3-1) The mean value gives the proportion of rich ore samples. The variogram map allows to check potential anisotropy. After clicking on the variogram map, the Define Parameters Before Initial Calculations being on, you should choose the parameters as shown in the next figure. You define parameters for horizontal slices, i.e. Ref.Plane UV with No rotation. Switch off the button Define the Calculations in the UW Plane and in the VW Plane, using the cor- responding tabs. With 18 directions each direction makes an angle of 10 with the previoius one. By asking a Toler- ance on Directions of 2 sectors, the variograms are calculated from pairs in a given direction +/- 25. 0 1000 2000 X (m) 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 Y
( m ) 0.0 0.5 1.0 Indicator rich ore 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 F r e q u e n c i e s Nb Samples: 1556 Minimum: 0.000 Maximum: 1.000 Mean: 0.627 Std. Dev.: 0.484 40 (snap. 2.3-3) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 41 (snap. 2.3-4) After pressing OK you get the representation of the Variogram Map. In the Application Menu ask Invert View Order to have variogram map and extracted experimental variograms in a landscape view. In the Application Menu ask Graphic Specific Parameters and change the Color Scale to Rain- bow Reversed. In the variogram map representation drag with the mouse a zone containing all directions. With the menu button ask Activate Direction. You will then visualize the experimental variograms in the 18 directions of the horizontal plane. It exhibits clearly anisotropic behaviour. 42 (snap. 2.3-5) We will now calculate the experimental variograms directly from the main EDA window by click- ing on the Variogram bitmap at the bottom of the window. In the next figure we can see the param- eters used for the calculation of 4 directional variograms in the horizontal plane and the vertical variogram. (snap. 2.3-6) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 43 (snap. 2.3-7) (snap. 2.3-8) For sake of simplicity we decide to keep only 2 directions N0, showing more continuity and the perpendicular direction N90. The procedure to follow is: 44 l In the List of Options, change from Omnidirectional to Directional. l In Regular Direction choose Number of Regular Directions 2 and switch on Activate Direction Normal to the Reference Plane. Click Ok and go back to the Variogram Calculation Parameters window. (snap. 2.3-9) You have then to define the parameters for each direction. Click the parameter table to edit: l You have then to define the parameters for each direction. Click the parameter table to edit. For applying the same parameters on the 2 horizontal directions, you must highlight these directions in the Directions list of the Directions Definition window. l The two regular directions choose the following parameters: m Label for direction 1: N90 (default name) m Label for direction 2: N0 m Tolerance on direction: 45 (in order to consider all samples without overlapping) m Lag value: 90 m (i.e. approximately the distance between boreholes) m Number of lags: 15(so that the variogram will be calculated over 1350 m distance) m Tolerance on Distance (proportion of the lag): 0.5 m Slicing Height: 7.55 m (adapted to the height of composites) m Number of Lags Refined: 1 m Lag Subdivision: 45m (so that we can have the variogram at short distance from the drill- holes closely spaced). l The normal direction with the following parameters: m Label for direction 1: Vertical m Tolerance on angle: 22.5 m Lag value: 15 m m Number of lags: 10 m Tolerance on lags (proportion of the lag): 0.5 In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 45 l In the Application Menu ask for Graphic Specific Parameters and click on the toggle button for the display of the Histogram of Pairs. (snap. 2.3-10) Because the general shape of the orebody is anisotropic, we will calculate the variogram restricted to the northern part and to the southern part of the orebody. To do so you will use capabilities of the linked windows of EDA, by masking samples in the Base Map. Automatically the variograms will be recalculated with only the selected samples. For instance in the Base Map you drag a box around data in the Southern part (as shown on the fig- ure) and with the menu button of the mouse you ask Mask. You will then get the variogram calcu- lated from the northern data. 46 (snap. 2.3-11) In the next figure we compare the variograms calculated from the northern and the southern data. The main directions of anisotropy are swapped between North and South. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 47 (snap. 2.3-12) 48 (snap. 2.3-13) We decide now to fit a variogram model on the northern variogram, which is calculated with the most abundant data. Then we will apply the same variogram to the southern data by making the main axes of anisotropy swapped. This will be realized by means of local parameters attached to the variogram model and to the neighborhood. In the graphic window containing the experimental variogram in the northern zone, click on Appli- cation / Save in Parameter File and save the variogram under the name Indicator rich ore North. 2.3.1.3 Variogram Modeling of the Indicator rich ore You must now define a Model which fits the experimental variogram calculated previously. In the Statistics / Variogram Fitting application, define: l the Parameter File containing the set of experimental variograms: Indicator rich ore North. l the Parameter File in which you wish to save the resulting model: Indicator rich ore Click on Show Advanced Parameters. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 49
(snap. 2.3-14) 50 l Set the toggles Fitting Window and Global Window ON; the program displays automatically one default spherical model. The Fitting window displays one direction at a time (you may choose the direction to display through Application/Variable & Direction Selection...), and the Global window displays every variable (if several) and direction in one graphic. l To display each direction in separate views, click in the Global Window on Application / Graphic Specific Parameters and choose the Manual mode. Choose for Nb of Columns 3, then Add, in turn for each Current Column, in the Selection by picking in the View Contents area the First Variable, the Second Variable and the Direction. (snap. 2.3-15) l when pressing the Edit button next to the variogram model, the Model Definition sub-window opens and the user can choose the basic structures. The model must reflect: m the variability at short distances, with a consistent nugget effect, m the main directions of anisotropy, m the general increase of the variogram. The model is automatically defined with the same rotation definition as the experimental vario- gram. Three different structures have been defined (in the Model Definition window, use the Add button to add a structure, and define its characteristics below, for each structure): l Nugget effect, l Anisotropic Exponential model with the following respective ranges along U, V and W: 700 m, 550 m and 70 m, l Anisotropic Exponential model with the following respective ranges along U, V and W: 500 m, 5000 m and nothing (which means that it is a zonal component with no contribution in the vertical direction). Do not specify the sill for each structure at this stage, instead: In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 51 l click Nugget effect in the main Variogram Fitting window, set the toggle button Lock the Nug- get Effect Components During Automatic Sill Fitting ON and enter the value .065. l set the toggle Automatic Sill Fitting ON. The program automatically computes the sills and dis- plays the results in the graphic windows. l A final adjustement is necessary, particularly to get a total sill of 0.25, which is the maximum admissible for a stationary indicator variogram. Set the toggle Automatic Sill Fitting OFF from the main Variogram Fitting window, then in the Model Definition window set the sill for the first exponential to 0.14 and the sill for the second exponential to 0.045. The final model is saved in the parameter file by clicking Run in the Variogram Fitting window. (snap. 2.3-16) 2.3.2 Variographic Analysis of Fe rich ore 2.3.2.4 Experimental Variogram of Fe rich ore Launch Statistics/Exploratory Data Analysis... to start the analysis on the variable Fe using the selection for the rich ore composites. 52 (snap. 2.3-17) You will calculate the variograms in 2 directions of dipping plane striking North with a western dip of 15. In the Calculation Parameters you will ask in List of Options a Directional. Click then Reg- ular Directions a new window Directions pops up where you will define the Reference Direction and switch on Activate Direction Normal to the Reference Plane. (snap. 2.3-18) Click Reference Direction, in 3D Direction Definition window set the convention to User Defined and define the rotation parameters as shown in the next figure. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 53 (snap. 2.3-19) The reference direction U (in red) correspond to the N121 main direction of anisotropy. The calculation parameters are then chosen as shown in the next figure. 54 (snap. 2.3-20) The next figure shows the experimental variograms. Two points may be noted: l the anisotropy is not really marked, we will recalculate isotropic variogram in the horizontal plane, l the second point of the variogram for the direction N121, calculated with 42 pairs, shows a peak that we can explain by using the Exploratory Data Analysis linked windows. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 55 (snap. 2.3-21) For using the linked windows the following actions have to be made: 56 l ask to display the histogram (accept the default parameters), l in the Graphic Specific Parameters of the graphic page containing the experimental variogram, set the toggle button Variogram Cloud (if calculated) OFF, and click on the radio button Pick from Experimental Variogram. l in the Calculation Parameters of the graphic page containing the experimental variogram, set the toggle button Calculate the Variogram Cloud ON. l In the graphic page click on the experimental point with 43 pairs and ask in the menu of the mouse Highlight. The variogram is then represented as a blue square, and all data making the pairs represented the part painted in blue in the histogram. (snap. 2.3-22) The high variability due to pairs made of the samples with low values is responsible of the peak in the variogram. It can be proved by clicking in the histogram on the bar of the minimum values and clicking with the menu of the mouse on Mask, the variograms are automatically calculated and dont show anymore the anomalous point as shown on the next figure. (snap. 2.3-23) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 57 l We now re-calculate the variograms with 2 directions, omni-directional in the horizontal plane and vertical, with the parameters shown hereafter you enter by clicking Regular Directions.... (snap. 2.3-24) 58 (snap. 2.3-25) In the graphic containing this last variogram ask for the Application->Save in Parameter File to save the variogram with the name Fe rich ore. 2.3.2.5 Variogram Modeling of Fe rich ore In the Statistics / Variogram Fitting application, define: l the Parameter File containing the set of experimental variograms: Fe rich ore l the Parameter File in which you wish to save the resulting model: Fe rich ore Open the Model Intialization window in order to make an automatic model with a nugget effect and 2 spherical (short and long range ) N0 41 157 472 688 1120 1373 1195 1196 900 1108 1222 1155 D-90 6 78 392 325 266 223 183 148 117 0 500 1000 1500 Distance (m) 0 5 10 15 V a r i o g r a m
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F e In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 59 (snap. 2.3-26) In the Global window, you represent the variograms in two columns, the automatic variogram looks satisfactory, so you click Run in the Variogram Fitting window to save it. (fig. 2.3-2) 2.3.3 Analysis of border effects This chapter may be skipped in a first reading as it does not change anything in the Isatis study. It helps to decide whether kriging/ simulation will be made using hard or soft boundary. In order to understand the behaviour of Fe grades when the samples are close to the border between rich and poor ore, we can use two applications: 60 l Statistics / Domaining / Border effect calculates bi-point statistics from pairs of samples belong- ing to different domains. The pairs are chosen in the same way as for experimental variogram calculations. l Statistics / Domaining / Contact Analysis calculates the mean values of samples of 2 domains as a function of the distance to the contact between these domains along the drillholes. 2.3.3.6 Statistics on Border effect Launch Statistics / Domaining / Border effect and choose in the file Composites 15m, the Macro Selection Variable final lithology[xxxxx], that contains the definition of all domains, and the vari- able of interest Fe. In the list of Domains you may pick only some of these, in this case Rich ore and Poor ore, while you ask to Mask Samples from Domain choosing Undefined. In the Calculation Parameters sub-window we define the parameters for 3 directions by pressing the corresponding tabs in turn and switching on the toggle Activate Direction. For the 3 directions the parameters are: Switch on the three toggle buttons for the Graphic Parameters and click on Run. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 61 (snap. 2.3-27) Three graphic pages corresponding to the three statistics are then displayed: 62 l Transition Probability, that, in the case of only 2 domains, is not very informative. (snap. 2.3-28) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 63 l Mean [Z(x+h)|Z(x)], that shows that when going from Rich ore to Poor ore there is a border effect (the grade of the new domain, i.e. Poor ore, is higher than the mean Poor ore grade which means it is influenced at short distance by the proximity to Rich ore samples. Conversely when going from Poor ore to Rich ore there is no border effect. (snap. 2.3-29) Dir Dir Dir 0 500 1000 1500 Distance (m) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 F e
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o r e 64 l Mean Diff[Z(x+h)-Z(x)], that shows that when going from Rich ore to Poor ore as well as going from Poor ore to Rich ore the grade difference is influenced by the proximity of both domains. (snap. 2.3-30) 2.3.3.7 Contact Analysis Launch Statistics / Domaining / Contact Analysis and choose in the file Composites 15m, the Macro Selection Variable final lithology[xxxxx], that contains the definition of all domains, and the variable of interest Fe. You set the variables Direct Distance Variable and Indirect Distance Variable to None, which means that the contact point is determined when the domain changes down the boreholes. In the list of Domains you pick Rich ore for Domain 1 and Poor ore for Domain 2, while you let Use Undefined Domain Variable to Off. The statistics are calculated as a function of the distance to the contact along the drillhole, you have the possibility to select only some of the drillholes according to a specific direction with an angular tolerance. In this case, as most of the drillholes are vertical, we select all drillholes by choosing a tolerance of 90 on the vertical direction defined by thre rotation angles Az=0, Ay=90, Ax=0 (Math- ematician Convention). The samples are regrouped by Distance Classes of 15m. Dir Dir Dir 0 500 1000 1500 Distance (m) -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 D i f f
