Isaaks & Co

Specialists in Spatial Statistics

Optimum BH Patterns,
LAK, and DIGGER
for

Ore Control

Isaaks & Co.

Nov, 2010

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Emerald Hills CA 94062

ed@isaaks.com

Phone 650-369-7069

Isaaks & Co
Specialists in Spatial Statistics
Local Anisotropy Kriging (LAK)
The proper selection of data for the purposes of estimation is considered by many to be the fundamental
mantra of ore resource estimation. For example, the selection of data for kriging etc. is more often than not
controlled through lithologic and/or alteration models, grade shells or zones, structural domains and so on.
Although such models may be appropriate at a macro scale, they are suboptimal at a micro scale. For
example, experience shows that mineralization may be controlled by lithology combined with structure at a
micro scale. Here we define micro scale as order of magnitude changes in grade over distances in the
neighborhood of 10 m. These micro scale changes in grade can be seen in blast hole maps. Obviously, it is
not practical to control the selection of data at this scale through either structural or lithologic micro
models. Hence the motivation for a practical solution to data selection at the local or micro scale.
The Concept:
The concept behind LAK is quite simple. When estimating an individual block grade or cross validating
estimates of actual DDH or BH data, the data selection is done through a unique search ellipse (ellipsoid in
3D). That is, each search ellipsoid may have its own set of anisotropy ratios and axial orientations. Figure 1
provides a 2D example illustrating an application of locally customized search neighborhoods.

Figure 1: An example of blast holes colored by 6 classes of grade. The red ellipsoid shows the orientation of a global search
neighborhood that would be used for the estimation of every block on the bench. The green ellipsoids show examples of local search
neighborhoods that are customized to fit the local direction of mineral continuity which is identified by the spatial patterns of
identically colored blast holes. The insert in the lower right hand corner of the figure shows the orientation of elliptical search
neighborhoods centered on individual blocks of the ore control block model. The ellipsoids have been reduced in scale to avoid
overlap and improve clarity.

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Figure 2: This figure shows a 3D example of the orientation of the local search neighborhoods used to krige an ore control model.
The ore control model blocks measured 2x2 m x bench height. You can see from the figure that the search ellipsoids were taken from
7 or 8 benches. Each search neighborhood is centered on a 2 x 2 m block, but the ellipsoids have been reduced in size to avoid overlap
and improve clarity. The major axis of the ellipsoids tend to follow the local patterns of mineral continuity. Obviously, sub-vertical
continuity is quite prevalent.

The LAK Algorithm:

The LAK algorithm is a two part algorithm. Part 1 preprocesses the data and identifies the optimum search
ellipsoid for each block, or for each composite in the case of cross validation. This information is written to
file for each block. Part 2 does the actual kriging. For part 2, we simply modified an existing kriging
program to read the optimum ellipse parameters from file and orient the search ellipsoid accordingly for
each block.
Part 1 relies on the brute force of the computer to rotate through a number of ellipse orientations and
anisotropy ratios to seek out and identify the optimum search ellipsoid for each block. Basically, the idea is
to evaluate the captured data within each possible search ellipse using some measure that indicates the
appropriateness of the captured data for estimation. The optimum ellipse is the one providing the best
measure. For example, in the previous example it should be obvious that better estimates are likely to be
had by maximizing data selection along the imaginary contours of equal value while minimizing data
selection across the contour lines. One might generalize this concept and conclude that a reasonable
measure of appropriate data selection is similarity. In other words, it seems reasonable to conclude that
one is likely to obtain more accurate estimates using captured data that are reasonably similar to each other.
In fact, this is also the motivation behind data selection by rock type models etc. By restricting the selection
of data to specific rock types, one hopes to capture data from a single population or more generally, data
that are reasonably similar to each other, thereby providing more accurate estimates.
There are several statistics that can be used to measure similarity. For example, variance can be seen as a
measure of similarity with the advantage that it is easily computed. Recall that variance is a measure of the
sample variability about the mean. Thus, if the captured samples have a relatively low variance, they are
likely to be more similar to each other than samples with a relatively high variance. One can refine or
standardize the variance to account for a shift in the mean or proportional effect by computing the
coefficient of variation. This is useful when distributions are skewed and the local variance is proportional
to the mean. Other measures of variability include the mean absolute deviation from the median and so on.

