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Part 7 Drillholes 1
SIDEBARS
An alternative way to calculate drillhole summary statistics.......................................................................... 3
Identifying properties with irregular boundaries ......................................................................................... 6
Revision 2009-05D1
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Revision 2009-05D1
Lesson 1 Preliminary
Drillhole Investigation
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Duration: XX minutes
The geologist in charge of a drilling programme is commonly asked one of
two questions while the programme is under way: how many holes have
been drilled totalling how many metres, and what significant intervals were
intersected? This and the following lessons will teach you the tools needed to
generate both results.
This lesson will teach you to prepare basic summaries of data held in drillhole
databases.
After this lesson you will be able to:
Introduction
As well as displaying data MICROMINE has many functions that manipulate
drillhole data. These functions are located in the Drillhole menu mainly in
the Calculations and Compositing sub-menus.
There are also a number of data manipulation functions, commonly applied
to drilling information, that are located in the File | Fields | menu.
Note that you cannot use any file manipulation functions that create new
values and fields on ODBC or Microsoft Access or GBIS linked files. However,
these linked files can be saved as DATA files prior to use.
Drilling Statistics
In the following exercise youll generate basic drillhole summary statistics,
comprising the number of holes drilled and their total length.
1.
Page 7.1
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
2.
3.
4.
Constant field 1 = CALC. The function reads the file from the top and
performs the action selected in the Extraction type window on
successive records that have the same value in this field.
Extraction type = SUM. This tells the function to calculate the total of
all the numeric fields.
By checking the Use other extraction types and selecting the CALC
field to extract the SUM, the function will total the values in this field,
which equals the number of drillholes in the file. If you are operating on
the whole file (no Filter set) this step is not strictly necessary as the
number of holes in the file will equal the number of records in the file.
This step is used to write the total number of holes in the Output file
so it can be used as required for other reporting purposes.
5.
Run the function and examine the output file, shown here (some fields
have been hidden for clarity):
The fields of interest are TDEPTH, which contains the sum of the drillhole
depths, and CALC, which contains the number of drillholes in the file.
Page 7.2
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
2.
3.
Click the Fields... button, set the Weighting field to INTERVAL and
the first two Field Names to AU1 and AG. There is no need to set Min,
Max, or Cut Values.
4.
Click the Numeric Exceptions button and set all three exceptions.
5.
6.
MICROMINE will calculate and display a range of statistics for each field,
which you can browse by clicking the Next or Previous buttons.
7.
Close the Descriptive Statistics dialog and then right-click the Output
file response. Note the contents of the file, which reproduce the
information originally displayed on the dialog.
Page 7.3
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
In the workplace you should examine the values for each field to determine if
they are within the expected range.
In the next exercise youll display a histogram of the assay data, which will
reveal the statistical distribution of the values.
2.
Set the Input File to EXAMPLE_ASSAY and the Graph field to AU1.
3.
Click the Numeric Exceptions button and set all three exceptions.
4.
Set the Graph type to HISTOGRAM and the Values used to NATURAL
LOG.
5.
Click the Graph Limits button and set the options as listed here:
Prompt
Setting
Graph min:
[Double-click to set]
blank
Bin size:
Graph max:
[Double-click to set]
Graph increment:
blank
6.
Click the Graph Options button set Graph colour and Line colour to
red, the Normal curve colour to green, set all options, set Display
mode to LINE and Line type to SOLID.
7.
Click the Analysis button, select any six Population colours, and set a
contrasting Model colour.
8.
Save the form and Run the function. Your display should resemble the
diagram on the following page.
9.
You can improve the display of NATURAL LOG data by manually setting
the Graph min to the lowest data value (usually the detection limit).
Notice also that from the graphic display a new menu line is displayed at the
top of the screen. The Mode menu allows you to switch between Histogram,
Cumulative Frequency (Cum freq) and Probability Plot (Prob plot) displays.
Page 7.4
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Clicking on the graph will display the Bin number, Min and Max value for the
bin, its Centroid value and the number of Points in the bin within the
Information Box at the right of the screen.
The Model menu option allows you to statistically Decompose the data into
the separate populations that may be contained within it, or to fit a
3 Parameter model to remove bias from NATRAUL LOG values.
A histogram allows you to determine if there is more than one population
within the sample. This in turn requires you to identify the limits of each
population, either geographically of statistically, so each can be modelled
separately for anomaly definition, or for resource calculation.
Further detailed analysis of the distribution of samples is beyond the limits of
this course. For more information on using the histogram, refer to Part 14
Statistical Essentials, which is part of the Advanced Exploration or Block
Modelling course.