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o r e In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 65 (snap. 2.3-31) Two graphic pages are then displayed: l Contact Analysis (Oriented) contains two views: m Direct for statistics calculated in the Reference Direction m Indirect for statistics calculated in the opposite of the Reference Direction In the Application menu of the graphic pages we ask the Graphical Parameters, as shown below, to display the Number of Points and the Mean per Domain. (snap. 2.3-32) 66 (snap. 2.3-33) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 67 l Contact Analysis (Non-Oriented) displays the average of the two previous ones. (snap. 2.3-34) From these graphs it appears that the poor grades are influenced by the proximity to rich grades. In conclusion we decide for the kriging and simulations steps to apply hard boundary when dealing with rich ore. 68 2.4 Kriging We are now going to estimate on blocks 75mx75mx15m the tonnage and Fe grades of Rich ore. Therefore, we will perform two steps: l Kriging of the Indicator of Rich ore to get the estimated proportion of rich ore, from which the tonnage can be deduced. l Kriging of the Fe grade of rich ore using only the rich ore samples. Each block is then estimated as if it would be entirely in rich ore, by applying the estimated tonnage, we can then obtain an estimate of the Fe metal content. 2.4.1 Kriging of indicator of rich ore with local parameters After the variographic analysis it was found that the variogram model has an horizontal anisotropy that has a different orientation in the northern and southern part of the orebody. We will then use that orientation as local parameter recovered from the grid file in a variable called RotZ. As a first attempt, that should be sufficient in this case because of the orebody shape, we will use two values 90 for blocks in the southern area and 0 for the northern area, both areas being defined by means of the geographic code variable (respectively 1 and 2). These values are stored in the grid file by using File / Calculator. (snap. 2.4-1) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 69 Then you launch Interpolate / Estimation / (Co)Kriging. (snap. 2.4-2) You need to specify the type of calculation to Block and the number of variables to 1, then: l Input File: Indicator rich ore (Composites on 15m with the selection None). l The names of the variables in the output file (3D Grid 75 x 75 x 15 m), with the orebody selec- tion active: m Kriging indicator rich ore for the estimation of Indicator rich ore m Kriging indicator rich ore std dev for the kriging standard deviation 70 l The variogram model contained in the Parameter File called Indicator rich ore. l The neighborhood: open the Neighborhood... definition window and specify the name (Indica- tor rich ore for instance) of the new parameter file which will contain the following parameters, to be defined from the Edit... button nearby. The neighborhood type is set by default to moving: (snap. 2.4-3) m The moving neighborhood is an ellipsoid with No rotation, which means that U,V,W axes are the original X,Y,Z axes; m Set the dimensions of the ellipsoid to 800 m, 600 m and 60 m along the vertical direction; m Switch ON the Use Anisotropic Distances button. m Minimum number of samples: 4; m Number of angular sectors: 12 m Optimum Number of Samples per Sector: 5 m Block discretization: as we chose to perform Block kriging, the block discretization has to be defined. The default settings for discretization are 5 x 5 x 1, meaning each block is sub- divided by 5 in each X and Y direction, but is not divided in Z direction. The Block Discret- In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 71 ization sub-window may be used to change these settings, and check how different discreti- zations influence the block covariance C vv . In this case study, the default parameters 5x5x1 will be kept. m Press OK for the Neighborhood Definition. l The Local Parameters: open the Local Parameters Loading... window and specify the name of the Local Parameters File (3D Grid 75x75x15m). Fore the Model All Structures and Neighbor- hood tabs switch ON Use Local Rotation (Mathematician convention) then 2D and define as Rotation/Z the variable Rot Z. (snap. 2.4-4) 72 It is possible to check both the model and the neighborhood performances when processing on a grid node, and to display the results graphically: this is the purpose of the Test option at the bottom of the (Co-)Kriging main window. When pressing it, a graphic page opens where: l The Indicator rich ore variable is represented with proportional symbols, l The neighborhood ellipsoid is drawn on a 2D section. By pressing once on the left button of the mouse, the target grid is shown (in fact a XOY section of it, you may select different sections through Application/Selection For Display...). The user can then move the cursor to a target grid node: click once more to initiate kriging. The samples selected in the neighborhood are highlighted and the weights are displayed. We can see here that the nearest samples get the higher weights. It is also important to check that the negative weights due to screen effect are not too important. The neighborhood can be changed sometimes to avoid this kind of problem (more sectors and less points by sector...). You can also select the target grid node by giving the indices along X, Y and Z with the Application menu Target Selection (for instance 6, 11, 16). You can figure out how the local parameters used for the neighborhood are applied. (snap. 2.4-5) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 73 (snap. 2.4-6) Note - From Application/Link to 3D viewer, you may ask for a 3D representation of the search ellipsoid if the 3D viewer application is already running (see the end of this case study). Close the Test Window and press RUN. 7814 grid nodes have been estimated. Basic statistics of the variables are displayed below. (fig. 2.4-1) The kriging standard deviation is an indicator of the estimation error, and depends only on the geo- metrical configuration of the data around the target grid node and on the variogram model. Basi- cally, the standard deviation decrease as an estimated grid node is closer to data. Some blocks have the kriged indicator above 1. These values will be changed into 1 by means of File / Calculator. 74 (snap. 2.4-7) Note - In the main Kriging window, the optional toggle Full set of Output Variables allows to store in the Output File other kriging parameters: slope of regression, weight of the mean, estimated dispersion variance of estimates etc... 2.4.2 Kriging of Fe rich ore In the Standard (Co)Kriging menu specify the type of calculation to Block and the number of variables to 1, then enter the following parameters: l Input File: Fe (Composites on 15m with the selection final lithology{rich ore}). l The names of the variables in the output file (3D Grid 75 x 75 x 15 m), with the orebody selec- tion active: m Kriging Fe rich ore for the estimation of Fe; m Kriging Fe rich ore std dev for the kriging standard deviation. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 75 l The variogram model contained in the Parameter File called Fe rich ore. l The neighborhood: open the Neighborhood... definition window and specify the name (Fe rich ore for instance) of the new parameter file which will contain the following parameters, to be defined from the Edit... button nearby. The neighborhood type is set by default to moving: m The moving neighborhood is an ellipsoid with No rotation, which means that U,V,W axes are the original X,Y,Z axes; m Set the dimensions of the ellipsoid to 800 m, 300 m and 50 m along the vertical direction; m Switch ON the Use Anisotropic Distances button. m Minimum number of samples: 4; m Number of angular sectors: 12 m Optimum Number of Samples per Sector: 3 m Block discretization: as we chose to perform Block kriging, the block discretization is kept to the default 5 x 5 x 1. l Apply Local Parameters but only for the Neighborhood, where you use Rot Z variable for 2D Rotation /Z. (snap. 2.4-8) 76 After Run you can calculate the statistics of the kriged estimate by asking in Statistics / Quick Sta- tistics to apply as Weight the weight variable Kriging indicator rich ore. 7561 blocks from 7814 have been kriged. By using a weight variable you will obtain the statistics weighted by the propor- tion of the block in rich ore. (snap. 2.4-9) (fig. 2.4-2) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 77 The mean grade is close to the average of the composites grade (65.84). Therefore in the next steps, carrying out non linear methods which require the modeling of the distribution, we will not apply any declustering weights. 78 2.5 Global Estimation With Change of Support The support is the geometrical volume on which the grade is defined. Assuming the data sampling is representative of the deposit, it is possible to fit a histogram model on the experimental histogram of the composites. But at the mining stage, the cut-off will be applied on blocks, not on composites. Therefore, it is necessary to apply a support correction to the composite histogram model in order to estimate an histogram model on the block support. Note - When kriging too small blocks with a high error level, applying a cut-off to the kriged grades will induce biased tonnage estimates due to the high smoothing effect. It is then recommended to use non-linear estimation techniques, or simulations (see the Non Linear case study). For global estimation, an other alternative is to use the Gaussian anamorphosis modeling, as described here below. 2.5.1 Gaussian anamorphosis modeling Gaussian anamorphosis is a mathematical technique which allows to model histograms, taking the change of support from composites to blocks into account. Note - From a support size point of view, composites will be considered as points compared to blocks. The technique will not be mathematically detailed here: the reader is referred to the Isatis on-line help and technical references. Basically, the anamorphosis transforms an experimental dataset to a gaussian dataset (i.e. having a gaussian histogram). The anamorphosis is bijective, so it is possible to back transform gaussian values to raw values. A gaussian histogram is often a pre-requisite for using non linear and simulation techniques. The anamorphosis function may be modelled in two ways: l by a discretization with n points between a negative gaussian value of -5 and a positive gaussian value of +5. l by using a decomposition into Hermite polynomials up to a degree N. This was the only possi- bility until the Isatis release V10.0. It is still compulsory for some applications, as will be explained later on. Open the Statistics/Gaussian Anamorphosis Modeling window. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 79 (snap. 2.5-1) l In Input... choose the Composites 15 m file with the selection final lithology{Rich ore}; choose Fe for the raw variable. l Do NOT ask for a Gaussian Transform. l Name the anamorphosis function Fe rich ore. l In Interactive Fitting... choose the Type Standard and switch ON the toggle button Dispersion with the Dispersion Law set to Log-Normal Distribution. In this mode the histogram will be modelled by assigning to each datum a dispersion, that accounts for some uncertainty that is 80 globally reflected by an error on the mean value. The variability of the dispersion is controlled by the Variance Increase parameter, related to the estimation variance of the mean. By default that variance is set to the statistical variance of the data divided by the number of data. (snap. 2.5-2) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 81 l Click on the Anamorphosis and Histogram bitmaps. You will visualize the anamorphosis func- tion and how the experimental histogram is modelled (black bars are for the experimental histo- gram and the blue bars for the modelled histogram). (snap. 2.5-3) Close the Fitting Parameters window. l Press RUN in the Gaussian Anamorphosis window: because you have not asked for Hermite Polynomials, the following error message window is displayed to advise you on the applications requiring these polynomials. (snap. 2.5-4) 82 2.5.2 Block anamorphosis on SMU support Using the composite histogram and variogram models, we are now going to take the change of sup- port into account using Statistics/Support Correction...: (snap. 2.5-5) The Selective Mining Unit (SMU) size has been fixed to 25 x 25 x 15 m. Therefore, the correction will be calculated for a block support of 25 x 25 x 15 m. Each block is discretized by default in 3x3 for the X and Y direction (NX = 3 and NY = 3); no discretization is needed for the vertical direction (NZ = 1) as the composites are regularized accordingly to the bench height (15 m). Changing the discretization along X and Y may allow to study the sensitivity on change of support coefficients. Switch ON the toggle button Normalize Variogram Sill. As the variogram sill is higher than the In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 83 variance, the consequence is to reduce a little bit the support correction (r coefficient a bit higher than without normalization). Press Calculate at the bottom of the window. The block support correction calculations are dis- played in the message window: (snap. 2.5-6) The block variogram value Gamma (v,v) is calculated and is the base for calculating the real block variance and the real block support correction coefficient r. We can see that the support correction is not very important (r not very far from 1), it is because of the variogram model whose ranges are rather large compared to the smu size. The calculation is made at random, so different calculations will give similar results, but different. If the differences in the real block variance are too large, the block discretization should be refined by increasing NX and NY. By pressing Calcu- late... several times, we statistically check if the discretization is fine enough to represent the vari- ability inside the blocks. Press OK. Save the Block Anamorphosis under the name Fe rich ore block 25x25x15 and press RUN. 2.5.3 Grade Tonnage Curves Launch Tools / Grade Tonnage Curves. You will ask to display two types of curves, calculated from: 84 l Kriged Fe rich ore on the panels 75mx75mx15m, the Histogram modelled after support correc- tion on blocks 25mx25mx15m . (snap. 2.5-7) For each curve you have to click Edit and Fill the parameters. For the first curve on kriged panels: In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 85 (snap. 2.5-8) For the second curve, on blocks histogram: 86 (snap. 2.5-9) After clicking the bitmaps at the bottom of the Grade Tonnage Curves window (M vs. z, T vs z, Q vs. z, Q vs.T, B vs z) you get the graphics like for instance T(z), M(z): In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 87 (snap. 2.5-10) (snap. 2.5-11) These curves show as expected that the selectivity is better from true blocks 25x25x15 than from kriged panels 75x75x15, that have a lower dispersion variance. The legend is displayed in a Separate Window as was asked in the Grade Tonange Curves win- dow. By clicking Define Axes you switch OFF Automatic Bounds to change the Axis Minimum and Axis Maximum for Mean Grade to 60 and 70 respectively. 50 55 60 65 Cutoff 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 T o t a l
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G r a d e 88 (snap. 2.5-12) (snap. 2.5-13) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 89 2.6 Simulations This chapter aims at giving a quick example of conditional block simulations in a multivariate case. Simulations allow to reproduce the real variability of the variable. We will focus on the Fe-P-SiO 2 grades of rich ore of blocks 25mx25mx15m. Two steps will then be achieved: l simulation of the rich ore indicator. Sequential Indicator method will be applied to generate sim- ulated model where each block has a simulated code 1 for rich ore blocks and 2 for poor ore blocks. A finer grid would be required to be more realistic, for sake of simplicity we will make the indicator simulation on the same blocks 25mx25mx15m. l simulation of rich ore Fe grade, as if each block would be entirely in rich ore. By intersecting with the indicator simulation, we will get the final picture. 2.6.1 Simulation of the indicator rich ore You must first create the grid of blocks 25x25x15 with File / Create Grid File. (snap. 2.6-1) 90 To create in the grid file the orebody selection we use the migration capability (Tools/Migrate/Grid to Point...) from the 3D Grid 75x75x15 m file to 3D Grid 25x25x15 with maximum migration dis- tance of 55 m. (snap. 2.6-2) Open the menu Interpolate / Conditional Simulations / Sequential Indicator / Standard Neighbor- hood. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 91 (snap. 2.6-3) For defining the two facies 1 for rich ore and 2 for the complementary you have to click on Facies Definition and enter the parameters as shown below. 92 (snap. 2.6-4) You may use the same variogram model, the same neighborhood and the same local parameters as used for the kriging. The only additional parameter is the Optimum Number of Already Simulated Nodes, you can fix to 30 (the total number being 5 for 12 sectors, i.e. 60). Save the simulation in SIS indicator rich ore. You ask 100 simulations, then press on Run. 2.6.2 Block simulations of Fe-P-SiO 2 rich ore The direct block simulation method, based on the discrete gaussian model (DGM), will be used. The workflow is the following: m transform the raw data to gaussian values by anamorphosis. For the case of P grade the anamorphosis will take into account the fact that many samples are at the detection limit, that produces an histogram with a significant zero effect. m do a multivariate variographic analysis on the gaussian data in order to have a gaussian vari- ogram In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 93 m model these gaussian variograms with a linear model of coregionalisation; m regularize these variograms on the block support; m perform a support correction on the gaussian transforms; m perform the simulations using the discrete gaussian model framework, that allows to condi- tion block simulated values to gaussian point data. 2.6.2.1 Gaussian Anamorphosis We will perform the gaussian anamorphosis on the three grades of the rich ore domain in one go. and independently. Note that the three anamorphosis functions must be stored together in the same Parameter file called Fe-SiO 2 -P rich ore. Note in this case that we also ask to store the Gaussian transforms in the composites file with the names Gaussian Fe/P/SiO 2 rich ore, ... 94 (snap. 2.6-5) By clicking on Interactive Fitting, the Fitting Parameters window pops up, you will have to choose parameters for the three variables in turn, by clicking on the arrow on the side of the area displaying Parameters for Fe/P/SiO 2 . For Fe and SiO 2 you choose the Standard Type with a Dispersion using a Log Normal Distribution and the default Variance Increase (as was made before for Fe alone). For P many samples have values equal to the detection limit of 0.01. The histogram shows a spike at the origin, that will be modelled by a zero-effect. You must choose the type Zero-effect and click on Advanced Parameters to enter the parameters defining the zero effect. In particular we will put in the atom all values equal to 0.01 with a precision of 0.01, i.e. all samples between 0 and 0.02. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 95 (snap. 2.6-6) After Run the transformed values of Fe and SiO2 have a gaussian distribution, while for P the gaus- sian transform has a truncated gaussian distribution. The gaussian values assigned to the samples concerned by the zero effect are all equal to the same value (gaussian value corresponding to the frequency of the zero effect). 2.6.2.2 Gaussian transform of P rich ore The next steps consist of making the gaussian transform of P a true gaussian distribution. This is achieved by using a Gibbs Sampler algorithm that will generate for all samples of the zero effect a gaussian value consistent with the structure of spatial correlation with all gaussian values. Practi- cally 3 steps must be carried out: l calculation of the experimental variogram of the truncated gaussian values; l variogram modelling of the gaussian transform using the truncation option; l Gibbs Sampler to generate the gaussian transform with a true distribution and honouring the spatial correlation. Using EDA we calculate the histogram and the experimental variogram on the variable Gaussian P rich ore (activating the selection final lithology{Rich ore}). In the Application menu of the his- togram you ask the Calculation Parameters and switch off the Automatic mode to the values shown below: (snap. 2.6-7) 96 For the variogram you choose the same parameters as used for Fe (omnidirectional in the horizontal plane and vertical), by asking in the Application Menu / Calculation Parameters, in the Variogram Calculation Parameters window click Load Parameters from Standard Parameter File and select the experimental variogram Fe rich ore. On the graphic display you see the truncated distribution with about 35% of samples concerned by the zero effect, the gaussian truncated value is -0.393. The variance displayed as the dotted line on the variograms is about 0.5. In the Application / Save in Parameter File menu of the graphic con- taining the variogram you save it under the name Gaussian P rich ore zero effect. (snap. 2.6-8) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 97 (snap. 2.6-9) In the Variogram Fitting window you choose the Experimental Variograms Gaussian P rich ore zero effect and you create a New Variogram Model, called Gaussian P rich ore. Note that the var- iogram model refers to the gaussian transform (with the true gaussian distribution), it is transformed by means of the truncation to match the experimental variogram of the truncated gaussian variable. (snap. 2.6-10) Click Edit, in the Model Definition window you must first click Truncation. 98 (snap. 2.6-11) In the Truncation window, switch ON Truncation and click Anamorphosis V1 to select the anamor- phosis Fe-SiO 2 -P[P]. (snap. 2.6-12) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 99 (snap. 2.6-13) Coming back to the Model Definition window you enter the parameters of the variogram model as shown below. It is important to choose sill coefficients summing up to 1 (dispersion variance of the true gaussian) and not 0.5 the dispersion variance of the truncated gaussian. (snap. 2.6-14) N0 1 157 472 688 1120 1373 1195 1196 900 1108 1222 1155 0 500 1000 1500 Distance (m) 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 V a r i o g r a m