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Specialists in Spatial Statistics

LAK Variography
LAK variography is slightly different from traditional variography. For example, in traditional geostatistics,
the directions of the various separation vectors between pairs of sample locations is always determined with
reference to the local coordinate system within a specified domain. However, with LAK the orientation of
the separation vector between a pair of data locations is always determined with reference to the axes of
the search ellipsoid. For example, North is always parallel to the major axes of the ellipse no matter what
the actual orientation of the major axis is.
Directional sample variograms are calculated by pairing data points within the same ellipse. Data points
from two different ellipsoids are not paired. However, variogram values with similar separation vectors
(same magnitude and direction) from different ellipsoids are averaged together to obtain the ultimate
directional sample variograms for modeling. For example, recall that down-the-hole sample variograms
are calculated by only allowing the pairing of data within the same drill hole. Data from two different drill
holes cannot be paired in the calculation of a down-the-hole sample variogram. Thus, the similarity
between down-the-hole and LAK variography suggests the term, down-the-ellipsoid or better yet,
within-the-ellipsoid variography.

Figure 3: An example showing how the direction of the separation vector between two samples is referenced to the axes of the search
ellipse rather than the axes of the original coordinate system.

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An Example of Local Anisotropy Kriging (LAK).
Figure 4 shows an example of LAK. The colored circles are blast holes on a nominal 6 to 8 m grid. The ore
control model is composed of 2x2 m blocks whose grade has been estimated using LAK. Since this is a pdf
file, you can zoom this figure to 400% to see the correlation between the blast hole and estimated block
grade colors. The grade class boundaries were chosen at the grade quantiles, thus each color occupies
approximately 25% of the total area. Note that smoothing is minimal. For example, there is very little
overlap of BH and block colors, even where the BH colors indicate skinny or narrow vein-like bands of
similar grades (colors). This is due to the local orientation of the search neighborhood and the proper
selection of BH data for the estimation of each block.

Figure 4: This is a plan view of a LAK ore control model (OCM) and blast holes. The OCM blocks are 2x2 m by bench height. The
correspondence between the BH and block grades (color classes) is quite good with minimal smoothing. The LAK kriging plan was
determined by cross validation to insure the block grade estimates are conditionally unbiased.

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LAK Software
The LAK software consists of two Fortran 90 subroutines callable from MineSight subroutine U99612 (see
Figure 5. LAK may also be run as stand alone executables for mining operations using other software
such as Vulcan or Gemcom etc.

Figure 5: Schematic showing the implemention of LAK through MineSight subroutine U99612.

Program Naybor.
The initial program is known as Naybor. The main function of this program is to identify the orientation
and anisotropy ratios of an optimum ellipsoidal search neighborhood for the estimation of a single block or
cross validation of a single drill hole composite. The search neighborhood is designed to be optimum in the
sense that the captured data are characterized by a minimum mixture of data from different statistical
populations. In other words, the purpose of this subroutine is to insure the proper selection of data for block
grade estimation.
A secondary function of subroutine Naybor is to select, transform, and calculate directional sample
variograms using either composite or blast hole data (see Figure 3). The coordinates of the sample data
captured within each optimum ellipsoid are referenced to the ellipsoid axes. Directional sample variograms
are calculated and written to an ascii csv file for subsequent fitting of a model using SAGE2001 for
example.
For the MineSight Version, drill hole composite or blast hole data input to the subroutine may be retrieved
from AcQuire or MineSight as user specified through a data dump in the form of an ascii comma separated
variables (csv) file.
Grid data in the form of individual I,J,K block coordinates and other block data such as rock type etc. may
be provided by the MineSight U99612 subroutine. The U99612 subroutine provided by MineSight,
provides read/write functionality between the 612 subroutine and the proprietary binary block model file.
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Thus, block model data can be extracted, processed and written to the block model through the U99612
subroutine.
For the Stand-alone Version, both the drill hole data and block model data must be prepared as ascii comma
separated value (csv) files.
The rotation angles and anisotropy ratios of each search neighborhood output by Naybor are written either
to the block model stored in the proprietary Minesite binary block model or to an external ascii csv file in
the stand-alone version.
Program control is provided through driver and control files which the user must prepare using Excel and
save as ascii csv files.

