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another. It is up to the mine engineer to explore the opportunities and understand the limitations of the tools.
One of the most important considerations during the mine planning is to maximize the
project values and meet the processing requirements. Great attentions have been paid to
grade distributions, including metal (Au, Cu) and geochemistry (S-Index: sulfur contents
including elemental sulfur and sulfide sulfur). Based on the relative location to the pit, and
the distribution of Au and Sulfur (Figure 2), the underground deposit can be divided into
several sub-zones. Table 1 lists the descriptions of the sub-zones, which was the main concern
for the mine development layout, especially for the mine ventilation network.
Figure 1. High level project study workflow.
Table 1. Descriptions of the sub-zones.
Zone
Au grade
Sulfur %
Other conditions
1
Very High to Medium
Medium to Low
Close to the pit wall
2
High to Medium
Very High to Medium
Requires flow through ventilation
3
Medium to Low
High to Medium
Requires flow through ventilation
4
Medium to Low
Low
Large tonnage, close to the pit wall
5
Medium to Low
Medium to Low
It is a pillar between Zone 1,4 and 2,3;
last to extract
6
Very High to High
Low
Small tonnage, requires dewatering
Figure 2. Distribution of Au and Sulfur grade by sub-zones.
(a) Au Distribution
Resource Model
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Mine Plan
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(b) S-Tndex Distribution