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o r e 100 You will now generate gaussian values for the zero effect on P rich ore by using Statistics / Statis- tics / Gibbs Sampler. Note that the gaussian values not concerned by the zero effect are kept unchanged. l The Input Data are the variogram model you just fitted Gaussian P rich ore and the Gaussian P rich ore variable stored after the GaussainAnamorphosis Modelling. l The Output Data are a new variogram model Gaussian P rich ore no truncation (which is in fact the same as the input one without the truncation option) and a new variable in the Compos- ites 15m file Gaussian P rich ore (Gibbs). l You ask to perform 1000 iterations. (snap. 2.6-15) You can check how the Gibbs Sampler has reproduced the gaussian distribution and the input vari- ogram. You just have to recalculate the histogram and the variograms on the variable Gaussian P rich ore (Gibbs). After saving in the Parameter File that experimental variogram, you can superim- pose to it the variogram model with no truncation using Variogram Fitting menu. For the first dis- tance the fit is acceptable. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 101 (snap. 2.6-16) (snap. 2.6-17) N0 1 157 472688 1120 1373 1195 1196 900 1108 1222 1155 D-9 6 78 92 325 266 223 183 148 117 0 500 1000 1500 Distance (m) 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 V a r i o g r a m
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( G i b b s ) 102 2.6.2.3 Multivariate Gaussian variogram modeling In Statistics / Exploratory Data Analysis you calculate the variograms with the same parameters as before (one monidirectional horizontal direction and one vertical direction) on the 3 gaussian trans- forms. In the graphic window you use Application / Save in Parameter File to save these variograms under the name Gaussian Fe-SiO2-P rich ore. (snap. 2.6-18) In Statistics/Variogram Fitting..., choose the experimental variogram you just saved. Create the new variogram model with the same name Gaussian Fe-SiO2-P rich ore. Set the toggles Global Window and ask to display the number of pairs in the graphic window (Application/Graphic Parameters...). In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 103 (snap. 2.6-19) The model is made using the following method: 104 l enter the name of the new variogram model Gaussian Fe-SiO2-P rich ore and Edit it. l in the Model Definition window click on Load Model and choose the model made for Gaussian P rich ore no truncation. The following window pops up:* (snap. 2.6-20) Clck on Clear button, then move the mouse to the second line Gaussian P rich ore, click on Link and on OK in the Selector window to put the variogram made on Gaussian P alone for the same variable in the three variate variogram. Then you click on OK in the Model Loading window. l in the Variogram Fitting window click on Automatic Sill Fitting. The Global Window shows the model that has been fitted. Press Run to save it in the parameter file. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 105 (snap. 2.6-21) 2.6.2.4 Variogram regularization In order to perform the direct block simulation you have to model the three variate variogram on the support of the blocks 25x25x15. N0 1 157 472 688 11201373 1195 1196 900 1108 1222 1155 D-9 6 78 92 325 266 223 183 148 117 0 500 1000 1500 Distance (m) 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 V a r i o g r a m
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o r e 106 l You first have to launch Statistics / Modeling / Variogram Regularization. You will store in a new experimental variogram Gaussian Fe-SiO 2 -P rich ore block 25x25x15 3 directional vari- ograms using a discretization of 5x5x1. You will also ask to Normalize the Input Point Vario- gram. (snap. 2.6-22) l Then you model the regularized variogram using Variogram Fitting and the Automatic Sill Fit- ting mode, after having loaded the model made on the point samples Gaussian Fe-SiO2-P rich ore. You note that the Nugget effect is put to zero. When you save the variogram model the Nugget effect is not stored in the Parameter file In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 107 (snap. 2.6-23) 108 (snap. 2.6-24) 2.6.2.5 Gaussian Support Correction The point gaussian anamorphosis and the regularized variogram model have to be transformed in gaussian anamorphosis and variogram model related to the gaussian block variable Yv (gaussian zero-mean, variance-1 variable). This is achieved by running Statistics / Modeling / Gaussian Support Correction. N0 N27 D-9 0 500 1000 1500 Distance (m) 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 V a r i o g r a m
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( B l o In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 109 (snap. 2.6-25) 2.6.2.6 Direct Block Simulation It is achieved by running the menu Interpolate / Conditional Simulations / Direct Block Simulation. It takes some time to get 100 simulations. Depending on the computer it may be more than an hour. 110 l The simulated variables are created with the following names Simu block Gaussian Fe rich ore ...in the 3D Grid 25x25x15. We store the gaussian values before transform to allow a check of the experimental variograms on gaussian simulated values with the input variogram model, that is defined on the gaussian variables. l The Block Anamorphosis and the Block Gaussian Model are those obtained from the Gaussian Support Correction. l The Neighborhood used for kriging Fe rich ore is modified into a new one called Fe rich ore simulation changing the radius along V to 800m. The reason is just because the Local Parame- ters for the neighborhood are not implemented in the application Direct Block Simulation. l Number of simulations: 100 for instance . l We ask to not Perform a Gaussian Back Transformation, for the reason explained above. The back transform will be achieved afterwards. l The turning bands algorithm is used with 1000 Turning Bands. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 111 (snap. 2.6-26) You can compare the experimental variograms calculated from the 100 simulations in up to 3 direc- tions with the input variogram model. The directions are entered by giving the increments (number of grid mesh) of the unit directional lag along X, Y, Z. For instance for the direction 1, the incre- ments are respectively 1, 0, 0, which makes the unit lag 25m East-West. 112 (snap. 2.6-27) Three graphic pages (one per direction) are then displayed. The average experimental variograms are displayed with a single line, the variogram model with a double line. On the next figure the var- iograms in the direction 3 show a good match up to 100m. For the cross-variogram P-SiO2 where the correlation is very low, some simulations look anomalous, further analysis could be made to exclude these simulations for the next post processing steps. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 113 (snap. 2.6-28) It is then necessary to transform the simulated gaussian values into raw values, using Statistics / Data Tranformation / Raw Gaussian Transformation. For transforming the three grade you will have to run that menu three times. You should choose as Transformation Gaussian to Raw Trans- formation. The New Raw Variable will be created with the same number of indices with names like Simu block Fe rich ore... The transform is achieved by means of the block anamorphosis Fe-SiO2-P rich ore block 25x25x15, do not forget to choose on the right side of the Anamorphosis window the right variable. 0 25 50 75 100 125 Distance (m) 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 V a r i o g r a m
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r i 114 (snap. 2.6-29) We can now combine the simulations of the rich ore indicator and the grades simulations, by chang- ing to undefined (N/A) the grades when the block is simulated as poor ore (simulated code 2). These transformations have to be applied on the 100 simulations using File / Calculator. It is com- pulsory to create beforehand new macro variables, with 100 indices, called Simu block Fe ... with Tools / Create Special Variable. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 115 (snap. 2.6-30) 116 (snap. 2.6-31) If you complete this Case Study by simulating also the grades of poor ore, you will get valuated grades for all blocks in the orebody. The displays will be presented in the last chapter. 2.6.3 Simulations post-processing One main advantage of simulations is the possibility to apply non linear calculations (for example applying different cut-off grades simultaneously, or calculation of the probability for a grade to be above a threshold etc.) for local reserves estimation. The post-processing may be applied on the simulated blocks, but in the present case it is more interesting to first regroup the simulated blocks in the blocks 75x75x15 (called panels) and illustrate some basic post-processing on the tonnage and metals of rich ore within those panels. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 117 2.6.3.7 Regrouping blocks into panels We will calculate for each panel the mean grade, tonnage and metal quantitiy of rich ore and the quantity of rich ore Fe-P-SiO 2 by using Tools / Processing / Grade Simulation Post-Processing, that applies directly on the macro-variables. The Grade Simulation Post-processing is designed to calcu- late local grade tonnage curves on panel grid (Q,T,M variables) from simulated grade variables on block grid. The grade variables can be simulated using the panel Turning bands, Sequential Gauss- ian Simulation or any kind of simula-tion that generates continuous variables. The Block Grid usually corresponds to the S.M.U. (Selective Mining Unit). It has to be consistent with the Panels, in other words the Block Grid must make a partition of this Panel Grid.This appli-cation handles multivariable cases with a cuttof on the main variable. (snap. 2.6-32) 118 (snap. 2.6-33) 2.6.3.8 Examples of Post Processing The menu Tools / Simulation Post-processing offers different options, illustrated hereafter on the Tonnage and Metal variables stored on the 3D Grid 75x75x15m file: In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 119 l Statistical Maps to calculate the average of 100 simulated tonnages (snap. 2.6-34) (snap. 2.6-35) The mean tonnage may be compared to the kriged indicator (after multiplication by the panel ton- nage). 120 l Iso-Frequency Maps to calculate the quantile at the frequencies of 25%-50%-75% of the Ton- nage of rich ore. In the previous Simulation Post-Processing window, click the Toggle button Iso-Frequency Maps, the following window pops up and you define a New Macro Variable Quantile Tonnage rich ore[xxxxx]. (snap. 2.6-36) then click Quantiles and choose for Step Between Frequencies 25%. You get a macro-variable with 3 indices, one per frequency: for each panel the tonnage such that 25%, 50%, 75% of the simula- tions is lower than the corresponding quantile value. (snap. 2.6-37) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 121 l Iso-Cutoff Maps to calculate the probability for the Metal P rich ore to be above 0, 50, 100, 150, 200. (snap. 2.6-38) In the previous Simulation Post-Processing window, click the Toggle button Iso-Cutoff Maps, the following window pops up and you define a New Macro Variable for Probability to be Above Cut- off (T), i.e. Proba P rich ore above[xxxxx]. 122 (snap. 2.6-39) then click Cutoff and click Regular Cutoff Definition and choose the parameters as shown below. You get a macro-variable with 4 indices, one per cutoff: for each panel the probability to be above 0.02,0.03 ... (snap. 2.6-40) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 123 l Risk Curves to calculate the distribution of 100 simulations of Fe metal quantities of rich ore over the orebody. (snap. 2.6-41) Click Risk Curves then Edit and fill the parameters in the Risk Curves & Printing Format window, as shown. Only the Accumulations are interesting. For a given simulation the accumulation is obtained by multiplying the simulated block value (here the Fe metal in tons) by the volume of the block. It means that the average grade of the block is multiplied twice by the block volume. That is why in order to get the metal in MTons we have to apply a scaling factor of 75x75x15 (84375) and multiply it by 10 6 . That scaling is entered in the box just on the left of m3*V_unit of the Accumula- tions sub-window. By asking Print Statistics the 100 accumulations will be output in the Isatis mes- sage window. The order of the printout depends of the option Sorts Results by, here we ask Accumulations. 124 (snap. 2.6-42) Coming back to the Simulation Post-processing window and press Run. The following graphic is then displayed. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 125 (snap. 2.6-43) With the Application / Graphic Parameters you may Highlight Quantiles with the Simulation Value on Graphic. (snap. 2.6-44) The graphic page is refreshed as shown. 126 (snap. 2.6-45) In the message window we get the 100 simulated metal quantities by increasing order. The column Macro gives the index of the simulation for each outcome: for instance the minimum metal is obtained for the simulation #72, the next one for the simulation 97 ... Rank Macro Frequency Accumulation Volume In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 127 1 72 1.00 1140.90MT 3442162500.00m3 2 97 2.00 1156.65MT 3442162500.00m3 3 38 3.00 1171.82MT 3442162500.00m3 4 15 4.00 1179.91MT 3442162500.00m3 5 91 5.00 1181.25MT 3442162500.00m3 6 41 6.00 1185.01MT 3442162500.00m3 7 30 7.00 1191.53MT 3442162500.00m3 8 45 8.00 1191.71MT 3442162500.00m3 9 57 9.00 1194.86MT 3442162500.00m3 10 59 10.00 1195.80MT 3442162500.00m3 11 35 11.00 1196.15MT 3442162500.00m3 12 6 12.00 1196.37MT 3442162500.00m3 13 48 13.00 1197.58MT 3442162500.00m3 14 62 14.00 1199.70MT 3442162500.00m3 15 40 15.00 1201.25MT 3442162500.00m3 16 1 16.00 1201.90MT 3442162500.00m3 17 86 17.00 1204.47MT 3442162500.00m3 18 33 18.00 1206.65MT 3442162500.00m3 19 93 19.00 1206.83MT 3442162500.00m3 20 11 20.00 1210.44MT 3442162500.00m3 ... (snap. 2.6-46) 128 2.7 Displaying the Results The last chapter consists in visualizing the different result in the 3D grids, through the 2D Display facility then through the 3D viewer. 2.7.1 Using the 2D Display 2.7.1.1 Display of the Kriged block model We are going to create a new Display template (Display/New Page...), that consists in an overlay of a grid raster and isolines. All the Display facilities are explained in detail in the "Displaying & Edit- ing Graphics" chapter of the Beginner's Guide. Click on Display / New Page in the Isatis main window. A blank graphic page pops up, together with a Contents window. You have to specify in this window the contents of your graphic. To achieve that: l First, give a name to the template you are creating: Kriging Fe rich ore. This will allow you to easily display again this template later. l In the Contents list, double click the Raster item. A new window appears, in order to let you specify which variable you want to display and the color scale: m Select the Grid file, 3D Grid 75x75x15m with selection orebody active, select the variable Kriging Fe rich ore m Specify the title for the Raster part of the legend, for instance Kriging Fe rich ore m In the Grid Contents area, enter 16 for the rank of the section XOY to display m In the Graphic Parameters area, specify the Color Scale you want to use for the raster dis- play. You may use an automatic default color scale, or create a new one specifically dedi- cated to the Fe variable. To create a new color scale: click the Color Scale button, double- click on New Color Scale and enter a name: Fe, and press OK. Click the Edit button. In the Color Scale Definition window: - In the Bounds Definition, choose User Defined Classes. - Choose Number of Classes 22, - Click on the Bounds... button, enter 60 and 71 as the Minimum and Maximum values. Press OK. - Switch on the Invert Color Order toggle in order to affect the red colors to the large Fe values. - Click Undefined Values button and select Transparent. - In the Legend area, switch off the Display all tick marks button, enter 60 as the reference tickmark and 2 as the step between the tickmarks. Then, specify that you do not want your final color scale to exceed 7 cm. Switch off the Automatic Format button, and spec- ify that you want to use integer values of Length 7. Ask to display the Extreme Classes. Click OK. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 129 (snap. 2.7-1) m In the Item contents for: Raster window, click Display current item to display the result. m Click OK. l Double-click on the Isolines item. A new Item contents window appears. In the Data area, select the Kriging Fe rich ore variable from the 3D Grid file with the same selection. In the Grid Contents area, select the rank 16 for the XOY section. In the Data Related Parameters area, switch on the C1 line, enter 60 and 71 as lower and upper bounds and choose a step equal to 2. 130 Switch off the Visibility button. Click on Display Current Item to check your parameters, then on Display to see all the previously defined components of your graphic. Click on OK to close the Item contents window. l In the Item list, you can select any item and decide whether or not you want to display its leg- end, by setting the toggle Legend ON. Use the Move Front and Move Back buttons to modify the order of the items in the final Display. l Close the Contents window. Your final graphic window should be similar to the one displayed hereafter. (fig. 2.7-1) You can also visualize your 3D grid in perspective. Open again the Contents window of the previ- ous graphic display (Application/Contents...). Switch the Representation Type from Projection to Perspective: 500 1000 1500 2000 X (m) 0 1000 2000 3000 Y
