MINERAL RESOURCE STATEMENT FOR A TACONITE IRON DEPOSIT CONSIDERING DYNAMIC ANISOTROPY

摘要

Public disclosures for exploration and mining companies require adherence to International Reporting Codes, providing summary information about the parameters and approaches used during the estimation of mineral resources. This case study describes the development of a Mineral Resource statement for the Rainy Lake Iron Deposit located in Quebec, Canada, a greenfield project where a complex and detailed geological model was created on a taconite iron deposit. Grades have been estimated using geostatistical methodologies, creating a robust, and compliant Mineral Resource estimate using ordinary kriging for seven different variables, into multiple estimation/geological domains including iron, specific gravity and deleterious elements. To honour the different domains and sub-domains of the geological model, the estimation has been run with variable orientation angles for the search ellipse, using CAE-Datamine dynamic anisotropy tool within Datamine Studio 3 software. The Mineral Resource estimate resulted in 16 billion tonnes of iron mineralization, classified in the Indicated and Inferred categories and averaging 30% of iron with an average stripping ratio of 0.45 (waste/mineralized material). This case study and work has used appropriate techniques and methodologies on quality data and has resulted in the public disclosure of one of the largest and most promising iron deposits in the world. Exploration at Rainy Lake continues, adding more data and confidence to the estimates, with the main aims to improve the confidence categories and to upgrade portions of currently unclassified material into the Inferred category.