QUANTITATIVE MINERAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENTS: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH: By Donald A. Singer and W. David Menzie. (2010) Oxford University Press, 232 pages. $74.00. ISBN: 978-0-19-539959-2.

Abstract

This book is a record of the life work of a recently retired and decorated U.S. Geological Survey geologist, Donald A. Singer, who addresses a topic that is of primary interest and importance to mining and exploration companies, but also to many other decision makers, many of whom may not be directly connected to Earth sciences, e.g., land-use planners, investment bankers, and politicians. The title is a little misleading as one may think that the book may be about a numerical approach to estimating the contained value of specific, already identified, and proven mineral resources, but it is rather about predicting what mineral resources are out there waiting to be discovered, in so-called “permissive tracts” of land. The title would have been more complete if it had included the phrase “undiscovered mineral resources.” The core idea presented is that there is a predictable distribution of mineral deposits in terms of type, location, size (tonnage), grade (contained metal content), and number. Compilations of minerals deposits by type (or model, e.g. porphyry copper or Kuroko-type) are used define distributions (in a statistical sense) of deposits in terms of grade and tonnage. This forms the first part of the “Three-part Mineral Assessment” methodology developed by the senior author for the USGS. The other two are the mineral resource map and the estimated number of undiscovered deposits. The authors state in the preface that this book was written mostly for users or practitioners of assessments. As a non-user and non-practitioner I found the style and flow of the book and methodology somewhat confusing and irritating, and that I had to resort frequently to other published sources to find the reasoning and logic about statements made in the text, and in many …