EXPLORATIVE SAMPLING OF NATURAL MINERAL RESOURCE DEPOSITS

摘要

Methods and systems for improving mineral resource exploration and resourceclassificationefficiency are provided herein. The generation and iterative, dynamicimprovement of drill plansfor sampling a target volume using drill holes is described. Methods andsystems for thedevelopment and optimization of drill plans are able to accommodate a widevariety ofconstraints and targets, providing drill plans which aim to minimize theamount of explorativedrilling while substantially converting unclassified sub-volumes, and inparticularhigh-desirability sub-volumes, of the target volume to a specified or desiredlevel while attempting tomaximize targeted resource conversion efficiency. Resulting drill plans mayprovide a proposedcollection of drill holes, defined in 3D space, penetrating the target volumewhich sufficientlysample a target volume while remaining within one or more specifiedconstraints.