Page 7.5
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Open EXAMPLE_COLLAR and apply a filter (Filter | Edit Filter from the
Editor menu) that defines North >= 15880. Be sure to set the Condition
as Numeric.
2.
Click Save and Close to apply the filter, and then select Filter | Use
Filtered Records (or press Ctrl+F4) to restrict the following step to
just the filtered records.
3.
Enter the text NORTH in the first filtered PROPERTY record and press
Ctrl+R to replicate that value to the end of the file. All collars north of
15880 are now marked in the PROPERTY field.
4.
Invert the filter and use the same technique to enter SOUTH into the
remaining PROPERTY records.
Page 7.6
5.
6.
7.
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
8.
Double-click Drillhole Trace in the Vizex Form Sets pane and select
PROSPECTS as the Database. Set up a simple plan trace display using
the EXAMPLE_LITH file, and save it as a form set with the Title
Drillholes by prospect.
Page 7.7
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
15. Repeat the process to define another filter that uses SOUTH as the
Value, and save that as a form set titled South Prospect.
Now that youve defined how the drillholes will be separated into the NORTH
and SOUTH prospects, youll display holes from the individual prospects in
the next exercise.
Page 7.8
1.
2.
Set the Filter checkbox (if it is not already set), double-click the filter
response, and select the North prospect form set.
3.
4.
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Lesson 1 Summary
This lesson has shown you how to use a drillhole database to selectively
display data. A collection of drill data can be grouped or classified in a variety
of ways depending on the outcome required.
The topics covered are:
Using more than one drillhole database definition.
Identifying what data to display.
Define classification values in the collar file.
Setting filters using the classifications.
Displaying different database views.
Filters are only applied to the collar file.
Move between displays by selecting different filters.
Good Practice
Using filters on a database is better practice than trying to maintain separate
collar and other data files for different prospects. There is only one version of
the collar file for a large area.
Areas that are initially recognised as separate prospects can overlap with
further drilling. All that is necessary to reclassify drillholes is to change the
values in the collar file that identify the prospect.
Help Topics
For information on:
See:
Creating a
Drillhole Database
Filtering a
Drillhole Database
Page 7.9
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Lesson 2 Summarising
Drilling Results
Duration: XX minutes
This lesson will teach you to prepare single record and multiple record
summaries from different drillhole files.
Exploration drilling results are commonly manipulated prior to display.
After this lesson youll be able to:
Merge extracted data from assay or geology files back to collar files.
Introduction
The techniques described here are some examples of the calculations and
extractions that can be made using the Drillhole |Calculations |
Extraction function.
This is an extremely versatile function; its use is not confined to drillhole
interval data files but can be used on any suitably sorted file.
Drillhole interval data must be sorted by HOLE ID, then by ascending FROM
values. When Drillhole Extraction is used on a drillhole interval file the HOLE
ID field (e.g. HOLE) is used as Constant field 1. When you run this function
to, say, extract the highest assay in a field for every hole, MICROMINE reads
through every record in the file from the top and finds, for each hole, the
record with the maximum value. When the HOLE ID changes the record with
the highest assay is written to the Output file.
This process is repeated with variations as changes are made to the form. If
a lithology field is selected as Constant field 2 and the function is Run to
extract average values, it will calculate the average grade of each lithology
interval for each hole and write that to the output file.
Special handling is available for character fields. Special handling can also be
applied to individual numeric fields; the function can extract any mix of
extraction types for different fields.
Other data files, such as block model files, can be examined through this
function. If you wanted to extract the top and bottom elevation of columns
of equal sized blocks in order to create a DTM surface you would first sort
the block model by North, East and RL, in that order. Then use North as
Constant field 1, East as Constant field 2 and extract successively the
Maximum and Minimum RL to different files. Now add and subtract half the
block size to the Top and Bottom RL values and use these points to create a
DTM or Grid.
Page 7.10
One-record-per-hole Summaries
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
End-of-hole values
Extracts the record from the bottom sample in each drillhole. Commonly
used to plot Bottom_of_Hole geology from exploration drilling.
Although this is an interval file it is not necessary to enter the From and
To field names.
Page 7.11
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
2.
Run the function and examine the Output file, which will resemble
this:
3.
Notice that record 2 has a blank LITH value. This is caused by a missing
value in the original file.
4.
To overcome this set the filter shown on the following page in the
Drillhole Extraction dialog.
This filter forces the extraction to operate on records that have a LITH value.
This means the value extracted is not the lithology of the bottom of the hole
but rather the last record in each hole with a LITH value.
Page 7.12
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
5.
