determination of ore domain using distance function and truncated Gaussian simulation, case study Gol gohar iron ore

Determination of ore body domain is the main step in the beginning of a mining project. The mine designing, mining and processing plant planning would be implemented based on this domain. Traditional methods characterize this domain graphically and would not concentrate error and uncertainty, but Geostatistics as a powerful tool is able to determine this domain using spatial statistics. Ore domain is a district variable that can be modeled by different simulation methods, such as Truncated Gaussian simulation (TGS). TGS simulates the domain according to the simulation of one Gaussian function and rock type rule. Furthermore, simple relations can be applied for determination of ore domain, for example, Distance Function (DF). DF defines the ore boundary by the Euclidian distance between each point and the nearest dissimilar point and the distance calibration.
Statistical and geostatistical validations are applied to find the best realization of TGS. The DF and TGS results are compared by assessing confusion matrices, overall error and precision of the modeled domains. Moreover, different plans, and section are qualitatively compared. Validation and comparisons indicate that TGS is a more efficient way to model the ore domain. Therefore, Gol Gohar mine was studied and after the implementation of both methods showed that TGS compared to DF results in more precise domain simulation. TGS algorithm is able to reproduce the small scale anisotropies versus, better results at large scale anisotropies using DF algorithm.
Key words: Geostatistics, Ore Domain, Truncated Gaussian simulation, Distance Function,