( m ) Kriging Fe rich ore Kriging Fe rich ore N/A 70 68 66 64 62 60 In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 131 132 l just click on Display: the previous section is represented within the 3D volume. Because of the extension of the grid, set the vertical axis factor to 3 in the Display Box tab (switch the toggle Automatic Scales OFF). In the Camera tab, modify the Perspective Parameters: longitude=60, latitude=40. (fig. 2.7-2) 335 435 535 635 735 335 435 535 635 735
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Kriging Fe rich ore Kriging Fe rich ore N/A 70 68 66 64 62 60 In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 133 l Representing the whole grid as a solid: this is obtained by setting the 3D Grid contents to 3D Box, both in the Raster and Isolines item contents windows. l Representing the 3G grid as a solid and penetrating into the solid by digging a portion of the grid. For each item content window (for raster and isolines), set the 3D Grid contents to Exca- vated Box. Then define the indices of the excavation corner (for instance: cell=17, 21, 15). (fig. 2.7-3) In the Contents window, the Camera tab allows you to animate (animate tab from the main contents window) the graphic in several ways: l by animating the entire graphic along the longitude or latitude definition, l by animating one item property at a time, for instance the grid raster section. To interrupt the animation, press the STOP button in the main Isatis window. 2.7.1.2 Display of the simulated block model l Fe grade m Create a raster image of the Fe simulated macro variable: choose the first simulation (index 1). Display rank 16 of the 25x25x15 m 3D grid file, so you can compare simulations with the kriging) and choose the grade Fe color scale. Ask to display the legend. m Create a Base map of the composite data from the Composites 15 m with the selection final lithology{Rich ore} active and no variable in order to use the same Default Symbol a full circle of 0.15cm. 335 435 535 635 735 335 435 535 635 735
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Kriging Fe rich ore Kriging Fe rich ore N/A 70 68 66 64 62 60 134 (snap. 2.7-2) In the Display Box tab from the contents window, set the mode to Containing a set of items and click the Raster item: set the toggle Box Defined as Slice around Section ON and set the Slice Thickness to 45 m. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 135 (snap. 2.7-3) Press Display: 136 (fig. 2.7-4) From the Animate tab, select the raster item and choose to animate on the macro index. Set the Delay to 1s and press Animate. The different simulations appear consecutively: the animation allows to sense the differences between the simulations. Check that the simulations tend to be simi- lar around boreholes. l Display of the probability for the Metal P of rich ore in panels to be above cut-off = 50T: m Create a new page and display the macro variable Proba P rich ore above from the 3D Grid 75x75x15m file: choose the macro index n 2 (i.e. cutoff = 50) m Legend title: probability m Ask to display rank 16 (horizontal section 16) m =Make a New Color scale named Proportion as explained before for Fe, but with 20 classes between 0 and 1. m press OK 500 1000 1500 2000 X (m) 0 1000 2000 3000 Y
( m ) Simu block Fe[00001] Fe rich ore N/A 70 68 66 64 62 60 In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 137 l Ask for the legend and press Display: (fig. 2.7-5) 2.7.2 Using the 3D Viewer Launch the 3D Viewer (Display/3D Viewer...). 2.7.2.3 Borehole visualization l Display the Fe composites: m Drag the Fe variable from the Composites 15 m file in the Study Contents and drop it in the display window; m Magnify by a factor of 2 the scale along Z by clicking the Z Scale button at the top of the graphic page. m Click Toggle the Axes in the menu bar on the left of the graphic area. m From the Page contents, click right on the 3D Lines object to open the 3D Lines properties window. In the 3D Lines tab 500 1000 1500 2000 X (m) 0 1000 2000 3000 Y
( m ) Proba P rich ore above{50.000000} Probability N/A 1.00 0.90 0.80 0.70 0.60 0.50 0.40 0.30 0.20 0.10 0.00 138 - select the Tube mode; - switch on the toggle Selection and choose the final lithology{Rich ore} macro index; - switch off the toggle Allow Clipping (snap. 2.7-4) m In the Color tab, choose the same Fe Isatis color scale; m In the Radius tab, set the mode to constant with a radius of 20 m m Press Display and close the 3D Lines Properties window m In the File menu click Save Page as and give a name (composites rich ore) in order to be able to recover it later if you wish. In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 139 (snap. 2.7-5) 2.7.2.4 Display of the kriged 3D Block model As an example we will display the kriged indicator of rich ore. In order to make a New Page click Close Page in the File menu. l Click Compass in the menu bar on the left of the graphic area. l Drag the Kriging indicator rich ore variable from the 3D Grid 75 x 75 x 15 m file in the Study Contents and drop it in the display window; l Click right on the 3D Grid 75x75x15m file in the Page Contents to open the 3D Grid Proper- ties: 140 m In the 3D Grid tab, tick the selection toggle, choose the orebody selection; m in the color tab: - set the color mode to variable and change the variable to Kriging Indicator rich ore; - apply the Rainbow reversed Isatis color scale; - Press Display and close the 3D Grid properties window (fig. 2.7-6) l Investigate inside the kriged block model: m open the clipping plane facility from Toggle the Clipping Plane in the menu bar on the left of the graphic area: the clipping plane appears across the block model; m Go in select mode by pressing the arrow button in the function bar; m Click the clipping plane rectangle and drag it next by the block model for better visibility; m Click one of the clipping planes axis to change its orientation (be careful to target precisely the axis itself in dark grey, not its squared extremity nor the center tube in white) m Add the drill holes (Fe rich ore) as you did for the previous graphic page In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 141 m Open the Line Properties window of the Composites 15 m file: set the Allow Clipping tog- gle ON; m Click on the clipping planes center white tube and drag it in order to translate the clipping plane along the axis: choose a convenient cross section, approximately in the middle of the block model. You may also benefit from the clipping controls parameters available on the right of the graphic window in order to clip a slice with a fixed width and along the main grid axes. m Click on one block of particular interest: its information is displayed in the top right corner: (snap. 2.7-6) You may click also on boreholes to display composite data. 142 l Slicing (before hand, click on Toggle the Clipping Plane) m Edit the 3D Grid 75x75x15m attributes, go in the Slicing tab and set the properties as fol- low: (snap. 2.7-7) Set the toggle Automatic Apply ON, and move the slices to visualize interactively the slicing. l Save the graphic as a New Page with the name Composites and kriged indicator rich ore. 2.7.2.5 Display of the search ellipsod From the kriging application (the definition parameters of the 3D kriging of Fe should be kept), launch the Test window. From Application/Target Selection, select the grid node (20,19,14) for instance and press Apply. Then, make sure that the 3D viewer is running and, from the same Appli- cation menu of the Test window, ask to Link to 3D Viewer: a 3D representation of the search ellip- sod neighborhood is represented, and the samples used for the estimation of this particular node are highlighted. A new graphic object neighborhood appears in the Page Contents from which you may change the graphic properties (color, size of the samples for coding the weights or the Fe val- ues etc...) In Situ 3D Resource Estimation 143 (fig. 2.7-7) 144 Non Linear 145 3 Non Linear This case study, dedicated to advanced users, is based on the Walker Lake data set, which has been first introduced and analyzed by Mohan SRIVASTAVA and Edwards H. ISAAKS in their book Applied Geosta- tistics (1989, Oxford University Press).
Geostatistical methods applicable to perform global and local estima- tion of recoverable resources in a mining industry context are described through this case study: Non linear methods, including four methods used to estimate local recoverable resources: indicator kriging, disjunctive kriging, uniform conditioning and service variables. Conditional simulations of grades, using the two main methods appli- cable: turning bands and sequential gaussian.
The efficiency of these methods will be evaluated by comparison to the reality, which can be considered as known in this case because of the origin of the data set. Reminder: while using Isatis, the on-line help is accessible anytime by pressing F1 and provides full description of the active application.
Last update: Isatis version 2012 146 3.1 Introduction and overview of the case study This case study is dedicated to advanced users who feel comfortable with linear geostatistics and Isatis. 3.1.1 Why non linear geostatistics? Non linear geostatistics are used for estimating the recoverable resources. At the difference of the estimation of in situ resources by conventional kriging (linear geostatistics), the estimation of the recoverable resources considers the mining aspects of the question. Three points can effectively be taken into account by non linear geostatistics: l the support effect, that makes the recovered ore depending on the volume on which the ore/ waste decision is made. In this case the size of the selective mining unit (SMU or blocks) has been fixed to 5m x 5m. When performing the local estimations we will calculate the ore tonnage and grade after cut-off in panels of 20m x 20m. It is important to keep these terms of block for the selective unit and panel for the estimated unit (e.g.: tonnage within the panel of the ore con- sisting of blocks with a grade above the cut-off). These terms are systematically used in the Isa- tis interface. l the information effect, that makes the mis-classification between selected ore and waste depend- ing on the amount of information used in estimating the blocks. At this stage two notions are important. Firstly the recovered ore is made of true grades contained in blocks whose estimated grade is above the cut-off. Secondly the decision between ore and waste will be made with an additional information (blast-holes...) in the future of the production. The question is then what can we expect to recover tomorrow, if we assume a future pattern blast-holes for instance. l the constraint effect, that leads for any technical/economical reason to ore dilution or ore left in place. The two previously mentioned effects are assuming a free selection of blocks within the panels, only the distribution of block grades is of importance. When their spatial distribution has to be considered (the recovered ore will be different if rich blocks are contiguous or spread throughout the panel), only geostatistical simulations provide an answer. 3.1.2 Organization of the case study This case study is divided in several parts: the first part 3.2 Preparation of the case study rehearses geostatistical concepts and Isatis manipulation already described in the In Situ 3D Resource Estimation case study, consisting of declustering, grid manipulations, variography, ordi- nary kriging with neighborhood creation. These topics will not be detailed here and the user is invited to have a look at the previous case study for an extensive description. The following of the case study describes several different methods for the estimation of recoverable resources; it is also recommended that the user reads 3.3 Global estimation of recoverable resources before start- ing any method described in 3.4 Local estimation of the recoverable resources or in 3.5 Sim- ulations. The dataset allows to compare estimations with real measurements: this will be done exhaustively in 3.6 Conclusions. Non Linear 147 3.1.2.1 Global Estimation of Recoverable Resources (developed in 3.3) The global estimation makes use of the raw data histogram (possibly weighed by declustering coef- ficients): each grade is attached to a frequency, i.e the global proportion relative to the global ton- nage of the deposit assuming a perfect sampling. This is a direct statistical approach. Geostatistics appears as soon as the variogram is used to correct this histogram, i.e the proportion, to reflect the support effect and/or the information effect. Thus, a histogram model is needed in order to perform these corrections: the modeling and the corrections are done through the Gaussian Anamorphosis Modeling and Support Effect panels in Isatis, widely used through the whole case study. Compari- son to reality and kriging will be done through global grade-tonnage curves. 3.1.2.2 Local estimation of recoverable resources The local estimation of recoverable resources makes use of non linear estimation or simulation techniques, involving gaussian anamorphosis. The aim is to estimate the proportion of ore blocks within larger panels (assuming free selection of blocks within each panel), and the corresponding metal tonnage and mean grade above cut-off: l by non linear kriging techniques (developed in 3.4): the main advantage of these methods is their swiftness, but no information on the location of the ore blocks within the panels is given. Four methods will be described: Indicator kriging, Disjunctive kriging, Service variables and Uniform Conditioning. l by simulation techniques (developed in 3.5): the main advantages of simulations is the possi- bility to derive simulated histograms and estimate the constraint effect, but the method is quite heavy and time consuming for big block models. Two methods will be described: Turning Bands (TB) and Sequential Gaussian Simulations (SGS). Comparison to reality through a specific analysis of the 600 ppm cut-off will be done through graphic displays and cross plots of the ore tonnage and mean grade above cut-off. Note - If you wish to compare the local estimates with reality you will need first to calculate the real tonnage variables from the real grades for the specific cut-off 600 (this is done in 3.4.1 Calculation of the true QTM variables based on the panels). 148 3.2 Preparation of the case study The dataset is derived from an elevation model from the western United States, the Walker Lake area in Nevada. It has been transformed in order to represent measures of concentration in some elements (economic grades in the deposit we are going to evaluate). From the original data set we will use only the variable V, considered as the grade of an ore mineral measured in ppm: the multi- variate aspect of this data set will not be considered, as the non linear estimation methods available in Isatis are currently univariate (unlike simulations). The data set is two fold, the exhaustive data set, containing 78 000 measurements points on a 1m x 1m grid, and the sample set resulting from successive sampling campaigns and containing 470 data locations. Several methods for the estima- tion of recoverable resources are proposed in Isatis: this case study aims to describe them all and compare them to the reality issued from the exhaustive set. 3.2.1 Data import and declustering The data is stored in the Isatis installation directory (sub-directory Datasets/Walker_Lake). Load the data from ASCII file by using File / Import / ASCII. The ASCII files are Sample_set.hd for the sample set and Exhaustive_set.hd for the exhaustive data set. The files are imported into two sepa- rate directories Sample set and Exhaustive set respectively, and files are called Data. (snap. 3.2-1) By visualizing the Sample set data (using Display / Basemap/ Proportional), we immediately see the preferential sampling pattern of high grade zones: Non Linear 149 (fig. 3.2-1) In order to correct the bias of preferential sampling of high grade zones, it is necessary to declus- ter the data. To do so you can use Tools / Declustering: it performs a cell declustering with a mov- ing window centered on each sample. We store the resulting weights in a variable Weight of the sample data set: this variable will be used later to weight statistics for the variographic analysis in the EDA and the gaussian anamorphosis modeling. The moving window size for declustering has been fixed here to 20m x 20m, accordingly to the approximative sampling loose mesh size outside the clusters. Note - A possible guide for choosing the moving window dimensions is to compare the value of the resulting declustered mean to the mean of kriged estimates (kriging has natural declustering capabilities). The statistics before and after declustering are the following: 0 0 100 100 200 200 X (m) X (m) 0 100 200 300 Y
