Journal of Mining Engineering

Journal of Mining Engineering

Modelling the Grade and Recovery of Sari Gunay Epithermal Gold with the Application of Geostatistical Algorithms

Document Type : research - paper

Authors
1 MSc student, School of Mining, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2 Associated Prof. School of Mining, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
3 PhD student, School of Mining, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
With the increase in complexity of mineral deposits, understanding the grade variability is of high significance in getting enough information about the deposit, preventing financial losses and identifying optimized plans during and after exploitation. Likewise, mineralogical variability, grade, alteration, … can highly effect metal recovery. Modeling these parameters is seriously substantial in order to have an optimized exploitation of the mine and to minimize the risks and costs. This study used the dataset of 91 drill holes from Sari Gunay epithermal gold deposit located in north-west of Iran to model gold grade and the recovery resulted from leaching tests. Initially, the oxide and sulphide zones were distinguished using Indicator Kriging and Simulation. Then the gold grade and recovery in each zone were modeled with the application of sequential Gaussian simulation and the developed block model. The grade-recovery curve was then drawn to estimate the total tonnage amount of the deposit which was related to the sulphide zone in more than 70%. Then with the help of recovery simulation data, the grade×recovery was considered a preferable parameter in depicting the curve and estimating the reserve.
Keywords

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Volume 16, Issue 50
Winter 2021
Pages 1-13

  • Receive Date 16 February 2020
  • Revise Date 01 September 2020
  • Accept Date 22 January 2021