Building a Gridded Seam Model

©2011 Dr. B. C. PaulNote – The term Gridded Seam Model comes from the MineSight package by

Mintec. These slides contain screenshot from the MineSight Computer program and procedures shown in these slides can also in similar form be

found in Mintec training courses, help menus, training books, and news letters.

Where This Presentation Assumes You Begin

• You have a project initialized as a gridded seam project

• You have a collection of uncomposited drill holes in a “file 11”

• You have a surface• Your files 10, 11, and 12 exist.

What We Will Do

• We will set up a drill hole composite file that will compile and average all the assays over the height of each seam– This is called a file 9 (drill hole composite file)

• We will run a MineSight Compass Procedure to composite the assays

• We will set up a file 15 to contain our gridded seam model

More Actions• We will interpolate the top of the 6 seam from

our drill hole data and store the result in our GSM Model

• We will interpolate the thickness of the 6 seam from our drill hole data and store the result in our GSM Model

• We will calculate the bottom of the 6 seam as Zbot = Ztop – Thick

• We will prepare a model view so we can look at our model.

To Build a Drill Hole Composite I Will Start with MineSight Compass

Under the MineSightDrop down tabI selectMineSight Compass

MineSight Compass Starts UpI click on the ProjectsTab

Then I click on theOpen Project EditorBox

When the Editor Opens I Get Ready to Create My File 9 (My

Composite Drill Hole File)Under the dropDown menu underFile I select New

It Asks Me What Type of File I Want to Create

I will click on andPick a file 9,A composite file.

It Offers Me All the Basic Items for a File and the Chance to Type in

My Own Items

Usually there will beA number of importantCoal qualityParameters that INeed.

I Type in the List of Parameters I Will Need, the Expected Ranges for the Values and the

Precision I need in storing the values.

Then I Click the Save Box and it asks me for my file name

I Type the Project Name and then Click on Save

It is common to giveThe file the 4 letterName of the projectAnd then the number9. This allows the fileTo be easily matchedTo the project it goesWith and for people toKnow it is a file 9 orDrill hole compositeFile.

When I Do This the Program Tells Me That a File 9 has been Added

to the Project

Progress Report

• The first task of creating a composite file has been completed

• Our next task will be to composite our assays over the thickness of each seam.

To Put Data in the Drill Hole Composite File pick the Seam Compositing Program from

the Compass Menu

Note that I chose theMenu tab.

Click on the compassRoutine to select andRun the program.

The First Screen of the Composite Routine Comes Up

I’m going to tell it toStart a new file

And if a coal seam isMissing just omit it.

When I’m ready toMove to the nextPanel click on theGo forward arrow(incidentally you canAlso go back)

The Next Panel is on What Seams to Composite

Who ever started thisProject allowed 8 seams,However, my drill holeData only covers threeCoal seams so I amGoing to tell the programTo composite only 3Seams who’s numbersAre 2, 5, and 8 (seams1,3,4,6, and 7 were putThere for something elseNot in the current drillLogs)

The Next Panel Asks Me How to Match Item Names in My Composite File to Item Names

in My Assay File

I have to tell theProgram what theSeam variable is inEach drill hole file.There are otherPlaces to indicate ifNames of other itemsDon’t match in theTwo drill hole files.(Since I made bothDrill hole files I wasPretty consistent inWhat I namedThings).

The Next Panel Asks Me Which Quality Properties to Composite from the Assay File

into the Composite File.I match the differentItems using the dropDown menus. (ICreated both files soMy coal propertyNames match in bothFiles).

An assay file containsSample informationOn any drill coreInterval chosen. ASeam composite fileAverages the assaysOver an entire seamHeight.

I Have Another Panel In Case There is a Big List of Stuff to

Composite

It Asks Me About Some Optional Items that I Don’t Need Right Now

Note that this panelIndicates it is the lastOne before theProgram runs.

The Program Announces Its Intent to Run

And identifies theNames of the files itWill create to reportResults.

You See the Screen Output as the Program Rapidly Runs

(There was a timeWhen programsTook a long timeTo run butTodays computersAre much faster)

It Then Gives You a Chance to Examine the Run Report

Its usually a good idea to read them to make sure everything executed correctly.

Progress Report

• At this point drill hole composites covering the 3 coal seam have been prepared.

• The next task will be to ready a file15 for the gridded seam model.

To Create Our File 15 We Again Activate MineSight Compass

Under the Project Tab We Click on the Project File Editor

In the Editor We Create a New File

This Time We Pick a File 15 (A Gridded Seam Model)

Each Seam in The Gridded Seam Model can Have Any Set of Information You Wish

to Keep Track OfType in what you like,Its range of values,And the precisionWith which you wantTo store theInformation.

You Will likely want toHave things aboutElevation, thickness,And various qualityOr characteristicParameters.

When You Are Done Click on the Save Icon

It asks you what toName the file.

Name the File and Click Save

You will probably wantTo give it your 4 letterProject name and theNumber 15.