( m ) V 150 (snap. 3.2-2) Mean: 436.35 -> 279.68 Std dev: 299.92 -> 251.44 The next graphics correspond to the histograms of the Sample set, Exhaustive set and Declustered sample set; they have been calculated using Statistics / Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA). The his- togram of the Declustered sample set has been calculated with the Compute Using the Weight Vari- able option toggle ON, using the Weight variable. Non Linear 151 (snap. 3.2-3) 152 (fig. 3.2-2) From these three histograms we clearly see that the declustering process will allow to better repre- sent the statistical behavior of the phenomenon. 3.2.2 Variographic analysis of the sample grades We first focus on possible anisotropies of the sample set data. From the Statistics / Exploratory Data Analysis panel, activate the option Compute using the Weight Variable: we will calculate a weighted 2D variogram map on the V variable from the sample dataset. By default, the Reference Direction is set to an azimuth equal to the North (Azimuth = N0.00). The parameters related to the directions, lags and tolerance may be tuned for a detailed variographic analysis but here we will base ourselves directly on common parameters: ask for 18 directions (10 degrees each), and we will define 11 lags of 15 m. Generally, the variogram is calculated with a tolerance on distance set to 50% of the lag which corresponds to a Tolerance on Lags equal to 0 lag; besides, calculations are often made with an angular tolerance of 45 (in order to consider all samples once with two directions) which corresponds to a Tolerance on Directions equal to 4 sectors (4 sectors of 10 + half sector 5 = 45 ). If the focus is on short scale, one may decide to calculate a bi-directional variogram along N70 and N160, considering that N160 is a direction of maximum continuity. Note - This short scale anisotropy is not clearly visible on the variogram map below: to better visualize it, you may re-calculate the variogram map on 5 lags only and create a customized color scale through Application / Graphic Specific Parameters... Non Linear 153 In the variogram map area you can activate a direction using the mouse buttons, the left one to select a direction, and the right one for selecting Activate Direction in the menu. Activating both principal axes (perpendicular directions N160 and N70) displays the corresponding experimental variograms below. When selecting the variogram, click right and ask for Modify Label... to change N250 to N70: (snap. 3.2-4) The short scale anisotropy is visible on the experimental variogram; it is then saved in a parameter file Raw V from the graphic window (Application / Save in Parameter File...). We now have to fit a model based on these experimental variograms using the Statistics / Variogram Fitting facility. We fit the model from the Manual Fitting tab. 154 (snap. 3.2-5) Non Linear 155 (snap. 3.2-6) 156 (snap. 3.2-7) Press Print to check the output variogram and then save the variogram model in the parameter file under the name of Raw V. It should be noted that the total sill of the variogram is slightly above the dispersion variance and the low nugget value has been chosen. 3.2.3 Calculation of the true block and panel values In this case study, during the mine exploitation period, a 5m x 5m block will be the selective mining unit (SMU). The recoverable resource estimation will be based on this 5m x 5m block support; but first, the in-situ resource estimation will be done on 20m x 20m panels for more robust estimation. As we have access to an exhaustive data set of the whole area to be mined, we can assume that we know the true values for any size of support, just by averaging the real values of the exhaustive set on the wanted block or panel support. 3.2.3.1 Calculation of the true grade values for 5 m x 5 m SMU blocks To store this average value on a 5m x 5m block support, we need to create a new grid (new file called Grid 5*5 in a new directory Grids, using the File / Create Grid File facility) and choose the coordinates of the origin (center of the block at the lowest left corner) in order to match exactly the data. The Graphic Check, in Block mode, will help to achieve this task. Enter the following grid parameters: m X and Y origin: 3m, m X and Y mesh: 5m, m 52 nodes along X, 60 nodes along Y. Non Linear 157 (snap. 3.2-8) Using this configuration we have exactly 25 samples from the exhaustive data set for each block of the new grid. Edit the graphic parameters to display the auxiliary file. 158 (snap. 3.2-9) (fig. 3.2-3) Now we need to average the real values on this Grid 5*5 file, using Tools / Copy Statistics / Points -> Grid. We will call this new variable True V. Note - Using a moving window equal to zero for all the axes, we constrain the new Mean variable to a calculation area of 5m x 5m (1 block). Non Linear 159 (snap. 3.2-10) (fig. 3.2-4) Display of the true block grade values (5m x 5m blocks) 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) True V N/A 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 160 The above figure is a result of two basic actions of the Display Menu: a display grid raster of the true block grade is performed, then isolines are overlaid. Isolines range from 0 to 1500 by steps of 250 ppm, 1000 ppm isoline has been represented with a bold line type. The color scale has been customized to cover grades between 0 and 1000 ppm, even if there are values greater than this upper bound. Each class has a width of 62.5 ppm, the extreme values are represented using the extreme colors. Note - Keep in mind that V variable has primarily been deduced from elevation data: we clearly see on the above map a NW-SE valley responsible of the anisotropy detected during variography. The Walker Lake itself (consequently with zero values...) is in this valley. One could raise stationarity issues, as the statistical behavior of elevation data differs from valleys (with a lake) to nearby ranges. This is not the subject of this case study. 3.2.3.2 Calculation of the true grade values for 20 m x 20 m panels Create a new grid file Grid 20*20 in the Grids directory with the following parameters: m X and Y origin: 10.5 m, m X and Y mesh: 20 m, m 13 nodes along X, 15 nodes along Y Non Linear 161 (snap. 3.2-11) The graphic check with the Grid 5*5 shows that the 5m x 5m blocks describe a perfect partition of the 20m x 20m panels. This allows to use the specific Tools / Copy Statistics / Grid to grid... for cal- culating the true panel values True V for the Mean Name: 162 (snap. 3.2-12) Non Linear 163 3.2.4 Ordinary Kriging - In situ resource estimation The in-situ resource estimation will be done on the 20 m x 20 m panels through Interpolate / Esti- mation / (Co)-Kriging...: l Type of calculation: Block l Input file: Sample Set/Data/V l Output file: Grids/Grid 20*20 /Kriging V l Model: Raw V l Neighborhood: create a moving neighborhood named octants without any rotation and a con- stant radius of 70 m, made of 8 sectors with a minimum of 5 samples and the optimum num- ber of samples by sector set to 2. This neighborhood will be used extensively throughout the case study. (snap. 3.2-13) 164 (snap. 3.2-14) For comparison purposes, it is interesting to do also the same kriging on the small blocks (Grid 5*5) to quantify the smoothing effect of linear kriging. 3.2.5 Preliminary conclusions Basic statistics may be done through different runs of Statistics / Quick Statistics...; the results are summarized below. Interpolation by Inverse Distance ID2 with a power equal to 2 and the same neighborhood has been done for comparison (through Interpolate / Interpolation / Quick Interpola- tion...): VARIABLE Count Minimum Maximum Mean Variance True V punctual 78000 0.0 1631.2 278.0 62422 Sampled V punctual (declus.) 470 0.0 1528.1 279.7 63221 True V blocks 5x5 3120 0.0 1378.1 278.0 52287 ID2 V blocks 5x5 3120 1.6 1279.3 299.1 39031 Kriging V blocks 5x5 3120 -50.9 1361.1 275.4 44013 True V panels 20x20 195 2.2 997.8 278.0 37617 ID2 V panels 20x20 195 0.7 945.0 279.7 53539 Kriging V panels 20x20 195 -4.4 1011.3 275.8 35973 Non Linear 165 Comparing the true V values for the three different supports (punctual, block 5x5 and panel 20x20): l as expected, the mean remains exactly identical l the variance decreases with the support size: this is the support effect Comparing estimated values vs. true values for one same support: l punctual: the estimation by declustering is satisfactory because the mean and the variance are comparable. The bias (279.7 compared to 278.0) is negligible l block 5x5: ID2 shows an overestimation. For kriging, the bias is negligible and, as expected, the variance of the kriged blocks (44013) is smaller than the real block variance (52287); this is the smoothing effect caused by linear interpolation. Beside, there are some negative estimates; the 5m x 5m blocks are too small for a robust in situ estimation. l panel 20x20: The bias of ID2 is less pronounced, but the variance is not realistic; this is because strong local overestimation of high grade zones. The variance of the kriged panels is smaller than the real panel variance, but the difference is less pronounced. Moreover, there is only one negative panel estimate. Note - 72 SMU blocks have negative estimates indicating that the 5 m x 5 m block size is too small in this case. 166 3.3 Global estimation of the recoverable resources 3.3.1 Punctual histogram modeling Using Statistics / Gaussian Anamorphosis Modeling we model the anamorphosis function linking the raw values of V (called Z in Isatis) and their normal score transform (called Y in Isatis), i.e the associated gaussian values. In order to reproduce correctly the underlying distribution we have to apply the Weight variable previously calculated by the Declustering tool. The Gaussian variable will be stored under Gaussian V: (snap. 3.3-1) Non Linear 167 (snap. 3.3-2) The Interactive Fitting... gives access to specific parameters for the anamorphosis (intervals on the raw values to be transformed, intervals on the gaussian values, number of polynomials etc...): the default parameters will be kept. The distribution function is modeled by specific polynomials called Hermite polynomials; the more polynomials, the more precise is the fit. There are also QC graphic windows allowing to check the fit between experimental (raw) and model histograms: 168 (fig. 3.3-1) Punctual anamorphosis function. Experimental data is in black, the anamorphosis is in blue. Save the anamorphosis in a new parameter file called Point and to perform the gaussian transform with the default Frequency inversion method. This will write the Gaussian V variable on disk and will be used for the Disjunctive Kriging, Service Variable estimations and for the simulations. The Point Anamorphosis is equivalent to a histogram model of the declustered raw values V; it may be used to derive global estimation as an overall view of the potential of an orebody (Grade-Ton- nage curves are available in the Interactive Fitting... parameters), but it does not take the support effect nor the information effect into account. This is done hereafter. 3.3.2 Support effect correction We are going now to quantify the support effect for 5 m x 5 m blocks; that is, how much does the 5 m x 5 m block distribution differ from the punctual grades calculated above. The following is required: l a model of the distribution, defined by means of a gaussian anamorphosis function l the block variance, which can be calculated using the Krige's relationship giving the dispersion variance as a function of the variogram. The gaussian discrete model provides then a consistent change of support model. Use the Statistics/Support Correction... panel with the Point anamorphosis and the Raw V vario- gram model as input. The 5mx5m block will be discretized in 4x4. At this stage no information effect is considered, so the corresponding toggle is not activated. -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 Gaussian values 0 500 1000 1500 V Non Linear 169 (snap. 3.3-3) Press Calculate to calculate the Gamma(v,v), and the corresponding Real Block Variance and Cor- rection are displayed in the message window: _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ | | | | | V | |--------------------------------------|----------| | Punctual Variance (Anamorphosis) | 63167.25 | | Variogram Sill | 66500.00 | | Gamma(v,v) | 8452.79 | | Real Block Variance | 54714.47 | | Real Block Support Correction (r) | 0.9370 | | Kriged Block Support Correction (s) | 0.9370 | | Kriged-Real Block Support Correction | 1.0000 | | Zmin Block | -0.02 | 170 | Zmax Block | 1528.12 | |______________________________________|__________|
Note - Gamma (v,v) is calculated using random procedures; hence, different results are generated when pressing the Calculate button. Gamma (v,v) and the resulting Real Block Variance should not vary too much between different calculations. By clicking on the anamorphosis and on the histogram bitmaps we can check that, after the support effect correction, the histogram of blocks is smoother (smaller variance) than the punctual histo- gram model: (fig. 3.3-2) Histograms (punctual in blue and block in red): the block histogram model is smoother The anamorphosis function will be saved under the name Block 5m * 5m and press RUN to save it. 3.3.3 Support & information effects correction The grade tonnage curves obtained at this stage consider that the mining selection is based upon true SMU grade. In reality, the SMU grades will be estimated using the ultimate information from the blast-holes. The consequence is that the grade tonnage curve is deteriorated as it ignores the uncertainty of the estimation: this is called the information effect. Knowing the future sampling pattern, it is possible to consider this information effect. We suppose that, at the mining stage, there will be one blast-hole at the centre of each block. The blocks will then be estimated from blast-holes spread on a regular grid of 5m x 5m: we will use the grid nodes of the Grid 5*5 file to simulate this future blast-hole sampling pattern. In order to calcu- late the grade tonnage curves taking into account the information effect from this blast-hole pattern (i.e. the selection between ore and waste is made on the future estimated grades, and not on the real grades), we should calculate 2 coefficients: 0 500 1000 150 V 0.0 2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 12.5 F r e q u e n c i e s
( % ) Non Linear 171 l a coefficient that transforms the point anamorphosis in the kriged block one. l a coefficient that allows to calculate the covariance between true and kriged blocks. Therefore, the variance of the kriged block and the covariance between real and kriged blocks are needed: they can be automatically calculated in the same Support Correction panel through the Information Effect optional calculation sub-panel (... selector next to the toggle): (snap. 3.3-4) The final sampling mesh corresponds to the final sampling pattern to be considered: 5x5 m. Press OK and create a new anamorphosis function Block 5m*5m with information effect. Click on Run button; two extra support correction coefficients are calculated and are displayed when pressing RUN from the main panel: Block Support Correction Calculation: _________________________________________________ | | | | | V | |--------------------------------------|----------| | Punctual Variance (Anamorphosis) | 63167.25 | | Variogram Sill | 66500.00 | | Gamma(v,v) | 9431.85 | | Real Block Variance | 53735.40 | | Real Block Support Correction (r) | 0.9293 | | Kriged Block Support Correction (s) | 0.9117 | | Kriged-Real Block Support Correction | 0.9859 | |______________________________________|__________| 3.3.4 Analysis of the results for the global estimation Open Tools / grade Tonnage Curves... and activate 5 data toggles. This tool allows to compare his- tograms from different kind of data (histogram models, grade variables, tonnage variables) and derive grade-tonnage curves for the following QTM key variables: 172 Press Edit... for the first one and then ask for a histogram model kind of data. Choose the Point anamorphosis function and specify 21 cut-offs from 0 to 1000: (snap. 3.3-5) Non Linear 173 (snap. 3.3-6) 174 (snap. 3.3-7) Press OK then repeat the procedure for the other 4 data with the same cut-off definition and specify- ing different curve parameters for distinguishing them: m curve 2: choose histogram model and the Block 5m * 5m anamorphosis function m curve 3: choose histogram model and the Block 5m * 5m with information effect anamor- phosis m curve 4: choose grade variable and select the True V variable from the Grid 5*5 file m curve 5: choose grade variable and select the Kriging V variable from the Grid 5*5 file Once the 5 curves have been edited, click on the graphic bitmaps to display the Total tonnage vs. cut-off and the Mean grade vs. cut-off curves: Non Linear 175 (fig. 3.3-3) Total tonnage vs. cut-off - the block histograms are close to the true tonnages. The ordinary kriging curve under-estimates the total tonnage for high cut-offs, showing the danger to apply cut-offs on linear estimates for recoverable resources. 176 (fig. 3.3-4) Mean grade vs. Cut-off Pressing Print from the main Grade Tonnage Curves window prints the numeric values for each cut-off. The QTM variables for the particular cut-off 600 are obtained by pressing Print (the total tonnage T is expressed in %): | Q | T | M True block 5x5 | 77.954| 10.385 | 750.67 Point model | 87.738| 11.351| 772.934 Block 5*5 (no info) | 76.103| 10.084| 754.699 Kriged blocks 5x5 | 61.082| 8.077| 756.258 In 3.2.5 we have seen that linear kriging is well adapted to in situ resource estimation on panels. But when mining constraints are involved (i.e applying the 600 cut-off on small blocks), the kriging predicts a tonnage of 8.08% instead of 10.38%: the mine will have to deal with a 29% over-produc- tion compared to the prediction. On the other hand, the global estimation using the point model over-estimates the reality. The glo- bal estimation with change of support (block 5*5 no info) gives a prediction of good quality. Because we know the reality from the exhaustive dataset, it is possible to calculate the true block grades taking the true information effect into account and compare it to the Block 5x5 with infor- Non Linear 177 mation effect anamorphosis. The detailed workflow to calculate the true information effect will not be detailed here, only the general idea is presented below: l Sample one true value at the center of each block from the exhaustive set (representing the blasthole sampling pattern with real sampled grades V) l krige the blocks with these samples: this is the ultimate estimated block grades on which the ultimate selection will be based l select blocks where ultimate estimates > 600 and derive the tonnage l calculate the associated QTM variables based on the true grades We can now compare the Block 5x5 with info to the real QTM variables calculated with the true information effect (info): | Q | T | M True block 5x5 | 77.95 | 10.38 | 750.67 True block 5x5 (info) | 67.92 | 9.01 | 754.11 Block 5*5 with info | 71.83 | 9.66 | 743.40
