Presented by: Olivier Tavchandjian

This course will present the properties and applications of methods of ore reserve estimation with respect to the geological setting of the deposit and the mining approaches to be considered at various stages in the appraisal of a mineral project. Specifically, the course will cover the following topics: data acquisition, data validation, 3D geological modelling, quantifying spatial continuity using the variogram function, variogram modeling, spatial models of grade distribution (polygonal methods, inverse distance, various forms of kriging), uncertainty in grade estimation, assessing smoothing in mineral model and correction methods, introduction to conditional simulations.

Datamine software will be used extensively throughout the course.

Weekly Sessions

1. Objectives/Introduction to ore reserve estimation/presentation of group tutorials
2. Statistical description of a geological database
3. Bivariate analysis of geological data
4. Spatial description of a geological database, variograms
5. Presentations of 1st tutorial (Case studies)
6. Modeling of variogram functions
7. Interpolation methods: linear regresions, inverse distance methods, kriging
8. Anatomy of kriging, dispersion variance
9. Presentations of 2nd tutorial (Case studies)
10. Non-linear geostatistics
11. Introduction to conditional simulations
12. Geostatistics for mine planning and ore reserve estimation
13. Presentations of final tutorial (Case studies)


This course is intended for practicing engineers and geologists faced with challenges associated with ore reserve estimation within metaliferous mines. The content of the course will be of value to those involved in the ore deposit evaluation for underground, open pit, and exploration specialists. Datamine software will be used extensively throughout the course.

The cost of this course will be $995 (GST included), with hands on computer software access and selected case study analysis.

*An earlybird discount rate of $900 is available to those who register prior to December 25, 2002

To register, please click here, or for registration information please email info@mirarco.org.