The Program Proclaims the File Was Successfully Added

Progress Report

• Composite files showing the positions of the coal seams have been prepared

• A file space has been prepared to put the Gridded Seam Model into.

• We will next use an interpolation program to calculate a surface that represents the top of the #6 coal.

From the Compass Menu Pick Pinterp

The First Panel Asks You A Bunch of Plotting Questions

Since we are notGoing to plot anythingRight now we“Just Say No”

It Wants to Know What To Use for the Interpolation

I’m going to use aDrill hole file (check)

It will be my file 9

My position is foundFrom the northing,Easting, and Ztop

My result is to becomePart of my griddedSeam model in myFile 15

I want it to use aGradient to interpolateThe top of my seam.

(My drill holes are to sparse and far apart to use Kriging right now)

The Next Panel Wants to Know What I Will Interpolate

I’m going toInterpolate bySeam

Over a range of#2 to #2(English translationI’m going to doInterpolation onThe number 6Coal seam)

Which Variable in the Seam Will Be Interpolated?

This will be theSecond seam inMy Gridded SeamModel (GSM)

The variable isZtop (the elevationOf the top of theNumber 6 coal)

Reset values to -1Before calculatingIn case there isSome silly numberThere already.

It Wants to Know How Far to Look for Drill Holes

Since I have anIdea about howGood my drillGrid is I tell itHow far to lookFor holes toInterpolate.

The Program Announces Its Intent to Run a Large Number of

Subroutines

It Begins to Run

Progress Report

• We now have the top of the #6 coal seam coded into our Gridded Seam Model

• Next we will interpolate the thickness of the coal seam into the Gridded Seam Model– We will use simple IDW2 weighting

From the Compass Menu Pick The IDW Routine

Tell It I Will Add My Results to File 15 in Seam #2

Give it the letters toUse as an extension onIts reports.

Tell It How Far to Search for Drill Holes to Use

Give the Names for the Thickness Variable in the Block Model and the

Composite

Tell it to use IDW

Tell it to reset theValue of any blockThat is notInterpolated.

I’m Not Using Any of These Optional Parameters

None of These Either

Options are Great for Very Specific Needs But Not My Needs Now

I Will Pass on My Last Options Panel

The Routine Announces the Name of Its Reports

And It Begins to Execute

And Here Is A Report for Me to Check and Make Sure Things Ran

Ok

Progress Report

• We now have a gridded seam model that contains the elevation of the top of the number 6 coal and its thickness

• The next thing I will do is to use a user calculation routine and define the elevation of the seam bottom as Zbot = Ztop - thick

I Pick the User Calculations Routine

I’m Going to Do this Only for the #6 Coal Seam Right Now (my 2nd

Seam in the GSM)

The Variables I Will Use Are Thick, Ztop and Zbot

No Options Right Now

The Equation I Want to Have Used is Zbot = Ztop - Thick

The Results are to be Stored in Zbot

The Program Announces the Names of Its Report Files

And Begins to Execute

And I Have a Nice Report File to Check

Progress Report

• The Top Elevation, Thickness, and Bottom Elevation of the #6 coal seam have all been calculated and put in our GSM Model

• We will next take a peak at that model

I First Identify the Directory I Will Put My Model View in

From the File Menu I Pick a New Model View

It Wants to Know What I Will Name This Model View

Because I am soCreative I will call itGSM Model

And will click Ok

It Needs to Know What Project Control File to Reference

Pick my file 10 forThis project

And then clickOpen.

It Now Wants to Know What Model to Look at

I pick my file15 (GSM Model)

And click Ok

It Asks Me What to Display And Suggests the Top of 6 Coal

I can go for that soI click Ok

It Show Me A Color Range

Ya I’ll buy that for aFirst try – click theClose box

Now I’m Upset! There is Nothing There

Before Punching the Computer Screen or Bursting into Tears I Decide to Take Another

Look at My Model View.I pick my modelView and thenRight click to popUp the menu

Then I pickProperties.

Under the Range Tab I Set the Level to Study to My 6 Coal Seam

Using the Slider Boxes

The clue that I willLook at the #6Coal is this labelThat sayscoal6

Wow I Think I’ve Got Something

I Pan Around and Zoom Out

Oh I think I have aBig twist or discontinuityHere.

I Can Use Query to Get a Run Down on Various Points in the

ModelThe ? Icon is forQuery.

I click on it and thenA point in the model

And I get a run downOn that point

When I’m done withMy Queries I rightClick my mouse.

I Think I’d Like to See My Coal Thickness

Pick my model view

Right click to bring upThe menu

Pick Properties.

Pick the Display Tab

Click on the little blueBox and pickThick

Pick My Color Code Box

Click in the CutoffBox and thenClick on intervals

It Ask Me About My Interval Range

Put in a reasonableRange and intervalFor the coal seamYou are studying

And click Ok

It Gives Me My Range

Select properties

Set the Color Range

Exit the boxes

Looks Like I’m Pinching Out In Here

Well I’m Sure That Was Fun

• Now I Bet You Can’t Wait to do this for your other coal seams.