Abstract
Since the Gol-Gohar iron ore mine (GGIOM), which is located in southeastern Iran, is currently one of the biggest iron mines in this region, increasing the accuracy of its mineral resources model has become a challenge for geologists, metallurgists and mining engineers. Given that an accurate classification of the mining blocks into ore or waste is highly significant in strategic mine planning, three approaches for simulating the iron grades were compared against the true grades obtained from production data. The comparison was done by calculating the ratio between the total number of blocks correctly classified as ore and waste and the total number of misclassified blocks, and it was conducted for each approach in three mined benches at the GGIOM. The results reveal that the grade simulation that ignores the geological boundaries and the grade simulation based on a deterministic geological interpretation are much less accurate than the hierarchical approach, which consists of simulating both the geological boundaries and the grades.
Highlights
The proper classification of mineral resources and ore reserves, as well as an appropriate prediction of the amount of dilution and ore loss affect various mining activities, in particular, the development of geological and geometallurgical mineral resources models, the conversion of these resources into ore reserves, the definition of a production schedule, mine and plant designs, production management and grade control
Geologic contact dilution and operational mining dilution have been identified as the three primary sources of dilution that must be taken into account in evaluating mineral resources [1]
Classifying waste and ore blocks is of utmost importance for geological/geometallurgical modeling of mineral resources, long-term planning and mine/plant design in the Gol-Gohar iron ore mine (GGIOM)
Summary
The proper classification of mineral resources and ore reserves, as well as an appropriate prediction of the amount of dilution and ore loss affect various mining activities, in particular, the development of geological and geometallurgical mineral resources models, the conversion of these resources into ore reserves, the definition of a production schedule, mine and plant designs, production management and grade control. Few authors have quantified the impact of boundary modeling on geologic contact dilution and ore/waste classification for long-term mine planning, which is the main objective and contribution of this work Such modeling can be achieved through geostatistical simulations, which are used to construct multiple numerical realizations or outcomes of geological and geometallurgical domains. Three different approaches for grade simulation and ore/waste classification were applied in extracted benches in this study to investigate internal dilution and geological contact dilution. These approaches are: (1) DBS without lithological control, (2) deterministic boundary selection followed by DBS in each domain, and (3) hierarchical stochastic modeling of domains and grades. The best approach was obtained through the introduction of coefficients of correct classification of ore and waste to incorrect classification of dilution and ore loss, comparing the simulated grades with the true grades of the mining blocks
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