Isaaks & Co

Specialists in Spatial Statistics

What Your Boss Expects You to Know

About Grade Control
Grade control is a general term for the digging and loading of ore and waste at the time of
mining. It should be obvious that the mining of ore and waste is not without error. For
example, a truckload of material mined as ore and sent to the mill will often contain
significant quantities of waste (dilution). Thus, we have waste being processed by the mill.
The problem with dilution is that the waste doesn’t contain sufficient metal to pay for the
mill process. Furthermore, the “waste” has replaced material that theoretically could have
been ore. Thus, actual mill revenue will be less than it would have been if the waste were
replaced with ore. This loss of revenue is known as “opportunity lost”. Similarly, ore
transported to the waste dump is known as ore loss which always reduces revenue.

Thus, it should be apparent that the objective of grade control design is the minimization of
ore loss and dilution. One could argue that a complete grade control design should begin
with checks on blast hole sampling and QA/QC checks on laboratory results etc. However,
if you review various mining papers and monographs you will find no shortage of articles on
QA/QC, etc. so I’ve skipped additional discussion on the subject.

The remainder of this post is instructional as it contains everything you need to know to
keep your boss happy.

1. Optimum Blast Hole Grid Spacing

Initially, the distance between blast holes in your grid should be checked for bringing about
excessive costs. You want a blast grid that minimizes the combined cost of ore loss, dilution,
and the drilling of blast holes. Figure 1 shows an example of the drilling, ore loss, and
dilution costs for several blast grids with grid spacings ranging from 10x10x25 to 25x25x25
units. Note that the total drilling costs drop rather quickly as the distance between blast holes
increases whereas the total ore loss and dilution costs (misclassification costs) increase with
increasing distances between blast holes.

Figure 1: Ore loss and blast hole drilling costs for blast grids with interval distances ranging from 10 x 10 to
25 x 25 units. Note that in this case the 12.5 by 12.5 unit grid provides the minimum combined cost of drilling,
ore loss, and dilution. This makes it the optimum grid design.

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The algorithm used to design an optimum blast grid is quite simple. Figure 2 shows an
example of a basic data configuration used by the grid design algorithm

Figure 2: This is an example of a basic data configuration used to design the optimum blast grid. The yellow
square represents a single ore control block, say 10.0 x 10.0 units. The green points inside the block are block
discretization points. The orange points in and around the ore control block are blast hole locations. Both the
green and orange data locations are used for kriging and simulation.

The design of an optimum blast grid requires two variogram models: one for ordinary
kriging and one for conditional simulation. Experience suggests one should retain an area
containing approximately 49,000 blast holes for variogram calculations and for the
simulation of thousands of data configurations. The total recommended number of simulated
data configurations should be approximately 500,000.

Values are simulated at the discretization points and blast hole locations within each data
configuration. The simulated values are then back-transformed at all discretization and blast
hole locations. A kriged block grade is computed at each block discretization point by
application of the kriging weights. A simulated block grade is also obtained by averaging the
simulated values located at the block discretization points.

Note that the simulation of values at each of the 500,000 data configurations is un-
conditional. In other words, the actual 49,000 blast hole values are not used directly to
condition the simulation. However, by back transforming all unconditional simulated values
through the global normal scores cumulative distribution obtained from the 49,000 blast
holes, the back-transformed values at the discretization points contained by the 500,000
blocks reproduce the statistics of the 49,000 actual blast hole grades. Figure 3A and 3B
show results for two different blast grid designs.

Note the main difference in the revenue resulting from each grid. The 15x15 unit grid design
provided a total revenue of 310,000 dollars while the 20x20 unit grid generated 315,035
dollars, and increase of 2%. The 15x15 unit grid design is also characterized by a
considerable increase in ore loss and dilution.

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Figure 3: Examples showing results for a 15x15 unit grid design versus a 20x20 unit grid design.

2. Selectivity

The degree of selectivity at the time of mining is another check that should be done. Simply
run the blast hole grid optimizer with different SMU sizes but with same blast hole grid
design.
The size of the selective mining unit (SMU) should be such that ore loss and dilution are
minimized. Remember that the rate of ore loss and dilution are functions of SMU size.
Generally, the rates of ore loss and dilution increase with the size of the SMU. Thus, the goal
of this section is to calculate ore loss and dilution statistics for your current SMU and for the
optimum SMU. This will enable you to compare your current ore loss and dilution statistics
to those of the optimum SMU and decide whether to remain with your current SMU or
change to the optimum SMU.

3. Variography

Blast hole variography should be done by computing and modeling directional sample
variograms in 37 different directions. Sage2001 is an excellent choice for this. Note that 25
of the 37 directional sample variograms will have a vertical component which will be
important if the patterns of mineralization have vertical trends. The variogram models will
likely be composed of a nugget and two nested structures. Each nested structure may have
its own anisotropic orientation and anisotropy ratios. This flexibility enables the variogram
model to identify and follow convoluted mineralization trends which may exist in your
deposit.