As expected, the information effect on the true grades deteriorates the real recovered tonnage and metal quantity because the ore/waste mis-classification is taken into account: the real tonnage decreases from 10.38% to 9.01%. The estimation from the Block 5x5 with info anamorphosis (9.69%) is closer to this reality. 178 3.4 Local Estimation of the Recoverable Resources We want now to perform the local estimation of the recoverable resources, i.e. the ore and metal tonnage contained in selective 5m x 5m SMU blocks within 20 m x 20 m panels. Four main estimation methods will be reviewed: Indicator kriging, Disjunctive kriging, Uniform conditioning and Services variables. For a set of given cut-offs, these methods will issue the follow- ing QTM variables: l the total Tonnage T: the total tonnage is expressed as the percentage or the proportion of SMU blocks that have a grade above the given cut-off in the panel. Each panel is a partition of 16 SMU blocks, i.e when T is expressed as a proportion, T = 1 means that all the 16 SMU blocks of the panel have an estimated grade above the cut-off. l the metal Quantity Q (also referred sometimes as the metal tonnage) is the quantity of metal relative to the tonnage proportion T for a given cut-off (according to the grade unit); l the Mean grade M is the mean grade above the given cut-off. In Isatis, QTM variables for local estimations are calculated and stored in macro-variables (1 index for each cut-off) with a fixed terminology: l base name_Q[xxxxx] for the metal Quantity variable l base name_T[xxxxx] for the Tonnage variable l base name_M[xxxxx] for the Mean grade above cut-off variable All three variables are linked by the following relation: Q = T x M In order to be able to compare the different methods with the reality, we need first to calculate the real QTM variables on the panel 20 x 20 support; the cut-off is defined at 600 ppm and each method is locally compared to reality through this particular cut-off. The global grade tonnage curves of all methods will be displayed and commented later in the final conclusion ( 3.6). Non Linear 179 3.4.1 Calculation of the true QTM variables based on the panels l In Grid 5*5, create a constant 600 ppm variable named Cut-off 600 ppm: this is done through File / Calculator window: (snap. 3.4-1) l Tools / Copy Statistics / Grid -> Grid: in the input area we will select the true block grades True V from the Grid 5*5 file and the Cut-off 600 ppm as the Minimum Bound Name, i.e only cells for which the grade is above 600 will be considered. In the output area we will store the true tonnage above 600 under Number Name and the true grade above 600 under Mean Name in the Grid 20*20 file. If inside a specific panel no SMU block has a grade greater than 600, then the true tonnage of this panel will be 0 and its true grade will be undefined: 180 (snap. 3.4-2) In order to get the true total tonnage T relevant for future comparisons (i.e the ore proportion above the cut-off 600), we have to normalize the number of blocks contained in each panel by the total number of blocks in one panel (16): (snap. 3.4-3) Non Linear 181 l The metal quantity Q is calculated as Q = T x M. When the true grade above 600 is defined, the metal quantity is equal to M x T otherwise it is null. A specific ifelse syntax is needed to reflect this: (snap. 3.4-4) if this specific ifelse syntax was not used, the metal quantity in the waste would be undefined instead of being null. Now, we have the true tonnage, the true mean and the true metal quantity above 600 ppm to base our comparisons in the Grid 20*20 file. Note - Beware that the true grade above 600 is not additive as it refers to different tonnages. Therefore, it is necessary to use the true tonnage above 600 as weights for computing the global 182 mean of the grade over the whole deposit. Another way to compute the global mean of the grade above 600 is to divide the global metal quantity by the global tonnage after averaging on the whole deposit. 3.4.2 Indicator kriging Indicator kriging is a distribution free method. It is based on the kriging of indicators defined on a series of cut-off grades. The different kriged indicators are assumed to provide the possible distribu- tion of block grades (after a block support correction) within each panel, given the neighboring samples. Indicator kriging can be applied in two ways: l Multiple indicator (co-)kriging: performs the kriging of the indicator variables with their own variograms, independently or not, for the different cut-offs. l Median indicator kriging: supposes that all the indicator variables have the same variogram; that is, the variogram of the indicator based on the median value of the grade. Multiple indicator kriging is preferable because of the de-structuring of the spatial correlation with increasing cut-offs (the assumption of an unique variogram for all cut-offs does not hold for the whole grade spectrum), but problems of consistency must be corrected afterwards. Besides it has the disadvantage to be quite tedious because it requires a specific variographic analysis for each cut-off. Incidentally it is the reason why median indicator kriging has been proposed as an alterna- tive. In this case study we will use the median indicator kriging of the panels 20m x 20m; using Sta- tistics / Quick Statistics..., with the declustering weights, the median of the declustered histogram is found to be 223.9. 3.4.2.1 Calculation of the median indicator variogram We have first to generate a Macro Indicator variable Indicator V[xxxxx] in the Sample set data file and in the output grid, by using the Statistics / Indicator Pre Processing panel, with 20 cut-offs from 50 by step of 50. (snap. 3.4-5) Non Linear 183 We then calculate the experimental variogram of this macro indicator variable Indicator V [xxxxx] with the EDA (make sure that the Weight variable is activated). When selecting the Indica- torV[xxxxx] macro variable from the EDA, you will be asked to specify the index corresponding to the median indicator: we have chosen the index 5 corresponding to the cut-off 250 which is close enough to 223.9. If the same calculations parameters of the Raw V variogram are used, the anisot- ropy is no more visible; hence, the experimental variogram will be omnidirectional and calculated with 33 lags of 5 m. It is stored in a parameter file Model Indicator, and used through Statistics / Variogram fitting... to fit a variogram model with the following parameters detailed below the graphic: (fig. 3.4-1) 13 244 863 928 1520 1208 1774 1411 2053 1875 2140 1941 2659 2222 2742 2346 2882 2546 2829 2237 3243 2405 2912 2596 3093 2549 3016 2496 2999 2661 2717 2530 2914 0 50 100 150 Distance (m) 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 V a r i o g r a m
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V { 2 5 0 . 0 0 0 0 0 0 } Isatis Sample set/Data - Variable #1 : Indicator V{250.000000} Experimental Variogram : in 1 direction(s) D1 : Angular tolerance = 90.00 Lag = 5.00m, Count = 33 lags, Tolerance = 50.00% Model : 2 basic structure(s) Global rotation = (Az=-70.00, Ay= 0.00, Ax= 0.00) S1 - Nugget effect, Sill = 0.035 S2 - Exponential - Scale = 45.00m, Sill = 0.21 184 It should be noted that the total sill is close to 0.25, which is the maximum authorized value for an indicator variogram. The model is fit using the tab Manual Fitting. The variogram is saved in the parameter file under the name Model Indicator. (snap. 3.4-6) Non Linear 185 (snap. 3.4-7) 186 3.4.2.2 Kriging of the indicators We now perform the kriging of the indicators keeping the same variogram whatever the cut-off, by using Interpolate / Estimation / Bundled Indicator Kriging: (snap. 3.4-8) l We ask to calculate a Block estimate: we are estimating the proportion of points above the cut- offs within the panel. l As Indicator Definition we define the same cut-offs as previously. In the Cut-off definition win- dow, by clicking on Calculate proportions we get the experimental probabilities of the grade being above the different cut-offs. These values correspond to the mean of the indicators and are used if we perform a simple kriging. In this case because a strict stationarity is not likely, we prefer to run an ordinary kriging, which is the default option. l Output panels: Grid 20*20 / Indicator V[xxxxx] l Model: Model Indicator l The same moving neighborhood octants will be used. 3.4.2.3 Calculation of the final grade tonnage curves At the moment we only have 20m * 20m panel estimates of probabilities for a restricted set of spec- ified cut-offs. Now we need to perform two actions: Non Linear 187 l rebuild the cumulative density function (cdf) of tonnage, metal and grades above cut-off for each panel, l Apply a volume correction (support effect) to take into account the fact that the recoverable resources will be based on 5m * 5m blocks. These two actions are done through Statistics / Indicator Post-processing... with the Indicator V[xxxxx] variable from the panels as input: (snap. 3.4-9) l Basename for Q.T.M variables: IK. As the cut-offs used for kriging the indicators and the cut- offs used here for representing the final grade tonnage relationships may differ (an interpolation is needed), three different macro-variables will be created: m IK_T{cut-off} for the ore total Tonnage T above cut-off. m IK_Q{cut-off} for the metal Quantity Q above cut-off m IK_M{cut-off} for the Mean grade M above cut-off. 188 l Cut-off Definition... for the QTM variables: 50 cut-offs from 0 by a step of 25. l Volume correction: a preliminary calculation of the dispersion variance of the blocks within the deposit is required. A simple way to achieve this consists in using the real block variance calcu- lated by Statistics/support Correction... choosing the block size as 5 m x 5 m (cf. 3.3.2). The Volume Variance Reduction Factor of the affine correction is calculated by dividing the Real Block Variance (53842) by the Punctual Variance (63167). But the real block variance is calcu- lated from the variogram sill (66500), which is superior to the punctual variance, the difference being 3333; the real block variance needs to be corrected according to this value: Corrected Real Block Variance = Real Block Variance - 3333 = 53842 - 3333 = 50509 Thus, the Volume Variance Reduction Factor is: Volume Variance Reduction Factor = 50509 / 63167 = 0.802 Therefore, enter 0.802 for the Volume Variance Reduction Factor. l two volume corrections may be applied: affine or indirect lognormal correction. As the original distribution is clearly not lognormal we prefer to apply the affine correction, which is just requiring the variance ratio between the 5m * 5m blocks and the points l Parameters for Local Histogram Interpolation: we keep the default parameters for interpolating the different parts of the histogram (linear interpolation) including for the upper tail, which is generally the most problematic. A few tests made with other parameters (hyperbolic model with exponent varying from 1 to 3) showed great impact on the resources. We need now to define the maximum and minimum block values of the local block histograms: the Minimum Value Allowed is 0; the Maximum Value Allowed may be simply approximated by applying the affine correction by hand on the maximum value from the weighted point histogram and transpose it to the block histogram with the Volume Variance Reduction Factor (0.8) calculated above: the obtained value is 1391. 3.4.2.4 Analysis of the results The Grade-Tonnage curves of the IK estimates will be displayed in 3.6 Conclusions, as for the other following methods. Here, we will focus on the cut-off V = 600 ppm only, and compare the results with the true values for this specific cut-off. Below are displayed the calculated tonnage IK_T{600} compared to the true tonnage: Non Linear 189 (fig. 3.4-2) Tonnage T calculated by IK (SMU proportion) compared to the true tonnage. The color scale is a regular 16-class grey palette between 0 and 1: panels for which there is strictly less than 1 block (i.e 0 <= proportion < 0.0625) are white. Below are displayed the calculated mean grade compared to the true grade of panels: (fig. 3.4-3) Mean grade calculated by IK compared to the true grades. The color scale is a regular 16-class grey palette between 600 and 1000 and undefined values are black: panels for which the tonnage is strictly 0 are black. Hereafter we show the scatter diagrams of the real panel values and IK estimates for the 600 ppm cut-off: 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) IK_M{600.000000} 190 (fig. 3.4-4) Scatter diagram of the IK estimates vs. the true panel values above 600 ppm (the black line is the first bisector) At this stage of the case study we can consider that globally the indicator kriging gives satisfactory results. At the local scale noticeable differences exist with a tendency to overestimate the grade, especially in the upper tail of the histogram. 3.4.2.5 Disjunctive kriging An argument against Indicator Kriging is that it ignores the relationship existing between different cut-offs. This argument would not hold anymore, if an indicator Co-kriging was performed instead of an univariate kriging; in practice, it is difficult to establish a model of corregionalization accept- able for a large number of cut-offs. Disjunctive Kriging solves this problem by transforming the cokriging problem into N krigings performed independently. One model offering this possibility is the gaussian anamorphosis model using the Hermite polynomials where the change of support is just explained by a coefficient (r coefficient of change of support). In order to achieve the Disjunctive Kriging we have to provide: l the gaussian data values Gaussian V l the anamorphosis function on the block support Block 5m * 5m. l the variogram model of the block gaussian variable. To determine this model we need first to calculate an experimental block gaussian variogram using the Raw V variogram model and the block anamorphosis. For mathematical reasons, the sill of Raw V should not exceed the punc- tual variance of the anamorphosis, which is unfortunately the case here. Therefore, we need first to compute another block anamorphosis including a sill normalization (cf. 3.3.2 With support 0.0 0.5 1.0 IK T{600.000000} 0.0 0.5 1.0 t r u e
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6 0 0 rho=0.683 Non Linear 191 effect correction) using Statistics / Support Correction... and ask for Normalize Variogram Sill. Store the anamorphosis in a new parameter file Block 5m * 5m (normalized) to avoid overwriting the existing block anamorphosis Block 5m * 5m. Open Statistics / Block Gaussian Variogram... to calculate the experimental block gaussian vario- gram: (snap. 3.4-10) m Variogram model: Raw V m Block anamorphosis: Block 5m * 5m (normalized) m Number of directions: 2. It is convenient to make these directions coincide with the main directions of anisotropy of the raw variogram (N160E and N70E) by setting a rotation of - 70 around positive z axis m 20 lags of 5 m for each direction m New experimental variogram: Block Gaussian V We fit this variogram in Statistics / Variogram Fitting...; as expected the nugget effect has disap- peared. Two anisotropic structures (cubic + spherical, details below the graphic) combine to a total sill of 1, and we store the resulting model in a parameter file Block Gaussian V: 192 (fig. 3.4-5) We are now ready to perform the Disjunctive Kriging with Interpolate / Estimation / Disjunctive Kriging...: N16 N70 0 25 50 75 100 125 Distance (m) 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 V a r i o g r a m
