3D modeling and reserve evaluation of Yazd, Dareh-Zereshk copper deposit using geometric and geostatistical estimation methods

In the present research, to fully recognize the Yazd, Darreh-Zereshk copper deposit, 3-D multiple-log of the boreholes lithology, cross-sections of lithology and assay data corresponding to profiles covering the whole area and 3-D lithology model of the deposit were plotted using Rockworks software. Based on this, limestone, skarns, sandstone, diorite, granodiorite, quartzite and monzonite perform the dominant lithology of the region and the surface of the area is mostly covered by overburden, shale and lime. Depending on the deposit conditions, to estimate the deposit reserve, inverse distance squared method as a geometric method and geostatistical kriging method were used through Surpac software. According to the deposit variography using WinGslib software, the deposit has geometric anisotropy and maximum range of 130 m with azimuth zero, mean range of 100 m with azimuth 90 and minimum range of 40 m on the vertical direction with azimuth zero. After geometric modeling and producing block model of the deposit, the reserve was estimated for cut-off grades of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5% copper as well as their results were compared. The results of the reserve calculation show that the difference of the calculated reserves with applied methods is relatively high, i.e. for cut-off grade of 0.1% is about 1547600 tones or 5.7%. Although, inverse distance squared method is the most accurate method among the geometric methods of reserve estimation, geostatistical kriging method considering spatial structure of the region, being unbiased and having minimum estimation variance is more accurate with higher degree of validity.