Auditing and reviewing a Mineral Resource Estimate either internally or publicly is a multifaceted process for which no software can pretend it will provide all the required tools to tick all the boxes. But some solutions will provide better adapted platforms than others. Geovariances says that its Minestis falls into that category. Minestis is used for audit and desktop review of Mineral Resource Estimation projects.

“By providing a secure and robust workflow which takes users through every step of the resource estimation projects – from data loading and domain definition to variography and resource evaluation – Minestis offers unparalleled performance to allow rapid and efficient analysis of key aspects pertaining to the review of an Mineral Resource Estimation.”

These include:

• QAQC and validation of the database (through histograms, swath plots, cross-plots, exploratory data analysis, etc)
• Benchmarking of the actual geological interpretation and subsequent construction of geological volumes by offering fast access to alternative geological interpretations (using automatic data clustering techniques, implicit modeling based on a geostatistical engine which enables the characterisation of the uncertainty attached to the envelopes)
• Assessing the level of confidence that can be placed in the validity of the estimates produced focusing on the risk for radical errors or fatal flaws and appraising the materiality and risk attached to the decisions taken to perform the estimation of your deposits, in particular in the way they impact the economic evaluation of the project.

“With Minestis workflow, you can quickly test the materiality of any suggested improvements/changes in the Mineral Resource Estimation parameters. In particular, the characterisation of the stationarity of the main ore domains, and relevance of histogram declustering, variogram, kriging neighbourhood, and top-cut parameters can be safely appraised. By letting you rapidly test improvements through running check estimates, Minestis will enable you to comment on the materiality of the differences between the Mineral Resource Estimation results and your benchmark estimates. You may also in the process rapidly assess”:

• the sensitivity of global and local estimates to compositing strategy;
• the sensitivity of global and local estimates to neighborhood definitions through superior Kriging Neighbourhood Analysis;
• the sensitivity of global and local estimates to top-cutting strategy;
• the sensitivity of global and local estimates to change of support models.

“By offering eventually automated reporting functionalities, you will satisfy the criteria of transparency required in the reporting of your benchmarking and review strategies, to clearly assess and demonstrate the impact of the estimation parameters on the subsequent Mineral Resource Estimation that support the economic valuation of the project.”