Competitiveness of Inverse Distance Weighting Method for the Evaluation of Gold Resources in Fluvial Sedimentary Deposits: A Case Study

Al-Hassan Sulemana^1, and Adjei David²

¹University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, Ghana

²Goldfields Ghana Limited, Tarkwa, Ghana

Cite this paper

Al-Hassan Sulemana and Adjei David. Competitiveness of Inverse Distance Weighting Method for the Evaluation of Gold Resources in Fluvial Sedimentary Deposits: A Case Study. Journal of Geosciences and Geomatics. 2015; 3(5):122-127. doi: 10.12691/JGG-3-5-2

Abstract

Gold mineralisation at Pepe occurs in a sedimentary sequence known as the Banket Series formation. Due to cut-back, further exploration has been done to obtain credible resource estimates for pragmatic mine planning and design. There is therefore, the need for the application of an appropriate, accurate and cost effective estimation method. The selection of the method used for any particular deposit depends on several factors including ease–of-use, robustness, accuracy and precision. Although the mine employs Ordinary Kriging (OK), which has gained much recognition and proven to be a very good estimator, it is complex and time consuming. This calls for effective alternatives. Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) is another reliable method of estimation as it is simple, accurate and fast, and has proven to be effective for some deposits. This study seeks to verify the propriety and applicability of IDW to the estimation of the orebody by comparing the estimates obtained from Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) and Ordinary Kriging methods. Correlation analysis performed on ID²W and OK model grades indicated a near perfect correlation coefficient of 0.93; an indication that ID²W can be used as a good alternative to OK at Pepe.

Keywords

sedimentary, Ordinary Kriging, correlation, orebody, resource, regression

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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