Application of geostatistical analysis methods for assessment of the resource potential of a gold ore deposit

The article presents the results of assessing mineral resources using geostatistical interpolation methods under the influence of local and spatial uncertainty for the Aginskoye gold deposit. This paper presents a case study to support the use of alternative geostatistical methods that use distance/gradient and distance/relative depth variograms to process field geological sampling data. The processes of using two geostatistical methods are described in detail: indicator kriging and sequential indicator modeling. Based on these methods, composites, statistics and variograms were calculated for each zone based on gold samples from exploration wells (PS) and production blast holes (PBH). The model of the recoverable reserves block based on indicator kriging was created on the basis of exploration wells, and the model of the content control block was created on the basis of production blast holes. The recoverable reserves model was calibrated based on the grade control model and data from the mined-out portion of the ore body. The research results can be useful to mining companies for optimizing quarry operations and for quantifying mineral resources.