Program LAKriger
The second program is known as the local anisotropy kriger or LAK. The primary function of this program
is to estimate block grades using either simple or ordinary kriging. Note that this program also provides
cross validation functionality.
Input composite or blast hole data is provided from an AcQuire data dump as described above for Naybor
or as an external ascii csv file for the stand-alone version.
Grid or block data is provided by U99612 as described above or by an external ascii csv file. Note that the
block data may include the rotation angles and anisotropy ratios identified by Naybor and written either to
the block model file by U99612 or to an external ascii csv file for the stand-alone version. LAK may
optionally use these rotation angles and anisotropy ratios to define the search neighborhood for each block
estimate.
Program control for LAK is also provided through driver and control files which the user must prepare
using Excel and save as ascii csv files.
LAK Features include:
o Sample selection optionally constrained by rock type and/or domain, search radius; octants;
number per drill hole; minimum/maximum number per search; etc.
o Outlier restriction by search radius and cap value
o Nested variogram models
o Multiple passes in a single run
o OK or SK
o Local or Global search strategy
o Cross validation dead zone.
o Nine optional output statistics
Copy Protection
Both the stand-alone and MineSight module versions of the LAK executable program are copy protected.
In order to execute the LAK program or executable, a pre-configured USB key must be inserted into a USB
port on the host computer. The USB hardware key must be inserted and remain in the computer USB slot
while LAK is executed. However, the software may be installed on as many machines as required.
The LAK USB key will unlock SAGE2001 as well as LAK.

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Isaaks & Co
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Digger for
Optimum Dig-line Design
Do you realize that one 250 ton truck load of ore averaging 1 gram/tonne au
sent to the dump results in a loss of approx $10,000.00 USD1 at todays au
prices?
Here is an actual example of ore sent to the dump by
manually constructed dig lines. The red and green blocks
are 5 x 5 ft ore control blocks. Red is ore averaging
1g/tonne and green is waste. The circles represent blast holes. The bench height is 30
feet. Thus, at 12.4 cubic feet/ton, each block contains approximately 60 tons. The dotted
black line is the manually drawn dig line. Obviously, the grade control engineer wanted
to avoid sending green waste blocks to the mill. The minimum mining width is 15 feet, so in order to send
the green blocks to the dump, he had to include several red ore blocks. Thus, the equivalent of at least 5 ore
blocks (counting partials) or 300 tons of ore grade material was sent to the dump! Thats more than 1 truck
load or almost $12,000.00 of potential revenue gone to the dump.
Perhaps the grade control engineer could have reduced the dollar loss by sending some of the green blocks
to the mill (dilution) in order to avoid sending ore blocks to the dump? Green blocks sent to the mill do not
contain sufficient metal to pay for the processing costs and so there is a loss there, but maybe this loss
would be less than the $12,000.00 lost to the dump. To answer this question, the grade control engineer
needs to know at least the following in order to tediously compute revenues derived from various dig line
options:
o Cutoff grade
o The estimated block grades
o The ore recovery function
o Metal price
o Mill costs
o Mining costs.
o Minimum mining width
.
This is a very simple case since there is only one ore type. But what if the ore deposit is complex with
multiple ore types? For example, it is not uncommon for an open pit operation to mine 6 to 15 ore types.
With multiple ore types, it becomes impossible for even the best grade control engineer to design optimum
dig lines. By optimum, we mean dig lines that minimize the misclassification of ore types, thereby
maximizing net revenue.
Digger
Digger is a software product written in C++ for the design of optimum dig lines given a minimum mining
width constraint and multiple ore types. Digger can design optimum dig lines simultaneously for as many
as 15 to 20 ore types. Digger is designed to work with the blocks of an ore control model (OCM). These
blocks may be very small, for example as small as 2 x 2 m horizontally. The rule is that the horizontal
dimensions of the OCM block should 1/5 of the minimum mining width. For example, if the minimum
mining width is 10 m, then the OCM blocks should be 2 x 2 m x bench height. The principle behind digger
is simple minimize dollars lost due to the misclassification of ore types given a minimum mining width
constraint.
1

