Economic geology: conceptual modeling of evolution of mineral projects

The life of a mining project in most countries is described by technical reports composed by the recognized competent persons based on the applicable mineral reporting code – JORC Code in Australia, CIM Code in Canada, SAMREC Code in South Africa and so forth. These codes, following the general template and guidelines of CRIRSCO (Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards), being concordant to national legislation and incorporating the best practices nationwide, strive to cover all possible situations the competent person may face when reporting the state of a mineral project. This means, in fact, that indirectly they mean to encompass what may and what may not be done at a mineral property. However, this task is being done largely informally, based rather on professional experience and intuition and common sense than on some rules of inference. This informality always leaves room for (i) unconsidered scenarios and (ii) contradiction between the articles of the code or uncertainty in their application.

The event bush seems to be a promising tool to cope with these problems. The formalization of the JORC Code by means of the event bush is in progress. The results are expected to serve as a valuable contribution to the new edition of the JORC Code and to the relevant CRIRSCO guidelines.

In this project, the Geognosis team collaborates with Stephen Henley, the head of Resources Computing IInternational Ltd. and a CRIRSCO expert, Matlock, UK, and Alexander Sobolev, a reporting practitioner, AusIMM competent person and the head of GeoConsult Competent, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Summit caldera lake at Tianchi Volcano, China/North Korea. Photo by Cyril Pshenichny