Plurigaussian modeling of non-stationary geological domains to assess geological uncertainty in a porphyry copper deposit

Abstract

In mineral resources extraction projects, the morphology of geological domains that make up the ore types in a mineral deposit is essential for mine and plant planning and design. Modeling the layout of these domains and quantifying the uncertainty associated with such a layout can be performed via geostatistical simulation in order to provide multiple geological outcomes that are equally likely to occur. This work focuses on showing how plurigaussian simulation can help to model ore type domains exhibiting spatially varying probabilities of occurrence, through an application to a porphyry copper deposit in northwestern Iran. The results demonstrate the advantage of incorporating spatial variations of the domain proportions, in accordance with the geological interpretation of the deposit, to obtain geologically consistent and realistic outcomes.