Geological Modelling

Jon Barber - Vice President, Minex, - Gemcom Software International Inc.

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Gemcom Minex and the Corporate Database J. Barber


Copyright 2011 Gemcom Software International Inc. Page 2 of 8


Abstract
This white paper discusses the meaning and generation of a geological model. The emphasis is on gridded
seam models which are commonly used in coal.
Mining companies make investment and production decisions based on their understanding of the deposit
geology. This geology is usually represented by a model. In the distant past the model was a set of hand
drawn sections and plans. Today computers allow us to build those models electronically, and view them in
3D, section or plan. The mine planning software industry generally uses two types of models:
Block models- These represent the deposit as a series of cubes of fixed or variable size. Block models are
ideal for massive deposits such as copper, gold or iron ore. The block is located in space with an XYZ
coordinate system and attributes of the block store mineral information (e.g. percent Fe, grams Au).
Gridded models- These models represent the deposit as a series of layers. Gridded models are ideal for
layered deposits such as coal, bauxite, laterites and phosphate. This paper is primarily focused on the
gridded model although some comments are common to both gridded and block models.
Gridded Models
Typically exploration drilling provides data values Z, at irregularly locations in X and Y space. The process of
gridding uses these irregularly spaced data values to create or estimate grid values on a regular spacing.
The imaginary grid is usually square but can be rectangular. The size of the grid cells should reflect the data
distribution. In Figure 1 the data is spaced at 90 metres and 130 metres and a grid cell size of 25m has been
selected. Typically grid cells should be
1
/
4
to
1
/
5
of the data spacing.

Figure 1: Typical grid spacing.
The estimation of the Z grid values from irregular data values forms the body of this paper.
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Modelling Algorithms
Minex provides three algorithms for estimating the grid values from the data values. These are:
- Distance weighting.
- Kriging (although not discussed in this version of paper).
- General or growth modelling.
Distance weighting methods assume an interpolated grid point value will be most influenced by the nearest
data point and more distant data points will have less influence on determining the interpolated grid value.
The most common distance weighting method is inverse distance squared. ID2 assigns values to a mesh
node based on the inverse distance squared of the data point to the mesh node. The power factor can be
varied by the user but is frequently squared (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Inverse Distance method.
One feature of inverse distance weighting is that the value of a grid point is bounded by the values of the
data used to estimate that point. Thus if the seam ash is between 10 and 20 the grid values using inverse
distance can only fall between 10 and 20. This effect can be viewed positively as it is conservative, but it can
also be considered as a negative as it wont highlight data trends.
In Figure 2, five data values 0,100,1000,100,100 (A,B,C,D,E) have been used to create a grid at 25m
centres using inverse distance squared. Three points are significant:
Unless a grid cell falls exactly on a data point then the model has difficultly honouring the data. This is
apparent at point C.
Between data points (e.g. B and C) the weights assigned to the data values cause the resultant grid down
below 100. Between points B and C this averaging is caused by the downward influence of point A and D.
If inverse distance is used to generate a model outside the data then the model will trend to the average of
the data values.

Figure 2: Inverse distance weighting models tend to the average.
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Copyright 2011 Gemcom Software International Inc. Page 4 of 8


SMG Growth Method
The growth method is a two stage process. Stage 1 surrounds the data with four grid mesh points. In stage 2
the data is discarded and the grid mesh grows outwards to fill in the remaining grid mesh cells. The growth
method is based on a technique used by IBM in the STAMPEDE1 planning software and described by
Batcha and Reese. They describe stage 1 as follows:
to determine the mesh point values of a square containing one or more data points, the centroid of these
data points is first determined. If only one data point falls within a square, the data point is the centroid). Next
a plane is established passing through the centroid. To establish this plane, values of surrounding data
points are taken into consideration. The technique involves searching out the nearest data point falling within
each of eight equal sectors around the centroid.
These data points are then used in a least squares fit to determine a plane passing exactly through the
centroid. The weighting of the selected data point values is such that the closer the data point to the
centroid, the greater the weight in the least squares fit. The value of the plane at each of the four mesh
points of the grid square is taken to be the value at that particular mesh point.
(1) STAMPEDE Surface Techniques, Annotation and Mapping Programs for Exploration Development and
Engineering
Figure 3 shows a set of data points in red with the first pass nodes coloured in blue.

Figure 3: First pass of the growth method surrounds the data with grid nodes.
Stage 1 uses a sextodecimo (16 sectors) search to estimate the stage 1 nodes. In Figure 4 assuming one
point per sector the top right and lower left points (marked x) are excluded when determining the plane for
the point at the sector centre.