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G a u s s i a n ) Isatis Model : 2 basic structure(s) Global rotation = (Az=-70.00, Ay= 0.00, Ax= 0.00) S1 - Cubic - Range = 42.00m, Sill = 0.4 Directional Scales = ( 42.00m, 60.00m) S2 - Spherical - Range = 40.00m, Sill = 0.6 Directional Scales = ( 100.00m, 40.00m) Non Linear 193 (snap. 3.4-11) 194 l Input: Gaussian V l Block anamorphosis...: Block 5m * 5m (normalized) l Number of Kriged Polynomials: we use the same number as during the modeling of the anamor- phosis function, i.e. 30. l Cut-off definition...: we choose 21 cut-offs from 0 by steps of 50. It is compulsory to include the zero cut-off, which should give the in situ grade estimate. l we ask to perform Tonnage Corrections with a minimum tonnage of 0.5%. l the Auxiliary Polynomial File will contain experimental values of the different Hermite polyno- mials for the data points, that will be also put at the center of the closest block 5m x 5m. They are calculated before the RUN, as soon as the output grid is defined (it may take a little time). l Output Grid File...: in the panels Grid 20*20, store the error DK variable l in the Panel Grid file we will also store the Q.T.M. values for each cut-off from the Basename DK. l we use the neighborhood octants as before. l we choose for the Block Gaussian Variogram Model the variogram model previously fitted Block Gaussian V. Graphic displays of the panels for comparison with reality (proportion of SMU above 600 ppm): (fig. 3.4-6) Tonnage T calculated by DK (SMU proportion) compared to the true tonnage. The color scale is a regular 16-class grey palette between 0 and 1: panels for which there is strictly less than 1 block (i.e 0 <= proportion < 0.0625) are white. 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) DK_T{600.000000} Non Linear 195 Graphic displays of the panels for comparison with reality (grade above 600 ppm): (fig. 3.4-7) Mean grade calculated by DK compared to the true grades. The color scale is a regular 16-class grey palette between 600 and 1000 and undefined values are black: panels for which the tonnage is strictly 0 are black. (fig. 3.4-8) Scatter diagram of the DK estimates vs. the true panel values above 600 ppm (the black line is the first bisector) The results on tonnage look very comparable to those obtained with indicator kriging; but the grades show a better correlation between Disjunctive kriging estimates and true values. 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) DK_M{600.000000} 500 600 700 800 900 1000 DK M{600.000000} 500 600 700 800 900 1000 t r u e
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6 0 0 rho=0.925 196 3.4.3 Uniform conditioning This method aims to calculate directly the distribution of the blocks 5m x 5m within each panel, by using the panel estimate and the anamorphosis functions to take the change of support into account. To achieve the Uniform Conditioning we have to provide: l the kriged 20m x 20m panel grades, l two anamorphosis functions, one for the panel and one for the block support (Block 5m * 5m). The calculation of the panel anamorphosis requires the value of the kriged panel dispersion vari- ance. The two anamorphosis models must be consistent, that is, created from the same samples. 3.4.3.1 Kriging of panels The panels have already been kriged during the in situ resource estimation (cf 3.2.4) but we need to calculate the local dispersion variance of these estimates. In Interpolate / Estimation / (Co-)krig- ing.: (snap. 3.4-12) Non Linear 197 m Set to Block mode and activate the Full set of Output Variables option m Input: Sample set / Data / V m Output: in Grids / Grid 20*20. Because we have asked for the Full set of Output Variables, we are able to store the local estimated dispersion variance Variance of Z* for V under a new variable Local dispersion Var Z* m variogram model: Raw V m Neighborhood: octants Below are displayed the panel estimates: (fig. 3.4-9) Map of the kriged panels 20m x 20m The Uniform Conditioning recreates a local gaussian histogram of the SMU in each panel, the mean of this histogram being the gaussian equivalent of the kriged estimate. The panel dispersion vari- ance (Local dispersion var Z*, estimated at the kriging step above) is also needed to re-construct these histograms. 3.4.3.2 Uniform Conditioning We then run Interpolate/Estimation/ Uniform Conditioning as shown below. The Block 5m * 5m anamorphosis will be chosen for the block anamorphosis and a Tonnage correction of 0.5% will be performed. The Basename for Output Variables is UC_no info, as the block anamorphosis has no information effect. The same set of cut-offs as for the disjunctive kriging (21 cut-offs ranging from 0 to 1000) will be defined: 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) Kriging V ppm N/A 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 198 (snap. 3.4-13) Graphic displays of the panels for comparison with reality: (fig. 3.4-10) Tonnage T calculated by UC (SMU proportion) compared to the true tonnage. The color scale is a regular 16-class grey palette between 0 and 1: panels for which there is strictly less than 1 block (i.e 0 <= proportion < 0.0625) are white. 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) UC_no info_T{600.000000} Non Linear 199 (fig. 3.4-11) Mean grade calculated by UC compared to the true grades. The color scale is a regular 16-class grey palette between 600 and 1000 and undefined values are black: panels for which the tonnage is strictly 0 are black. (fig. 3.4-12) Scatter diagram of the UC estimates vs. the true panel values above 600 ppm (the black line is the first bisector) The quality of local estimation is satisfying. Moreover, UC allows to take the information effect into account by changing the block anamorpho- sis to the Block 5*5 with information effect instead of block 5*5. 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
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6 0 0 rho=0.928 600 700 800 900 1000 UC_no info_M{600.000000} 600 700 800 900 1000 T r u e
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6 0 0 rho=0.785 200 Note - Some grade inconsistencies may appear when taking the information effect into account, because the cut-off have to be applied on a histogram of kriged values. These grade inconsistencies affect low grades for small tonnages, therefore it may be corrected by suppressing the lowest tonnage values (as done here with a minimum tonnage fixed at 0.5%). Do not forget to change the Basename for Output Variables to UC_with info and press RUN: (snap. 3.4-14) The statistical results are presented in 3.6. In conclusion, Disjunctive kriging and Uniform Conditioning give both good results; in practice, on real datasets, Uniform Conditioning is often preferred because it is less sensitive to stationarity hypothesis. 3.4.3.3 Localized Uniform Conditioning A criticism addressed to non linear techniques, including Uniform Conditioning, is that the outputs are probability of smus grades within bigger units. We dont have a representation of the spatial dis- tribution of smu grades, like for instance with simulations. One way to get such a representation is to apply the Localized Uniform Conditioning methodology (see Abzalov, M.Z. Localized Uniform Conditioning (LUC): A New Approach to Direct Modelling of Small Blocks, Mathematical Geology 38(4) pp 393-411). The principle is the following: the tonnage and metal at different cutoffs contained in each panel are distributed over the smus according to a preference based on the ranking of smus kriged grade. The metal for higher cutoff is first assigned to the smus whose kriged grades is the highest, and so on. Non Linear 201 As there are enough data to get a realistic estimate of the kriged smus, we can apply that method to the results of Uniform Conditioning (without information effect for instance). As the kriging of smus has already been achieved (see 3.2.4) you just have to run Statistics / Pro- cessing / Localized Uniform Conditioning. Note: the same method can be used in the multivariate case, the metal of other elements are assigned according to the ranking of the main variable kriged smus. After Run we get the following Error message: It is due to the fact that it is compulsory that for the highest cutoff the tonnage represents less than the tonnage of one smu. The solution consists in Re-running Uniform Conditioning with 41 cutoffs from 0 with a step of 50. Then running Localized Uniform Conditioning does not produce anymore error message. The statistics and the displays show that after Localized Uniform Conditioning the variability of actual block grades is much better reproduced compared to the true smu grades. 202 With Tools / Grade Tonnage Curve we can also check that the QTM values obtained from Uniform Conditioning (with Tonnage Variables option) are the same as those obtained from grades estimated using Localized Uniform Conditioning method. Variable Count Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Dev. Variance True V 5x5 3120 0 1378.1 278.0 228.7 52287 KrigingV 5x5 3120 -51.06 1361.57 275.29 210.13 44153.00 LUC V 5x5 3120 0 1438.57 276.02 228.7 52374.87 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) Kriging V V N/A 2000 1900 1800 1700 1600 1500 1400 1300 1200 1100 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) LUC V Non Linear 203 3.4.4 Service variables The Service Variables method is based on the transformation of grades into two variables represent- ing the ore and metal tonnage above a given cut-off for a block centered around the data point. This transformation requires a change of support model. Each variable is then kriged by ordinary krig- ing. We can apply this technique for the cut-off 600 ppm (Tools / Service Variables...): (snap. 3.4-15) The scatter diagram between the Ore and the Metal above 600 ppm shows a very strong (non linear) correlation. (fig. 3.4-13) 0.0 0.5 1.0 Ore Tonnage T above 600 ppm 0 500 1000 M e t a l
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p p m rho=0.987 204 Consequently, we will perform independently the kriging of both variables. The experimental vari- ograms are omnidirectional and calculated with 16 lags of 10 m (with the declustering weights active). They have been fitted as shown below: (fig. 3.4-14) The declustering weights have great impact on the short scale structure; the variograms at short scale are not satisfactory. Then, the kriging of Ore and Metal is performed, with the usual octants neighborhood; the variables Service Var Ore Tonnage T > 600 and Service var Metal Q > 600 are created. 91 1524 2572 3124 3696 3972 4885 5035 5319 5224 5537 5390 5578 5579 5627 5254 0 50 100 150 Distance (m) 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 V a r i o g r a m
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Isatis Model : 2 basic structure(s) Global rotation = (Az=-70.00, Ay= 0.00, Ax= 0.00) S1 - Nugget effect, Sill = 8100 S2 - Spherical - Range = 53.00m, Sill = 2.876e+004 91 1524 2572 3124 3696 3972 4885 5035 5319 5224 5537 5390 5578 5579 5627 5254 0 50 100 150 Distance (m) 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.10 V a r i o g r a m
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p p m Isatis Model : 2 basic structure(s) Global rotation = (Az=-70.00, Ay= 0.00, Ax= 0.00) S1 - Nugget effect, Sill = 0.01 S2 - Spherical - Range = 53.00m, Sill = 0.0462 Non Linear 205 (snap. 3.4-16) 206 (snap. 3.4-17) Because a linear kriging is performed, some panels have negative or unacceptable low Tonnage T values: for all panels having a tonnage T < 0.02 (i.e 2%), T and Q are set to 0 (this is done using File / Calculator...). Using the Calculator once more, we derive from the kriged variables Service var Metal Q > 600 and Service Var Ore Tonnage T > 600 the variable Service var grade M > 600 using the same relation M = Q / T. Non Linear 207 (snap. 3.4-18) 208 (fig. 3.4-15) The scatter diagrams show that some grades overestimation, and a slight under-estimation of high tonnage values. 0.0 0.5 1.0 Service Var Ore Tonnage T>600 0.0 0.5 1.0 T r u e
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6 0 0 rho=0.924 600 700 800 900 1000 Service Var grade M>600 600 700 800 900 1000 T r u e
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6 0 0 rho=0.644 Non Linear 209 3.5 Simulations After having reviewed the non linear estimation techniques, we can also perform simulations to answer the same questions on the recoverable resources. Because we are in a 2D framework, we can perform 100 simulations within a reasonable computation time. Two techniques, both working under multigaussian hypothesis, will be described: Turning Bands (TB) and Sequential Gaussian (SGS). This multigaussian hypothesis requires that the input variable is gaussian: the Gaussian V variable, calculated previously ( 3.3.1 Punctual Histogram Model- ing), will be used. Simulations will be performed on the SMU blocks of 5 m x 5 m (Grid 5*5): this will allow to com- pare results with the non linear estimation techniques. Therefore, block simulations require a gaus- sian back transformation and a change of support from point to block: this implies specific remarks discussed hereafter. 3.5.1 Before starting... important comments on block simulations 3.5.1.1 Block discretization optimization In the standard version of Isatis, only points may be simulated and the change of support from point to block is done by averaging simulated points. In practice, each block is discretized in n sub-cells and each sub-cell is approximated as a point: the number n has to be large enough to validate this approximation. But if n increases, the CPU time calculation increases, as each block will require n simulation process (basically the CPU time is proportional to n). Thus, the choice of the block dis- cretization is the result of a compromise between performance and precision. The block discretization is defined through the neighborhood definition panels, and Isatis gives some guidance to the best compromise by calculating the mean block covariance C vv . The block covariance depends only on the variogram model and the block geometry. Theoretically, if n was infinite the mean block covariance would tend to its true value. Note - In Isatis the default block discretization is 5 x 5 and may be optimized, as explained later ( 3.5.4.1). 3.5.1.2 Gaussian back transformation When simulating in Block mode, Isatis performs automatically the following workflow: l from the input gaussian data, simulate gaussian point grades according to the block discretiza- tion parameters as discussed above; l gaussian back transformation (gaussian -> raw) of the point grades using a point anamorphosis l block grade = averaging of the raw point grades the averaging is done automatically at the end of the simulation run. Hence the required anamor- phosis function to perform the gaussian back transformation is the Point anamorphosis based on the sample (point) support, which has already been calculated during the 3.3.1 Punctual Histogram 210 Modeling. The block anamorphosis Block 5m*5m (which includes a change of support correction) should not be used here. 3.5.2 Simulations workflow summary The aim is to simulate 5 m x 5 m block grades and to calculate the ore Tonnage T, the metal Quan- tity Q and the mean grade M above 600 ppm for 20 m x 20 m panels. The workflow will consist in: l Variographic analysis of the gaussian sample grades (the name of the variogram model will be Point Gaussian V) l Simulate the SMU grades (5 m x 5 m blocks) with Turning Bands (TB) or Sequential Gaussian (SGS) method with the following parameters: m Block mode m input data: Sample Set / Data / Gaussian V m output macro-variables to be created: Grids / Grid 5*5 / Simu V TB or Simu V SGS m Number of simulations: 100 m Starting index: 1 m Gaussian back transformation enabled using the Point anamorphosis m Model...: Point Gaussian V defined at the previous step m Seed for Random Number Generator: leave the default number 423141. This seed is sup- posed to be a large prime number; the same seed allows reproducibility of realizations. The neighborhood and other parameters specific to each method will be detailed in the relevant paragraph. l Calculation of the QTM variables for both techniques (described for TB): ore Tonnage T (i.e SMU proportion within each panel), metal Quantity Q, and mean grade M of blocks above 600 ppm among each 20 m x 20 m panel (M = Q / T). The panel mean grades can not be averaged directly on the 100 simulations: the mean grade is not additive because it refers to different ton- nages (the tonnage may differ between different simulations). Therefore it has to be weighed by the ore proportion T. One way to do this is to use an accumulation variable for each panel: m calculate the ore proportion T and the metal quantity Q (the metal quantity is the accumula- tion variable: Q = T x M) for each simulation m calculate the average (T) and average (Q) of the 100 simulations m calculate the average mean grade: average (M) = average (Q) / average (T) 3.5.3 Variographic analysis of gaussian sample grades The experimental variogram of gaussian variables often show more visible structures and make their interpretation easier; the analysis of anisotropy using the variogram map gives similar infor- mation about the main directions of continuity. In Statistics / Exploratory Data Analysis..., the experimental variogram Point Gaussian V is calculated with the same rotation parameters than Non Linear 211 Raw V. A variogram model using 3 structures has been fitted and saved under the name Point Gaussian V: (fig. 3.5-1) 3.5.4 Simulation with the Turning Bands method 3.5.4.1 Simulations We run Interpolate / Conditional Simulations / Turning Bands... with the parameters defined in the workflow summary ( 3.5.2): N160 N250 0 50 100 150 Distance (m) 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 V a r i o g r a m
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V Isatis Model : 3 basic structure(s) Global rotation = (Az=-70.00, Ay= 0.00, Ax= 0.00) S1 - Nugget effect, Sill = 0.13 S2 - Spherical - Range = 20.00m, Sill = 0.3 Directional Scales = ( 20.00m, 40.00m) S3 - Spherical - Range = 40.00m, Sill = 0.6 Directional Scales = ( 86.00m, 40.00m) 212 (snap. 3.5-1) l Gaussian back transformation... enabled: select the Point anamorphosis. l Neighborhood...: create a new neighborhood parameter file named octants for TB. Press Edit... and from the Load... button reload the parameters from the octants neighborhood. We are now going to optimize the block discretization: press the ... button next to Block Discretization: the Discretization Parameters window pops up where the number of discretization points along the x,y,z directions may be defined. These numbers are set to their default value (5 x 5 x 1). Press Calculate C vv , the following appears in the message window (values differ at each run due to the randomization process): Non Linear 213
