This book addresses the practice of geostatistical simulation to evaluation of mineral reserves, prediction of recovered tonnages and mineral grades and the impact of mining dilution. Such prediction is absolutely critical for mine planning and investment decisions, yet it cannot be made on maps directly interpolated from present data. Various dilution factors need to be introduced to account for - the support effect: mining unit volumes are vastly different from composite data unit volumes - the information effect: future selection of ore/waste will be based on vastly different data than that presently available. Geostatistical simulations allow a rigorous evaluation of these effects on reserves recovery. These stochastic simulations have the potential to be for the mining industry what a wind tunnel is for aircraft design. This book is written by two expert geostatisticians--Journel is the pioneer of mining geostatistics--and established academics.

First published in 1978, this book was the first complete reference work on the subject of mining geostatistics, an attempt to synthesize the practical experience gained by researchers from the Centre de Morphologie Mathematique in France and by mining engineers and geologists all over the world who contributed their ideas. It was designed for students and engineers who wished to apply geostatistics to practical problems occurring in the lifetime of a mine and for this reason was built around typical problems, progressing from the simplest to the most complicated: structural analysis, guiding exploration, estimation of in situ resources and recoverable reserves, numerical models of deposits, simulation of mining and homogenization processes, ore grade control in production. The techniques developed are illustrated by a large number of case studies and, as an aid to the reader, each chapter begins with a summary of the contents and there is a guide to the notation used. "The book is a practical treatise, written by practicing mining engineers and intended for other practicing engineers . the best summary of geostatistical theory as it stands at the present time and as one of the standard reference texts for the next few years." Mining Magazine "This is the book for which so many of us have been waiting: a practical, authoritative and scholarly work on geostatistics applied to mining. It is well written, well illustrated and usable both as a textbook for advanced students of mining geology and as a reference book for professionals.. Altogether a good book, the best available on the subject." C. J. Dixon in IMM Bulletin