All stages —from conducting underground or open-pit production excavation in the most efficient way to preparing the extracted ore for processing or sale— fall within the scope of mine geology.
This process includes not only maintaining consistent records and carrying out mapping and sampling, but also tracking the ore and directing excavation activities, all of which are referred to as grade control.
Although detailed data may have been obtained through frequent drilling during the exploration phase, changing conditions during the production phase are inevitable. The most effective method to manage this variability is grade control.
In summary, it is a type of quality control process, starting with advanced exploration and extending to the efficient extraction and stockpiling of the discovered orebody.
With a properly designed grade control process tailored to your ore body and production preferences, you can:
Even if you haven’t explicitly named the process as such, if you are producing ore with inconsistent or informally trained (on-the-job) personnel, you are already implementing grade control in one way or another.
At this point, designing a proper process and minimizing reliance on individual initiative can make a significant difference. Achieving this, however, requires solid experience and expertise.
As production cut-off grades continue to drop due to rising commodity prices, tracking previously uneconomic ore bodies for potential use is becoming increasingly important.
Losses in production efficiency, miscalculations in quality, or unidentified issues in processing and metallurgy departments can lead to delays that are often impossible to recover from.
Keeping the backbone of “Mine Production – Mine Geology – Processing Plant” active and subject to internal cross-auditing provides a major advantage in mitigating potential issues.
In today’s conscious and data-driven mining, mine geology and grade control are indispensable. The budget you allocate to this process will be negligible compared to the value it generates.
Also take a look at the Mining Geology, Unearthing to Mill Reconciliation section in the technical section of the top menu.