Regular discretization: 5 x 5 x 1 In order to account for the randomization, 11 trials are performed (the first value will be kept for the Kriging step) Variables Gaussian V Cvv = 0.811792 Cvv = 0.809978 Cvv = 0.812136 Cvv = 0.811752 Cvv = 0.810842 Cvv = 0.812900 Cvv = 0.808768 Cvv = 0.811977 Cvv = 0.810781 Cvv = 0.810921 Cvv = 0.812400 11 mean block covariances have been calculated with 11 different randomizations. The mini- mum value is 0.808768 and the maximum is 0.812900; the maximum relative variability is approximately 0.5% which is more than acceptable: the 5 x 5 discretization is a very good approximation of the punctual support and may be optimized. Note - Note that, for reproducibility purposes, the first value of C vv will be kept for the simulations calculation For optimization, we decrease the number of discretization points to 3x3: 214 (snap. 3.5-2) Press Calculate C vv :
Regular discretization: 3 x 3 x 1 In order to account for the randomization, 11 trials are performed (the first value will be kept for the Kriging step) Variables Gaussian V Cvv = 0.809870 Cvv = 0.814197 Cvv = 0.808329 Cvv = 0.812451 Cvv = 0.819093 Cvv = 0.809922 Cvv = 0.814171 Cvv = 0.811332 Cvv = 0.805993 Cvv = 0.806053 Cvv = 0.807459 Non Linear 215 The minimum value is 0.805993 and the maximum value is 0.819093: the maximum relative variability is approximately 1.6%. As expected, it has increased but remains acceptable: there- fore, the 3 x 3 discretization is a good compromise and will be kept for the simulations (i.e each simulated block value will be the average of 3 x 3 = 9 simulated points). Press Close then OK for the neighborhood definition window. l Number of Turning Bands: 300. The more turning bands, the more precise are the realizations but CPU time increases. Too few turning bands would create visible 1D-line artefacts. Press RUN: calculations may take a few minutes. We represent in the next figure five simulations, compared to the true map: 216 (fig. 3.5-2) 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) True V ppm N/A 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) Simu V TB[00020] 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) Simu V TB[00030] 50 100 150 200 250 X ( ) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) Simu V TB[00040] 50 100 150 200 250 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) Simu V TB[00050] 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) Simu V TB[00002] Non Linear 217 3.5.4.2 Calculation of the QTM variables From Statistics/Processing/Grade simulation Post-processing compute the metal quantity, mean grade and tonnage on the 20*20 grid from the 5*5 grid simulation. (snap. 3.5-3) 3.5.4.3 Analysis of the results We can then display the ore Tonnage T and mean grade M above 600 ppm calculated by Turning Bands and compere them to the true values: 218 (eq. 3.5-1) Tonnage T calculated by TB (SMU proportion) compared to the true tonnage. The color scale is a regular 16-class grey palette between 0 and 1: panels for which there is strictly less than 1 block (i.e 0 <= proportion < 0.0625) are white. (fig. 3.5-3) Mean grade calculated by TB compared to the true grades. The color scale is a regular 16-class grey palette between 600 and 1000 and undefined values are black: panels for which the tonnage is strictly 0 are black. 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) TB_mean (mean grade above 600) Non Linear 219 (fig. 3.5-4) Scatter diagrams of ore tonnage and mean grade above 600 ppm between the mean of 100 TB simulations and the true values of panels. 3.5.5 Simulation with the Sequential Gaussian method Two different algorithms are available for SGS in Isatis, using two different kinds of neighborhood: l Interpolate / Conditional Simulation / Sequential Gaussian / Standard Neighborhood...: a stan- dard elliptical neighborhood is used taking the point data & the previously simulated grid nodes into account. l Interpolate / Conditional Simulation / Sequential Gaussian / Sequential Neighborhood...: the sequential neighborhood performs first a migration of point data on the nearest grid node; the neighborhood is then defined by a moving window made of x blocks around the target block. We will use the standard neighborhood option because it is more accurate from a theoretical point of view, and moreover the Block simulation is possible (automatic averaging of point values). 3.5.5.4 Simulations Open Interpolate / Conditional Simulations / Sequential Gaussian / Standard neighborhood.... and enter the same parameters described in the workflow summary ( 3.5.2): 600 700 800 900 1000 TB_mean (mean grade above 600) 600 700 800 900 1000 T r u e
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6 0 0 rho=0.936 220 (snap. 3.5-4) Non Linear 221 l The Gaussian Back Transformation is enabled with the Point anamorphosis function l Special Model Options...: by default, a Simple Kriging (SK) is performed using a constant mean equal to zero l Neighborhood...: create a new neighborhood named octants for SGS with the following param- eters (you may load the parameters from the octants for TB parameter file): (snap. 3.5-5) m The search ellipsoid is maintained to 70 m. m minimum number of samples: 5 m Number of angular sectors: 8 m Optimum Number of Samples per Sector: 4, which adds to a maximum of 32 samples. The- oretically, the SGS technique would require a unique neighborhood and use all the previ- ously simulated grid nodes to reproduce exactly the variogram; in practice, it is impossible, so it is recommended to increase the Optimum Number in respect to the Optimum Number of Already Simulated Node (to be defined below in the main SGS window) and the capacity of the computer. 222 m in the Advanced tab, set the Minimum distance between two samples to 2 m; as two different sets of data are used to condition the simulations (i.e the actual data points combined with the previously simulated grid nodes), this minimum distance criterion avoids fictitious duplicates between original data points and simulated grid nodes. It allows also to spread conditioning data for a better reproducibility of the variogram. m The same Block Discretization of 3 x 3 will be used. l Optimum Number of Already Simulated Node: 16. This means that the software will load all the real samples and the 16 closest already simulated nodes in memory for the search neighborhood algorithm. The maximum number of samples being 32, there will be 16 real samples used for each node simulation, as for the Turning Bands method. The TEST window allows to evaluate the impact of these different parameters on the neighborhood. l Leave the other parameters to their default values and press RUN Note - Isatis offers the possibility to perform the different simulations with independent paths (optional toggle in the main SGS window). By default, this toggle is set OFF, meaning that the same random path is used for all simulations: the independency is no more certain, but the algorithm is much quicker. If the toggle is set ON, the CPU time will approximately be multiplied by the number of simulations. Here, it has been checked that both options show negligible differences in the final results. The resulting outcomes are very similar to the TB method. Non Linear 223 3.5.5.5 Calculation of the QTM variables From Statistics/Processing/Grade simulation Post-processing compute the metal quantity, mean grade and tonnage on the 20*20 grid from the 5*5 grid simulation. (snap. 3.5-6) 224 3.5.5.6 Analysis of the results (fig. 3.5-5) Tonnage T calculated by SGS (SMU proportion) compared to the true tonnage. The color scale is a regular 16-class grey palette between 0 and 1: panels for which there is strictly less than 1 block (i.e 0 <= proportion < 0.0625) are white. (fig. 3.5-6) Mean grade calculated by SGS compared to the true grades. The color scale is a regular 16-class grey palette between 600 and 1000 and undefined values are black: panels for which the tonnage is strictly 0 are black. 50 100 150 200 250 X (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 Y
( m ) SGS_ mean (mean grade above 600) Non Linear 225 (fig. 3.5-7) Scatter diagrams of ore tonnage and mean grade above 600 ppm between the mean of 100 SGS and the true values of panels We observe that SGS simulations give very similar results to TB and are also well correlated to the reality. 0.0 0.5 1.0 SGS_ mean ore tonnage above 600 0.0 0.5 1.0 t r u e
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6 0 0 rho=0.870 226 3.6 Conclusions The objective of the case study was to illustrate several non linear methods (global and local) to estimate recoverable resources, and compare them to linear kriging. All methods take the same sup- port effect for 5 m x 5 m blocks into account, but only a few take the information effect into account. Therefore, we will first focus on results without information effect. 3.6.1 Global estimation 3.6.1.1 Without information effect Grade Tonnage curves The following methods will be compared to the true values (True): Ordinary Kriging (OK), block anamorphosis (block 5x5), Indicator Kriging (IK), Disjunctive Kriging (DK) and Uniform Condi- tioning (UC). The grade-tonnage curves for all these methods will be presented; Service Variables (SV) and simulations (TB and SGS) have been calculated only for one particular cut-off V = 600 ppm so we can not display G-T curves for these methods. Open Tools / Grade Tonnage Curves...: Activate 6 curves. For IK, DK and UC outcomes, we need to ask for Tonnage Variables. For instance, for the Indicator Kriging (IK): press Edit..., choose the Tonnage Variables option then IK_Q[xxxxx] for the Metal Quantity and IK_T[xxxxx] for the Total Tonnage: Non Linear 227 (snap. 3.6-1) Repeat the same for DK and UC, and change the curve parameters and labels for optimal visibility. By clicking on the graphic windows below, ask for the following Grade Tonnage curves: Mean grade vs. cut-off, Total tonnage vs. cut-off, Metal tonnage vs. cut-off and Metal tonnage vs. Total tonnage. The graphics are presented here below: 228 (fig. 3.6-1) Mean Grade vs. Cutoff (fig. 3.6-2) Total Tonnage vs. Cutoff 0 250 500 750 1000 Cutoff 0 250 500 750 1000 1250 M e a n
G r a d e True OK Block 5*5 IK DK UC 0 250 500 750 1000 Cutoff 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 T o t a l
T o n n a g e True OK Block 5*5 IK DK UC Non Linear 229 (fig. 3.6-3) Metal Tonnage vs. Cutoff (fig. 3.6-4) Metal Tonnage vs. Total Tonnage 0 250 500 750 1000 Cutoff 0 50 100 150 200 250 M e t a l
T o n n a g e True OK Block 5*5 IK DK UC 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 10 Total Tonnage 0 50 100 150 200 250 M e t a l
T o n n a g e True OK Block 5*5 IK DK UC 230 The True curve is black and represented with a bold line type. We clearly see that the OK tonnage curves are shifted compared to others: linear kriging induces a significant smoothing effect despite a refined sampling and a good coverage of the domain. All non linear methods provide similar and suitable results; a zoom centered on V = 600 allows a more precise comparison around this particular cut-off: (fig. 3.6-5) Grade-Tonnage curves with a zoom on the 600 ppm cutoff of interest (same legend) Little differences are noticeable: IK overestimates the grades whereas DK overestimates the ton- nages. 570 580 590 600 610 620 630 64 Cutoff 720 730 740 750 760 770 780 790 800 M e a n
G r a d e 570 580 590 600 610 620 630 Cutoff 8 9 10 11 12 13 T o t a l
T o n n a g e 525 550 575 600 625 650 Cutoff 60 70 80 90 M e t a l
T o n n a g e 8.5 9.0 9.5 10.0 10.5 11.0 11. Total Tonnage 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 M e t a l
T o n n a g e True OK Block 5*5 IK DK UC Non Linear 231 As we had to choose a particular cut-off for comparing these methods with SV and simulations, we have chosen V = 600 and the global results according to this cut-off are presented hereafter. Global statistics on cut-off V = 600 ppm The following tables give the statistics on ore tonnage, metal quantity and grade above 600 for the different methods on the 195 panels. The true values are compared to the following methods (using Statistics / Quick Statistics...): Turning Bands (TB), Sequential Gaussian Simulations (SGS), Indi- cator Kriging (IK), Disjunctive Kriging (DK), Uniform conditioning (UC), Service Variables (SV), global estimation with support effect (Block 5x5 without information effect, results already shown in 3.3.4 Analysis of the results for the global estimation p.94) and ordinary kriging (OK): Statistics on Ore Tonnage above 600 (proportion) Statistics on Metal Quantity above 600 As the Mean grade M defined on the panels refers to different tonnages, it is not additive so the cal- culation of the mean and the standard deviation needs to be weighed by the tonnages. Therefore, VARIABLE Count Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Dev. Variance True 195 0 1 0,104 0,21 0,044 TB 195 0 0,994 0,104 0,185 0,034 SGS 195 0 0,996 0,1 0,185 0,034 IK 195 0 0,99 0,101 0,2 0,04 DK 195 0 1 0,115 0,192 0,037 UC 195 0 0,987 0,096 0,189 0,036 SV 195 0 0,884 0,098 0,163 0,027 OK 195 0 1 0,081 0,205 0,042 Block 5x5 0,101 VARIABLE Count Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Dev. Variance True 195 0 997,8 78,0 169,7 28796,8 TB 195 0 996,5 79,4 155,4 24148,8 SGS 195 0 1002,4 75,9 156,4 24453,6 IK 195 0 982,3 78,2 165,9 27533,9 DK 195 0 1002,5 86,0 159,7 25488,7 UC 195 0 1004,6 71,7 154,6 23893,9 SV 195 0 804,2 74,3 131,9 17231,0 OK 195 0 1005,7 61,1 165,6 27418,7 Block 5x5 76,0 232 use Statistics / Quick statistics 8 times on each grade variable of each method with the relevant ton- nage as the Weight variable: Statistics on Mean Grade above 600 These statistics are attached to the specific cut-off 600: no global conclusion on the performances of the methods may be assessed here. Besides, the dataset may not be compared to a realistic explora- tion campaign. 3.6.1.2 With information effect Comparisons will be made for the anamorphosis Block 5*5 with information effect and the Uni- form Conditioning (UC_with info[xxxxx]). Results for the block anamorphosis have already been discussed (cf. 3.3.4 Analysis of the results for the global estimation p.94). Only global statistics for the cut-off V = 600 ppm have been made: | Q | T | M True block 5x5 | 77.95 | 10.38 | 750.67 True block 5x5 (info) | 67.92 | 9.01 | 754.11 Block 5*5 with info | 72.03 | 9.69 | 743.05 UC_with info | 69.20 | 9.17 | 754.60 For the cut-off V = 600 ppm, UC has correctly quantified the information effect. 3.6.2 Local estimation For each local estimation method, a scatter diagram of the panel estimates with true values (ton- nages and grades) with the correlation coefficients has already been done (cf. relevant paragraphs). Here, the error for each panel has been calculated and reported: error = estimate - true value Therefore, positive error values reveal overestimation. VARIABLE Count Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Dev. Variance True 66 603,0 997,8 700,0 79,0 9225,2 TB 173 600,3 1009,7 689,0 52,0 2706,7 SGS 166 606,2 1015,7 684,0 53,0 2815,5 IK 91 604,5 992,2 722,0 87,0 7560,3 DK 116 132,6 1002,5 659,5 118,6 14066,0 UC 115 653,4 1017,2 691,5 50,0 2496,2 SV 103 607,3 951,3 735,0 63,3 4000,5 OK 44 601,0 1005,7 756,7 102,0 10411,6 Block5x5 754,5 Non Linear 233 The table below summarizes the main results for the error on tonnages: Local statistics of error on tonnages estimates and correlation with true tonnage values (for cut-off = 600 ppm) The true global tonnage is 0.104; the bias for all non linear methods remains acceptable. The table below summarizes the main results for the error on mean grades above 600: Local statistics of error on mean grades above 600 and correlation with true values (for cut-off = 600 ppm) IK and SV methods show a global overestimation of the grades and a lower correlation with reality. VARIABLE Count Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Dev. Correlation TB 195 -0,397 0,248 -0,001 0,075 0,94 SGS 195 -0,404 0,237 -0,004 0,074 0,94 IK 195 -0,395 0,39 -0,003 0,089 0,91 DK 195 -0,399 0,363 0,01 0,08 0,93 UC 195 -0,314 0,219 -0,009 0,079 0,93 SV 195 -0,411 0,277 -0,006 0,086 0,93 OK 195 -0,5 0,375 -0,023 0,085 0,92 ID2 195 -0,563 0,188 -0,024 0,08 0,93 VARIABLE Count Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Dev. Correlation TB 66 -88,8 98,6 18,1 39,0 0,87 SGS 66 -81,9 98,3 12,7 38,9 0,87 IK 57 -93,4 275,3 33,8 69,2 0,68 DK 65 -485,6 161,2 0,8 82,9 0,75 UC 65 -126,4 94,0 7,9 49,3 0,79 SV 65 -113,1 188,2 41,6 61,2 0,67 OK 40 -100,5 67,9 -22,6 40,6 0,89 ID2 44 -130,9 134,6 -21,0 50,1 0,82 234 The table below summarizes the main results for metal quantity: Local statistics of error on metal quantity and correlation with true values (for cut-off = 600 ppm) All non linear methods give consistent results for the metal quantity. 3.6.3 Final conclusions The conclusions based on these numerical results only concern this particular dataset and should not be interpreted as a straightforward classification of the methods. Despite a refined sampling, linear interpolation methods (linear kriging, inverse distance...) induce a smoothing effect that has a significant impact on recoverable resources. Non linear geostatistics provide practical solutions and this case study shows that all methods are globally consistent; though some little differences appear at the local scale. Global estimation techniques, based on anamorphosis functions, showed satisfying results and are quick to proceed. Simulations techniques (TB and SGS) showed good results but these techniques are time consum- ing and quite heavy to proceed. Indicator Kriging showed some little differences at the local scale (as service variables), and requires some specific pre/post-processing. Disjunctive Kriging and Uni- form Conditioning both make use of anamorphosis functions, but Uniform Conditioning has the advantage to base itself on ordinary kriging estimates instead of the global mean for Disjunctive Kriging, which requires a stronger stationarity hypothesis. Besides, Uniform Conditioning is straightforward to the global estimation techniques and allows to take the information effect into account. VARIABLE Count Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Dev. Correlation TB 195 -276,5 174,9 -1,4 51,9 0,95 SGS 195 -281,1 166,8 -2,1 51,3 0,95 IK 195 -266,8 260,5 0,2 59,1 0,94 DK 195 -277,0 253,1 8,0 55,8 0,94 UC 195 -213,7 153,2 -6,2 54,8 0,95 SV 195 -279,0 192,2 -3,6 62,9 0,94 OK 195 -350,3 242,3 -16,8 57,5 0,94 ID2 195 -389,0 120,8 -18,5 54,7 0,95