1 gram/tonne = 0.0292 oz/short ton. Therefore at $1350/oz, the value of 250 short tons is 1350 $/oz x 250
ton x 0.0292 oz / ton or $ 9,855.00 or nearly 10,000 USD.
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minimize[$loss|constraint] = minimize[(potential revenue - actual revenue)| constraint]
Correctly constructed revenue equations will yield maximum revenue if the material is sent to the correct
process. This is the potential value. However, if material is sent to the wrong process, correctly
constructed revenue equations will always yield less revenue than the potential revenue, thus incurring a
dollar loss. Figure 6 illustrates how individual OCM blocks may be sent to the wrong process or
destination.

Figure 6: An example showing an OCM composed of 2x2 m blocks and a 10 m minimum mining width. Given metal prices, OCM
block grades, mill and leach pad recoveries, mill and leach pad break even costs, Digger will determine the optimum ore type for the
combined 5 OCM blocks. In other words, Digger will send the 5 blocks to the process that generates the most revenue.

However, sometimes the revenue equations are so complex, that sending material to the wrong process
does not always incur a dollar loss. For these cases, one can assign a penalty factor within Digger for
specific ore type misclassifications. This enables one to simulate optimum dig line designs.

Figure 7: An example of Digger output. Red is mill ore; green leach pad material and blue is waste. The blast holes are also colored
by ore type. The OCM blocks are 2x2 m and the minimum mining width is 10 m or 5 OCM blocks. If you examine the figure closely,

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you will see that the mill feed, leach pad, and waste material can all be mined at the minimum mining width. Many blast holes are
missing because of missing sulfide sulfur (SS) assays which are required for ore typing. Note this Figure contains the same BH data
shown in Figure 4.

Digger Input and Output

Digger input consists of an OCM with relevant block data. Digger can be set up to work with subsets of the
total OCM. Subsets may be identified by blast ID or any other tag as required. Digger also reads input
control parameters from an ascii parameter text file. Input parameters consist of things like input and output
file names, processing costs, penalty factors etc.
Complex revenue equations may be specified in an auxiliary dll module. The dll module is not copy
protected and may be edited by anyone on site. The main program Digger.exe is copy protected and is run
by inserting a USB key into the host computer.
Digger outputs two ascii csv files with header records. The first file is a copy of the OCM with additional
oretype data for each OCM block.
The second file contains ore type polygons. These polygons may be imported into client grade control
software such as Minesight, Vulcan, or Gemcom and overlain on the OCM. This provides the grade control
engineer with final editing capability. For example, the digger polygons can be seen as guidelines for the
final dig line design by the grade control engineer if desired.
Digger runs fairly quickly. For example, it can process 50,000 blocks in a matter of minutes. Thus, it is
possible to design dig lines for larger block models such as short term mine planning models. This provides
an accurate estimate of the tons and grade that will be recovered at the time of mining given that the OCM
grade estimates are conditionally unbiased.
The current version of Digger is new product which became available to the industry early in 2010.
Currently, Digger has been installed at two Newmont Mining mines; 2 Barrick Gold mines, and one
Freeport McMoran mine. Experience shows that Digger can improve net revenue by as much as 4 to 5%.