Figure 4: Sextodecimo sector search to determine stage 1 nodes, data
points ticked are used if search is limited to one point per sector.
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The Minex growth algorithm has been implemented with a limit of points per sector (defaults to 3). This
avoids unnecessary searching to find points. In forming the stage 1 nodes search or scan distance is critical.
In Figure 4 the scan distance of R collects points from all sectors to estimate the plane around the centre of
the search. If the scan were reduced to R then determining a value at the top of Figure 4 would not use
points at the bottom of Figure 4. Scan distance needs to balance the conflicting aims of infilling the model
but not mixing populations. If the data at the top and base of Figure 4 is a single population then the scan
distance should be adequate to bridge this gap.
The second pass of the growth process grows away from these initial four mesh points and progressively fills
in the remaining model. Jones using oil exploration terminology describes the second stage as:
After the nodes around all wells are calculated the wells are removed from further consideration. The
program then makes a series of passes over the grid. At each pass it calculates values for any grid nodes
that have not been assigned a value and that are adjacent to an assigned node. In other words, each
iteration enlarges the calculated region around the original well locations.
The stage 2 process is also described by Crain as follows:
The second stage fills in the remaining mesh points. These are calculated by taking the average of two
planes (a secant plane and a tangent plane) calculated at each grid intersection. The secant plane is
calculated in a manner analogous to the first stage. The tangent plane is produced by a first order finite
difference equation. This generation proceeds outwards from the known mesh values of stage one.
The Minex implementation is very similar although the secant plane is usually described as interpolation and
the tangent plane as extrapolation. In Figure 5 the secant plane is generated for point X by using the nodes
that match the searching parameters (coloured green in Figure 5). A hardwired control also affects the
secant plane. Nodes must exist in at least three of the sectors to generate the secant plane. As with stage 1
the weights of the nodes is based on distance to build a least squares plane. However if there are 5 or less
points available to estimate the secant plane then an inverse distance weighted average estimate is used in
lieu of a least squares estimate.

Figure 5: Generation of secant planes for point X during stage 2 is controlled by green nodes
(assuming for clarity one point per sector).
As the secants planes bridge across the void between stage 1 nodes, they do not reflect the gradient or
trend of the data. This gradient or trend is supplied by the tangent planes. The tangent plane is determined
by only using the local nodes. In Figure 6 the yellow nodes determine the tangent plane. A first order partial
differentiation equation is used to determine the tangent value. This is determined from triangles formed at
the surrounding 4 mesh points at the node to be estimated. In Figure 6 two triangles will used to calculate a
tangent value at node X. If no triangles can be formed due to a lack of node values then only the secant
value is used as the estimated value.
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Generally however two estimates of node X are available a secant value and a tangent value. In Batcha and
Reeses implementation X is assigned the average of the tangent and secant planes. The Minex
implementation allows the user to control the weight assigned to the extrapolation (tangent) estimate. By
default the weighting is 2/3 interpolation or secant and 1/3 extrapolation or tangent. In Minex the user can
disable the extrapolation estimate; this will tend to flatten the model between data points. With extrapolation
on the user may override the default weight ratio of 2/3:1/3 although the ratio can only increase to 0.5:0.5
(secant : tangent).

Figure 6: Yellow points are used in determining tangent planes for node X.
Unlike inverse distance methods the growth method can generate values that exceed the data values. This
occurs for two reasons:
1. In stage 1 the plane around each data point is built from the surrounding data and can thus generate
a node greater than or less than the data values.
2. The tangent plane or extrapolation component of stage 2 as it grows form a local trend.
This point is illustrated in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Growth Method used to model data from Figure 2.
The growth method is often explained in Minex marketing using a simplified section view. These sections are
presented in Appendix A.
References
1. BATCHA, J.B. and REESE J.R. 1964. Surface determination and automatic contouring for mineral
exploration extraction and processing. Colorado School of Minex Quarterly, 59: 1-14.
2. CRAIN I.K 1970. Computer interpolation and contouring of two dimensional data a review.
Geoexploration 8: 71-86.
3. JONES T.A., HAMILTON D.E. and JOHNSON C.R. Contouring Geologic Surfaces with the
computer. 1986 Van Nostrand Reinhold Company.
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This document gives only a general description of products and services and except where expressly provided otherwise shall not
form part of any contract. Changes may be made in products or services at any time without notice. Copyright 2011, Gemcom
Software International Inc. Gemcom, the Gemcom logo, combinations thereof, and Gemcom Minex are trademarks of Gemcom
Software International Inc. All other names are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of their respective owners.
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