Abstract

GOVINDSAMMY, V.. The practical implementation of uniform conditioning at AngloGold Ashanti African Operations, and a case study as applied for potential underground mining at Nyankanga pit, Geita gold mine, Tanzania. J. S. Afr. Inst. Min. Metall. [online]. 2016, vol.116, n.7, pp.621-628. ISSN 2411-9717.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2411-9717/2016/v116n7a3.

The use of uniform conditioning (UC) as an estimation technique to produce robust recoverable resource models has been implemented across various operations within the AGA Continental Africa Region. This paper outlines the relevance of using UC as an estimation technique to provide a robust estimate for use in underground mine planning and published Mineral Resource statements. The change-of-support model forms the basis on which planning and financial decisions are made, and it is therefore imperative that appropriate validations and checks against 'reality' are carried out prior to implementation. The process and validation techniques employed for UC will be discussed using a case study from the Nyankanga orebody at Geita gold mine in Tanzania. The deeper portions of the orebody constitute potential underground mining areas, and by using appropriate reconciliations it can be shown that the UC model, in spite of the inherent lack of local spatial accuracy, can be used to estimate the potential underground stopes with a lower error of estimation than other techniques.

Keywords : discrete Gaussian model; selective mining unit; dispersion variance; population variance; block support correction; information effect.

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