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Designing an Optimum
Blast Hole Pattern and
Kriging Plan
for
Grade Control
Introduction
This report is an actual case study showing the results of a unique method for optimizing
the spacing of blast holes for grade control. The method also enables the identification of
the optimum blast hole pattern and number of blast holes to use to estimate each selective
mining unit (SMU).
1. The optimum blast hole spacing is one that minimizes the combined costs;
a. drilling and assaying the blast holes;
b. ore loss (ore blocks misclassified and sent to the waste dump);
c. and dilution (blocks sent to mill with insufficient metal to pay for
processing).
2. The optimum kriging plan is one that provides conditionally unbiased estimates
by retaining the correct number of blast holes from an optimum pattern for each
SMU estimate.
3. The results of the case study are shown in Figure 1 and Table1. The combined
costs of drilling, assaying, ore loss, and dilution are minimum for a blast hole
spacing of 12.5 x 12.5 x 25 ft.

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Figure 1: Blast hole drilling, assay and misclassification costs per ton versus drill hole pattern. The actual
data values are provided in Table 1.

Table 1: Blast hole drilling, assay and misclassification costs per ton versus drill hole pattern

Method

A total of approximately 43,000 blast holes were retained for the study.
Figures 2, 3, and 4 show several level maps of the selected blast holes.
The histogram and univariate statistics of the 43,000 BH grades are provided in
Figure 5. Note the high coefficient of variation at 3.87.
Directional sample variograms were calculated and modeled using the 43,000
blast hole assays. The model and sample variogram plots are provided in
Appendix 1.
The 43,000 BH assays were transformed to a normal distribution.
1. All Au values including tied values were initially transformed according to
their rank. Tied values were ordered randomly and given unique ranks.
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2. The average of the normal scores of the tied Au values was calculated for
each group of tied Au values. The calculated average normal scores value
was then assigned to each tied Au value within each group. This is an
important step because a very large proportion of the 43,000 blast hole
assays are tied at 0.001 oz/ton etc. If the nscores transformation is not
done precisely this way, the simulated values will likely be globally
biased.
Directional sample variograms were calculated and modeled using the 43,000
normal scores of the blast hole assays. The model and sample variogram plots are
provided in Appendix 2.
For each blast hole pattern from 10x10x25 to 25x25x25 ft.
1. Design a blast hole pattern. For this particular deposit, a pattern of 9 holes
on the same bench as the block and 9 holes on the bench above is
appropriate because of the strong vertical continuity in grade. This pattern
of 18 blast holes yielded conditionally unbiased estimates. This must be
checked, as more or less blast holes will yield conditionally biased results.
2. Compute the ordinary kriging (OK) weights for each blast hole location of
the current blast hole pattern using the Au gold variogram model.
3. Compute the joint un-conditional simulation of blast hole grades at 49
discretization points within the 25x25x25 ft block and at the blast hole
locations of the current blast hole pattern using the nscores variogram
model (see Isaaks 2004).
4. Average the 49 simulated values to obtain a true simulated block grade.
5. Calculate the OK estimated grade of the block using the OK kriging
weights and jointly simulated (18) blast hole values.
6. Record the simulated true block grade and the estimated block grade.
7. Repeat steps 2 to 6 --- 500,000 times.
8. Summarize the misclassified simulated block grades in terms of dollars
lost per ton.
9. Summarize drilling costs in terms of dollars / ton.
Identify the optimum drill hole pattern by minimizing the combined blast hole
drilling and misclassification costs.

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Figure 3: Example bench maps of blast hole grades from levels 6935 and 6950 Red > 0.006 oz/ton.

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Figure4: Example bench maps of blast hole grades from levels 6985 and 6990 Red > 0.006 oz/ton.

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Figure 5: Histogram and univariate statistics of the Blast Hole assays selected for the study.

The Simulation Software

The conditional simulation of the block discretization and blast hole grades was done
using a custom built software program called BP.EXE (for Blasthole Pattern). Figure 6
provides a schematic of the input and output of the software. The following descriptions
describe how to use the software.

