Mine Design and Feasibility, Golpu Project - Research Paper Example

A geo-statistical block modeling approach, which is conventional, was employed in the approximation of mineral resources. The records for Wafi, Golpu, and Nambonga comprised of only past drill hole records from 13,617 major boreholes comprising 550,687 assayed gold data. The records for Golpu comprised a subset of a collection of 13617 past major borehole datasets, 4,446 past stope chip samples data and six Claude drilled underground boreholes.The Block grade model was constructed for Golpu and a zone created using a sub-blocking function in Data mine Studio.

The block model was filled with a gold grade in the approximation process. Inside waste produced by barren dikes cutting across the gold mineralization in Wafi-Golpu was assessed by approximating gold grade into two distinct block models by employing diluted and undiluted composite files. The quantity of dike material was approximated by means of a geostatistical approach, hence the creation of two grade blocks (undiluted and diluted). The classification was done and the block model resource approximation was certified by inspecting visually against data informing, contrasting with the nearest neighbor, and estimation by use of inverse distance approximation.

A certain economic threshold for the grade and quantity was a general requirement that was satisfied and put in place by the ‘reasonable prospect for economic extraction’. The mineral resources are presented at a suitable threshold grade, considering the extraction conditions and processing recoveries. Wafi-Golpu project for mineral resources is presented at a threshold grade of 5.0 got gold considering that the material is open for underground extraction. The threshold grade founded on 94% recovery of gold and metallurgical recovery and gold price of about US$ 1,000 for each ounce.

The commercial and technical analysis done by the team in the project was adequate to present a sizeable increase in Ore reserve approximation for Golpe.