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Channel Sampling: Channel Sampling Is Laborious, Tedious, Time Consuming and Expensive

This document discusses various sampling methods used for mineral deposits, including channel sampling, chip sampling, grab sampling, bulk sampling, and diamond drill sampling. It provides details on how each method works and when each is best applied depending on the type and distribution of mineralization. The document also covers important considerations for grade and tonnage estimation such as cutoff grades, sampling density, assaying, minimum mining widths, and dilution. Estimation of mineral resources and reserves requires determining both the quantity and quality of mineralized material.

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256 views

Channel Sampling: Channel Sampling Is Laborious, Tedious, Time Consuming and Expensive

This document discusses various sampling methods used for mineral deposits, including channel sampling, chip sampling, grab sampling, bulk sampling, and diamond drill sampling. It provides details on how each method works and when each is best applied depending on the type and distribution of mineralization. The document also covers important considerations for grade and tonnage estimation such as cutoff grades, sampling density, assaying, minimum mining widths, and dilution. Estimation of mineral resources and reserves requires determining both the quantity and quality of mineralized material.

Uploaded by

lovely
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Channel Sampling

(1) Channel sampling, (2) chip sampling,


(3) grab sampling, (4) bulk sampling

Channel Sampling
• Consist of cuttings collected from a groove cut into the rock about
• suitable for uniformly distributed mineralization in the form of veins, stringers
and disseminations
• A linear horizontal channel is cut between two marked lines at a uniform width
and depth
• The width is generally 5-10 cm at a depth of 1-2 mm.
• provides the most accurate sample

Chip sampling,
• Used when the rock is too hard to channel sample economically
• small chips are flaked off at regular grid interval over the entire face
• The sample is representative of variations in the rock hardness and type.
• useful in preliminary evaluations, but it should not be used for quantitative
ore-reserve calculations
• better alternative if the mineralization is irregularly distributed or
disseminated and not easily recognized by necked eye
• Channel sampling is laborious, tedious, time consuming and expensive
compared to chip sampling. Chip sampling is preferred for low-cost fast
sampling, identification of mineralized contacts and quick evaluation of grade
of the area.
Face sampling
• The entire face chipped off
• It is suitable when ore body is highly sporadic and there is any presence of gem
materials
Grab Sampling
• a fast method for double checking either channel or chip sampling
procedures
• Takes equal amounts of material at selected intervals from a mine dump, a
muck pile, cars, chutes or skips.
• Generally, done unsystematically, thus not considered as reliable one
• If samples are taken very carefully and scientifically, it will give accurate
results and even mine production can be estimated
• If each sampler is consciously aware of every variable that can affect grab
sampling, the reliability of the method increases
Bulk Sampling
• Bulk sample is composed of large volume of material (100- 1000 tonnes)
representing all the distinctive characters of entire orebody with respect to
metal grade and mineral distribution
• The best collection equipment will be shovels due to handling of large volume.
• The total material is mixed thoroughly to reduce the heterogeneity. The
sample is used for developing beneficiation flow sheet for optimum uses of
reagents and maximizing the recovery efficiency.
• Mainly taken for metallurgical testing or to improve sample accuracy in
deposits such as epithermal gold deposits
Diamond Drill Sampling
Half of the core is sent out for assay and the remaining half logged by a geologist
and stored for reference. Samples are usually collected at constant intervals down
the length of the core.
Shorter intervals for highly mineralized areas or veins.
Parts of the core are not split or assayed, if they are barren, or without visible
evidence of mineralization

Quality assurance and quality control


The original versus respective new assay values from the laboratory are plotted on a
graph. The plot must show a remarkable degree of correlation at high confidence (r2)
level. If the check assay results are lying in the acceptable range of the standard
deviation or within less than 5% variation from the mean value at 95% level of
significance, then the assay results are captured in the main assay database. The file
turns into “Stable Database”
 Mineral resources and ore reserves are defined by two parameters
The quantity (tonnage) and quality (grade of elements) of in situ concentration

Estimation of quality – grade


The average grade of an ore deposit or of a specific block within a deposit is based
on assays of samples collected within the block or deposit
Sample collection, preparation, and analysis are often the most critical operations
1. Cutoff Grade
The cutoff grade is the minimum ore grade that can be mined at a profit under
economic conditions existing at a particular point in time
It changes with the complexity of mineral distribution, method of mining, rate
of production, metallurgical recovery, cost of production, royalty, taxes and
finally the commodity price in international market
2. Sampling.
Sampling of an ore deposit is a process of approximation that most closely
represents the true average value for the body in question.
In the case of a very well sampled block of ore from a vein-type deposit, the
actual sample volume may represent only about 0.25% of the block. In the
sampling of a porphyry copper deposit by diamond drilling, the sample volume
may constitute only about 0.004% of the orebody
3. Assay
To analyze the proportions of metals in an ore; to test an ore or mineral for
composition, purity, weight, or other properties of commercial interest.
4. Minimum Width
Mining of ore, by open-pit and underground methods, requires minimum
width of the orebody for technical reasons
5. Cutting Factors- an arbitrary upper limit marker value in the ore reserve
estimation
Many of the base metal (Cu, Pb) and the majority of the precious metal (Au,
Ag, Pt, Pd) deposits show occasional or frequent high sample values. These
values are considered to be erratic and designated as nugget value. Any
individual assay value, greater than the cutting factor, is reduced to the later
before computation of average grade to reduce the nugget effect.
6. Average Grade
The average grade of an intersection along a trench, borehole, underground
workings, cross- and long section, level plan, individual orebody, total deposit,
national and global resources and reserves is computed
a. Composite grade of channel, borehole intersection

l = length of sample
g = grade of sample
Exercise: A diamond drill hole has been sampled (Fig. 8.2 and Table 8.1) as
given below. Calculate the average grade of the intersection at 3% Zn cutoff
b. Average grade of section, plan, orebody, deposit, national and global
7. Run of mine (ROM) grade
Average grade of ore produced from a mine or final quality of ore coming out
of the mine or mine head
Tonnage Determination
a. Volume Calculation
The unit of measurement is tonne (unit in metric system i.e. 1,000 kg).
“Influence” of third dimension is the thickness of horizontal deposit like
coal seam, bauxite, placer deposits or drill section interval for base metal
deposits.
Sp. Gr= specific gravity, bulk density and tonnage factor, though not truly
synonymous, is used in computation of tonnes

b. Tonnage Factor Calculation.


The tonnage factor provides the mechanism for the conversion from
volume of ore to weight of ore.
In the metric system, the tonnage factor is the specific gravity of the ore
Probably the most accurate method of determining specific gravity of an
ore is to calculate an average specific gravity using the specific gravities of
individual minerals ,provided the relative percentages of ore minerals
present are accurately known.

For example, if a massive sulfide ore is 10% galena, 35% sphalerite, and
55% pyrite, the specific gravity would be:
7.6 * 0.10 = 0.76
4.1 * 0.35 = 1.44
5.0 * 0.55 = 2.75
4.95 = sp gr of ore

If the ore volume has been computed in cubic meters, the volume multiplied by
the specific gravity is the tonnage in metric tons directly
Engineering Considerations
a. Dilution.
Dilution is the unavoidable extraction of barren or below cutoff grade
material along with the ore

CONVENTIONAL RESOURCE/RESERVE ESTIMATION

1. Triangular
2. Polygonal
3. Cross-section
4. Longitudinal Vertical Section
5. Level plan
6. Mining Block method

Two basic principles:


1) Samples taken close to each other are likely to have the same value.
2) Average grades are calculated using some form of a weighted average:

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