Figure 6. Schematic of software used to evaluate blast hole patterns.

Figures 7 and 8 provide examples of the blast hole location and input control parameter
files.

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Figure 7: The input file (ascii) of blast hole locations for the 15x15x25 ft. grid. Note the center of the
pattern is located at (0,0,0). This is also the exact center of the 25x25x25 ft block.

Figure 8: An example of the input control parameters to BP.EXE

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Figure 9 provides a small example of the output from program BP.EXE while Figure 10
shows the spatial configuration of the simulated blast hole locations, the 25x25x25 ft.
block, and the 49 discretization points.

Figure 9: An example of the output from BP.EXE. The column labeled Au is the simulated grade of the
25x25x25 ft block. The column labeled Auhat is the Kriged estimate of the block grade. The column
labeled OW indicates the classification of the block as O - ore; W- waste; O2W - ore to waste; and
W2O -- waste to ore. The column labeled Revenue provides the revenue according to the block
classification and a revenue formula = Au grade x recovery rate x Au dollar value /oz - break even cost.

Figure 10: This figure shows the spatial configuration of the blast hole locations (red) relative to the 49
discretization points (green) of the 25x25x25 ft. block. Nine additional blast holes are located at the same
(x, and y) coordinates, but on the bench immediately above the block (see Figure 7). Note the co-located
blast hole and discretization point at the center (0,0,0) of the block.

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Check the Simulated Values
As can be seen from the control parameters in Figure 8, ---- 500,000 realizations were
simulated for each blast hole pattern. In other words, there are 500,000 simulated block
grades and 500,000 kriged estimates for each blast hole pattern. These simulated and
estimated values should be checked for each blast hole pattern as follows:

Compute the histogram and univariate statistics of the 500,000 simulated and
estimated block grades and compare each mean to the mean of the 43,338
composites (Figure 5). Figure 11 shows an example for the 15 ft. blast hole
pattern. For example, the mean of the 43,338 composites is 0.00699 oz/ton while
the mean of the 500,000 simulated block grades is 0.00713 which is close enough.
It is interesting to note that the ratio of the block variance (0.0003105) to the
composite variance (0.000736) is approximately 0.42. In other words, the block
variance is only 42 % of the composite variance. This is useful information for
checking the grade tonnage curves of the resource model with HERCO.

Figure 11: The Histogram and statistics of the 500,000 simulated (Au) and estimated (Auhat) block grades
for the 15 ft. blast hole pattern.

Calculate a scatter-plot of the simulated Au versus Auhat values and calculate the
regression line. Check that the slope of the regression line is 1.0 and the first
coefficient near zero. The slope must be equal to 1.0 otherwise the kriged
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estimates are conditionally biased. Figure 11 shows an example from the 15 ft.
grid.

Figure 11: A scatterplot of the 500,000 simulated block values versus the 500,000 estimated block values
for the 15 ft. BH grid. Note the slope of the regression line is nearly 1.0.

Calculations and Results

The economic and tonnage factors used for this study are given in Table 2.

Table 2: Study parameters

The following list provides an explanation and calculation formula (where applicable) for
each of the recovery statistics shown in Figure 12.

OW -- this column indicates the classification of the simulated ore block as

either; ore O; ore to waste O2W; waste W; and waste to ore W2O.
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Simulated Realizations this column provides the number of simulated

realizations for each classification. The total number of realizations is 500,000.
Mean (Au) oz/ton -- this is the average gold grade of the simulated block grades
for each OW class.
Mean (Auhat) oz/ton -- this is the average of the kriged or estimated block
grades for each OW class.
Sum(Revenue) --- this is the sum of the revenues calculated for each simulated
block for each OW class. The revenue equations are:
o Break even cost (BE)
BE = cutoff grade x recovery rate x $(oz/ton)
(1)
o For the O class
revenue = Au(oz/ton) x recovery rate x $(oz/ton) - BE
(2)
o For the O2W class
revenue = 1.0*(Au(oz/ton) * recovery rate * $(oz/ton) - BE) (3)
o For the W class
revenue = 0.0
(4)
o For the W2O class
revenue = Au(oz/ton) x recovery rate x $(oz/ton) - BE
(5)
% Dilution