6.
Save the Drillhole Extraction form as a form set Titled EOH Lith.
Page 7.13
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
2.
Examine the Output file. This extraction writes the complete record
that contains the maximum AU1 value for each hole.
Variations on this extraction could include using the LITH field as Constant
field 2; which would output the maximum AU1 value for each separate
lithology.
3.
Save the Drillhole Extraction form as a form set Titled Max AU1.
The extracted file records may contain coordinates but these will not
correspond to the collar of the associated drillhole. Even vertical holes will
contain elevation differences. In the next exercise youll merge the extracted
information back into the collar file so you can create a plan display showing
the distribution of values.
Open and then Modify the EXAMPLE_COLLAR file to add the following
fields:
BOH_LITH C 10 0
MAX_AU1 N 8 2
Page 7.14
2.
Select Edit | Tools | Merge | MM from the Editor menu, or click the
Merge Menu button followed by MM, to display the Merge dialog, and
fill it out as shown here:
3.
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
4.
Click the Merge button to write the EOH_LITH values to the BOH_LITH
field in the EXAMPLE_COLLAR file.
5.
Repeat the above steps to merge the AU1 value from the
NVG_MAX_AU1 file into the MAX_AU1 field in the EXAMPLE_COLLAR file.
6.
Multiple-records-per-hole
Summaries
Examples of multiple-records-per-hole summaries are:
Simplified lithology
Generates a simplified lithological file from typical field logging in which
logging is carried out at fixed sample intervals, causing long geological
intervals to be repeated over several samples.
Significant intersections
Extracts composited intersections above a specified cut-off or threshold
value. Minimum interval length and inclusion of waste material can be
used to finely control the output.
Gram-metre values
Uses the extracted average grade and accumulated interval length to
calculate a length-grade product.
Page 7.15
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Page 7.16
2.
3.
The geologic fields LITH and ALT will be used to create the lithology log
file. The LITH field contains the rock type codes and is the primary field,
the ALT field contains codes for the weathering intensity.
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
The INTERVAL field does not have values entered. This type of file
normally contains regular intervals as defined by the FROM-TO values,
the field is only used for the composited output file.
4.
5.
Note that the INTERVAL value has been calculated and written to the
file. The SAMPLE value written to the file will be the character string
from the FIRST record of the group.
6.
7.
Page 7.17
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
8.
Note that this dialog does not have the exception handling or calculation
functions of the Drillhole | Extraction menu. This process will create
the following output:
9.
Once this and other files of this type are created it is good practice to
modify the files to delete the spurious and incorrect fields such as
SAMPLE so they will not be used improperly.
Page 7.18
1.
2.
The filter in this case is set to Au1 > 0.8 with the Numeric checkbox
set. This will calculate intersections where all the intervals are greater
than 0.8 g/t.
3.
Setting the Maximum gap length to a value less than the smallest
sample interval causes the function to exclude intervals that are
excluded by the filter.
4.
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Page 7.19
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
5.
Page 7.20
1.
2.
The result field, G_M will be created by the function and the product will
be written to this field.
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Lesson 2 Summary
This lesson has shown you how to extract required records from an interval
file and use the extracted records to calculate required values.
Extractions are based on Numeric or Character fields and can be performed
with any suitable file.
Topics covered are:
Calculate significant intersections:
Set a filter to identify the values to be extracted;
Use the other extraction type dialog to perform different operations on
some fields;
Calculate further values from extracted files:
Extracted values can be used to derive values that are not present in the
original files by using the editor Calculator or similar tools.
Good Practice
Use this dialog any time you have to create summaries from existing files.
Among the output you can produce is:
Help Topics
For information on:
See:
Drillhole Calculations
Drillhole Calculations
Page 7.21
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Introduction
There are many ways to calculate and display drillhole intersections,
automatic compositing is covered in Part 12 Drillholes 2.
This lesson allows you display individual holes and values on the screen and
graphically select the intervals to be composited. Results are written to a
separate file, which can then be displayed beside the individual holes.
Multiple intersections can be interpreted for each hole but must be arranged
from the top to the bottom of the hole, and intersections cannot overlap.
Page 7.22
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Page 7.23
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
The Collar file and Collar Fields identify hole location and hole depth.
2.
3.
A List file can be selected. If used this controls the sequence in which
the holes are displayed. It can contain as little as one field, to contain
the Hole ID. If selected, the Collar file must also be selected as this
contains the coordinate and depth information.
4.
Display limits
5.
The Min and Max depth fields contain the range of downhole depths to
be displayed. The Min is commonly blank and the Max should be equal
to the depth of the deepest hole.