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There are several algorithms for calculating directional sample variograms. For example, the
traditional, the pairwise relative, the correlogram and the indicator algorithms all calculate
sample variograms. There are others, but these 4 are the most common. The 3 alternatives to
the traditional sample variogram were developed to overcome problems caused by the
presence of trends in blast hole or drill hole composite data. Geostatistics is based on the
Random Function model with some rather restrictive limitations. First, the expected value of
the random function must be stationary. In other words, a trend in the mean is not allowed.
Second, the variance of the increment between data pairs must also be stationary. Thus, the
variogram model for a nonstationary random function is not defined and any attempt to
apply such a model to kriging or conditional simulation, will provide undefined or
meaningless results.
Fortunately, the correlogram can be used to estimate the continuity of a spatially distributed
attribute whether or not trends are present. If a trend in the mean or variance is present, the
correlogram will filter the trends and estimate the spatial continuity of the residuals. When
no trends are present, the correlogram estimates are similar to the standardized traditional
variogram estimator. Experience shows that the correlogram provides excellent results
whether or not a trend is present in the original spatially distributed attribute. You can’t go
wrong with the correlogram. The correlogram is one of several sample variogram estimators
provided by SAGE2001.

4. The Ore Control Block Model

If you are going to estimate block grades with Ordinary Kriging you will have to put
together a kriging plan. A kriging plan contains all the parameters that define how kriging
will be done. This includes things like the variogram parameters, the sample search
anisotropy and orientation, octant search, minimum and maximum number of samples per
estimate and other requirements like max distance of closest sample, etc. One search
strategy that may be useful is known as “Outlier Restricted Kriging”. This method uses two
search neighborhoods with one inner search neighborhood being much smaller than an outer
larger search neighborhood. If an outlier sample is found outside of the inner search
neighborhood but inside the outer, it is capped to some moderate or mean value for
estimation. However, if the outlier is located within the inner search neighborhood, its
uncapped value is used for estimating the block grade.

Outlier Restricted Kriging is useful for deposits that contain legitimate outliers. Often,
legitimate outliers have a short range of influence, but they are real. In such cases, the inner
search neighborhood can be used to restrict the interpolation distance of the high grade
outliers thereby limiting the spread of the high grade material.

Another useful addition to the kriging algorithm is “Local Anisotropy Kriging” or LAK.
This addition is extremely effective where you have unpredictable local patterns of
mineralization hosted by fault or vein zones for example. Figures 4 and 5 show two
examples of LAK models.

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Figure 4: A cross section through a mineralized fault zone. Note the pinching and swelling of the ore zone along
the fault. This makes it very difficult to model using standard estimation techniques unless you are willing to dilute
the ore with significant quantities of waste. The ore control block model shown in this section was estimated using
local anisotropy kriging. Zoom in and see the excellent correspondence between the blast hole and block grade
classes.

Figure 5: Each ellipse is an anisotropic search neighborhood centered on an ore control block.The ellipsoids
have been reduced in size to avoid overlap. No domains or zone boundaries were used to orient the search
neighborhoods, only LAK.

5. Correcting Conditional Bias

Block estimates are checked for conditional bias by cross validation. Cross validation is an
exercise where the grade of each sample or blast hole is estimated using the same kriging
plan used to estimate the OCM block grades. However, the grade of the sample being cross
validated is removed for the cross validation estimation. Thus, at the completion of cross
validation one has two grades for each blast hole sample. One grade is the actual blast hole
grade and the other is it’s cross validated grade. This enables a check for conditional bias.
The check is done by constructing a X-Y scatterplot with the cross validated grades plotted
on the X-axis and the actual sample grade plotted on the Y-axis. This is followed by a linear
regression of the form Y = a + b*X where ‘‘a’’ is the intercept and “b” is the slope of the
regression line. If “a” is zero and “b” is one, then the estimates are conditionally unbiased
which means that the predicted tonnes and grade above any cutoff are unbiased. Thus, when
the same estimator (kriging plan) is applied to the OCM blocks, the estimated in-situ tonnes
and grade above cutoff are unbiased.

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However, if the cross-validation intercept “a” is not zero and the slope “b” is not one, then
the estimated block grades are conditionally biased.

Fortunately, the conditional bias can be removed by post processing the block grades
using the cross validation values of “a” and “b”. A scatterplot containing cross validated
values of gold is shown in Figure 6. The calculations for making the actual CV correction
are given immediately below Figure 6. This is a sound mathematical correction and is not
based on any assumptions. It is straight forward and simple to apply.

Figure 6: A diagrammatic illustration of the cross validation correction for conditonal bias. The actual
calculations follow.

AU = a + b * AU where a and b are found by regression. AU are the conditionally biased

blast hole grades.

AU = AU where AU are the unbiased regressed blast hole grades.

thus, AU = a + b * AU where AU are conditionally unbiased blast hole grades.

Note that if all discretization points within a block are conditionally unbiased, then the
block grade will also be conditionally unbiased.