% dilution =

(6)

No. realizations"O 2W "

*100
No. realizations"O " + No. realizations"O 2W "

(7)

% Ore Loss

% dilution =

No. realizations"W 2O "

*100
No. realizations"O " + No. realizations"W 2O "

Predicted Ore Grade

No. realizations"O " * Auhat"W " + No. realizations"W 2O " * Auhat"W 2O "

Grade
=
No. realizations"O " + No. realizations"W 2O "

True Ore Grade

No. realizations"O " * Au"W " + No. realizations"W 2O " * Au"W 2O "

Grade
=
No. realizations"O " + No. realizations"W 2O "

(8)

(9)

In Situ Value ($)

Value($) =

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No. realizations"O " + No. realizations"O 2W "
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(10)

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Recovered Value ($)

Value($) =

Sum Revenue"O " + Sum Revenue"W 2O "

No. realizations"O " + No. realizations"W 2O "

(11)

Loss($) / ton

Loss($/ton) = Insitu Value($) - Recovered Value($)

(12)

The recovery statistics for all of the grid patterns are given in Figures 12 to17. Note that
the Predicted Ore Grade is nearly equal to the Recovered Ore Grade for all tested
blast hole patterns. Thus, the kriged estimates are conditionally unbiased which confirms
the appropriateness of the 18 blast hole pattern.

Figure 12: Recovery statistics for the 10 x 10 x 25 ft. blast hole pattern (18 BH).

1042 Wilmington Way

Emerald Hills CA 94062

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Phone 650-369-7069

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Isaaks & Co
Specialists in Spatial Statistics

Figure 13: Recovery statistics for the 12.5 x 12.5 x 25 ft. blast hole pattern (18 BH).

Figure 14: Recovery statistics for the 15 x 15 x 25 ft. blast hole pattern (18BH).

1042 Wilmington Way

Emerald Hills CA 94062

ed@isaaks.com

Phone 650-369-7069

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Isaaks & Co
Specialists in Spatial Statistics

Figure 25: Recovery statistics for the 17.5 x 17.5 x 25 ft. blast hole pattern (18BH).

Figure 16: Recovery statistics for the 20 x 20 x 25 ft. blast hole pattern (18BH).

1042 Wilmington Way

Emerald Hills CA 94062

ed@isaaks.com

Phone 650-369-7069

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Isaaks & Co
Specialists in Spatial Statistics

Figure 17: Recovery statistics for the 25 x 25 x 25 ft. blast hole pattern (18BH).

Au Blast Hole Variogram Model

Figure 1-1: Variogram model parameters for Au. Note the azimuth of the longest range of the second
structure corresponds very nicely with the Az=130 degree trend seen in Figures 2 and 3.

1042 Wilmington Way

Emerald Hills CA 94062

ed@isaaks.com

Phone 650-369-7069

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Isaaks & Co
Specialists in Spatial Statistics
Au Normal Scores Blast Hole Variogram Model

Reference
Isaaks, E.H. 2004, The Kriging Oxymoron: conditionally unbiased and accurate prediction ( 2nd
Edition), in proceedings of the 2004 Geostat Congress, Banff, Alberta. (download from
www.isaaks.com).

Since this study was done, Isaaks and Co. has upgraded the methodology to multi-variate
capability. For example, suppose the ore types for a particular operation are based on
total gold, soluble gold, soluble copper, sulfide sulfur, and organic carbon assays. For
such a mining operation, the study must be done by jointly simulating all of the input
variables described above. Isaaks & Co has found that the MAF or the Min/Max
Autocorrelation Factor method provides excellent results.

1042 Wilmington Way

Emerald Hills CA 94062

ed@isaaks.com

Phone 650-369-7069

26