6.
The X range field defines the relative horizontal width of the display.
The left hand margin of the display is always at a value of zero.
Commonly a value of 100 is used, the position of the other display
features are then defined using values between 0 and 100.
7.
The Trace X location requires a value for the position of the vertical
drillhole trace. In the above display 10 is used.
Display
8.
The Hole Annotation dialog controls the parameters of the top and
bottom hole information . Collar coordinate displays can be suppressed
by inserting the @ symbol in the relevant field.
9.
The Trace, Value, Events, Hatch and Graph dialogs allow you to
select information to be displayed. These are standard MICROMINE
objects and will not be described in detail. Each requires an offset
location measured from the reference position followed by display
values.
Calculate intersections
1.
Page 7.24
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
2.
ASSIGN CODE: Output File disabled, Code is written to the Code field
of the Input File.
3.
4.
When you select Gaps = missing the length of the sample of any
missing value in any field over an interval is treated as NULL for
averaging. When you clear it, the interval is included in the averaging
and treated as if it had a value of zero.
5.
Display output
To display the results of the calculation you must check at least one of the
Intersect/MF 1 boxes in the Display group. There are two possible
Display mode settings. The MULTIFIELDS option is only used for displaying
existing data; select the INTERSECTIONS option to display the results of the
calculations.
1.
The Input File will normally be the Output File that was defined in
Calculate Intersections dialog.
Page 7.25
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
2.
In the Thickness Annotation box enter the text that will follow the
thickness value i.e. metres.
3.
4.
The Field box allows selection of the values to display. This can include
character fields to enable constructions like 3.2 metres at 23.5 g/t Au to
be created where the metres at and the g/t Au components are
contained in different fields. Use the Justify options and the Width
values to format the output.
5.
The Label box controls the delimiters that appear between the values
and their Colour, the Offset distance and the Size factor. The Size
factor will not be reflected on the display screen but will be written to
any plot file and will be reflected in the output.
6.
The Ticks box enables control and placement of ticks for the calculated
intersections. A vertical line joining the left side of the tick marks serves
to distinguish intersection displays from multi-field displays.
Click on the Run button. MICROMINE will display the graphic log of the
hole and a new menu and icon bar.
Regardless of the length of the hole the complete range as defined in the
Max depth field will be displayed. To zoom to the complete hole click on the
Zoom Hole icon. You can also zoom to any part of the hole using the Zoom
menu function which will allow you to click on the upper and lower limits as
required. When zoomed in so that not all of the hole is displayed triangles
appear at the top and bottom of the trace.
The PgUp and PgDn menu items move the display at the current scale
when not all the hole is displayed.
Prev and Next move to the adjacent holes in the List file (if used).
To make a calculation select the Intersect menu. A horizontal red line will
appear; use the mouse to move the line to the upper limit of the intersection.
Notice that the line will only attach itself to an interval boundary, you cannot
subdivide the intervals. Left click to fix the upper boundary then repeat the
process to define the lower limit of the interval.
Notice that as you move the mouse after the upper limit is selected the
Hole, From and To values and the Interval are displayed on the right hand
side of the display with the calculated values for each field defined.
Left click on the lower boundary. An Output intersection to file? Query
appears. Select Yes to write the complete intersection to the Output File. A
Key in code prompt appears, enter the identifier of the interval then OK.
This will add the code to the Output File and prompt for Another
Intersection?
Continue to add intersections as required. Note that you should create the
intersections from the top down. You are creating a new interval file; these
files must be arranged in order of increasing From values. If you enter
intersections out of order they will be written to the Output file, which must
then be sorted by Hole and From before it can be used.
Page 7.26
Intersections should not overlap. If you require different calculations that will
produce overlaps they must be put in different intersection files.
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Page 7.27
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Lesson 3 Summary
This lesson has shown you how to display drillholes in a form that allows
subjective interpretation and composition of intervals. It enables users to
select intervals that cannot be identified using the Extraction and
Compositing functions.
New output files may be prepared that can be added to a Drillhole Database.
Set up display
Define the trace location of the drillhole trace.
Position the relevant values.
Prepare an output file to contain the calculations.
Indentify the Intervals
Select holes in an order that augments interpretation in adjacent
locations.
Select interval values from the top down.
Interpret intervals by varying the width of selected samples.
Good Practice
This function would not be used to calculate intersections in numerically
large databases. Its application is where a hole-by-hole geological
interpretation can produce a superior result to one of the compositing
options.
Help Topics
Page 7.28
See:
Drillhole intersections
Displaying results
Multiple fields