6. Change of Support and Grade Tonnage Curves

If you have completed steps 1 to 5 you should have a near perfect conditionally unbiased
ore control block model. Given that the ore control block model is conditionally
unbiased, the model grade tonnage curve will provide accurate in situ tonnes and grade
above any cutoff that will be available for mining at the time of mining. Thus, mine to
mill reconciliation summaries should be as good as can be. But you may still have a
problem with your resource model grade tonnage curve. However, this is another subject

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which I will be writing about. Getting a good resource model grade tonnage curve is not
an exact science and can be a bit tricky.
7. Optimum Dig Line Design

If you are still designing dig lines using something other than geoDigger, I have news for
you. First, sub optimal dig line design is costing you a bundle. Remember, both dilution
and ore loss reduce revenue. Optimum dig lines are designed so that ore loss and dilution
are minimized. It’s a tricky procedure, but geoDigger has been used by many major
mining companies for designing optimum dig lines for many years. Some of the
companies that use geoDigger are shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Some geoDigger Users

Key geoDigger features include
1. Increases net revenue by minimizing the misclassification of ore control blocks
within dig line polygons;
2. geoDigger dig lines are industry compatible standard point polygons in .csv
format, and are easily imported into MineSight, Vulcan, Surpac, etc;
3. Ore type rules are defined by user as a series of “if-then-else” statements and are
easily adjusted to changing economic or deposit conditions;
4. Adjustable minimum mining widths accommodate various equipment sizes and
degrees of selectivity;
5. And a variable digging direction is easily made compatibile with geology and/or a
mine plan.

Figure 8 shows examples of geoDigger with variable digging directions and minimum
mining widths.

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Figure 8: Example geoDigger digging directions and variable minimum mining widths.

Clients using geoDigger report net revenue increases generally between 2% and 7%. One
exceptional case reported 17%.

8. Modeling Blast Movement

Modeling blast movement is the most overlooked step of grade

control and it’s likely because the solution is not simple.
Unfortunately blast movement can be, and often is the largest
source of ore loss and dilution in grade control. However, with the
advent of MBM -- a new software product for Modeling Blast
Movement -- ore loss and dilution are no longer the curse of grade
control blasting.

Modeling blast movement is based on the stochastic simulation of block movements

conditional to the blast initiation sequence and constrained by topographical survey data. The
process is as follows:
• Initially, the ore control block model is sub-blocked into unit cubes or voxels. Each
voxel inherits data values from the parent block.
• Each voxel is assigned a normal distribution of possible movement distances
conditional to the pre-blast position of the voxel. For example, in the case of the D-
bulge where mid bench voxels move greater distances than top or bottom voxels,
voxels near the bench top and bottom are given normal distributions with relatively
small means and variance. Voxels near mid bench are given normal distributions with
larger means and variances. Other global patterns of blast movement are possible by
simply customizing the voxel normal istributions.
• Movement directions for each voxel are defined using detonation time contours from
the blast hole initiation sequence. The inidtial blast movement directions are
perpendicular to the contour lines. A random angle is added to each perpendicular
direction to simulate actual directions of movement
• A post blast envelope is defined by projecting topographical survey data to the
interior of a surface polygon defined by the survey limits of post-blast material. A
swell factor is calculated by comparing the volume of the post blast envelope to that
of the pre-blast ore control model.
• Blast movement is simulated by moving the pre-blast voxels conditional to their
movement direction and to movement distances randomly drawn from each voxel’s

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normal distribution. The swell factor is applied to each post blast voxel. The order of
moving the pre-blast voxels follows the order of the blast initiation sequence.
Simulated voxel movements are constrained to locations within the post blast
envelope. The post-blast voxels provide a post blast block model which other blast
movement methods do not provide. Note that the post blast voxels preserve the tonnes
and grade of the initial ore control model exactly. The best other methods can provide
is a post blast pile of rubble without a block grid (no blocks).
.

9. Post Blast Diglines

Given a post blast block model, one can re-design optimum dig lines over the post blast
muck pile using geoDigger. For example, the dig lines shown in Figure 10 were designed on
post-blast blocks.

Reduction in ore loss and dilution will vary depending on blast movement distances and the
complexity of ore type boundaries, however one can expect that modeling blast movement
will likely increase net revenue between 5 and 15%.

10. What Your Boss Likely Wants You to Do

Hi. My name is Edward Isaaks, PhD Geostatistics, Stanford University. I

have seen many grade control designs over the years and often thought there
must be better way to minimize ore loss and dilution at the time of mining.
For example, when the shovel loads a truck with ore or waste, the location of
the ore/waste contacts must be visible and accurately located. The shovel
operator has no other way of knowing where and what to dig. So if you
can’t provide accurate diggable boundaries for the shovel operator, he will be
sending a mess to the mill and/or waste dump.

I have put together this post to help you design a grade control procedure that minimizes ore
loss and dilution, thereby maximizing revenue. If desired, I am available to provide
consulting services to help you in this effort. The goal will be to bring you up to speed with
optimum grade control design and the use of all software. It’s called “Technology Transfer”.
Call me at 650-703-4491 or send email to ed@isaaks.com. Thank you.