Geostatistical analysis and modeling of the industrial raw material deposits

Traditional estimation techniques such as polygonal, triangular prism, trapezoid, isopac maps and inverse distance methods are the most commonly used in ore deposits evaluation. These techniques do not reflect the variability of the deposit and do not allow a determination of the reliability of the estimates. However, modern geostatistical methods model the structural variation at the deposit and provide a calculation of the measure of the error associated with estimates. This study covers the application of the geostatistical methods for reserve estimation and modeling of the quality characteristics of Tufanbeyli (Adana) and Çayırhan (Ankara) lignite deposit. The geostatistical tools are Kriging and Sequential Gaussian Simulation (SGS). Both classical statistics and geostatistics were used in the evaluation of the data. Drilling locations are randomly distributed in both study areas and the data were obtained from these drilling logs. The data of the coal quality parameters were organised for the statistical representative. The omnidirectional semivariograms, were used in the semivariogram analyses for both study areas, were not showed geometric, zonal anisotropy and geological trend. These analyses indicated that the sampling design is enough and correct. Validation, effectiveness and reliability of the yarıvariogram models were tested by cross validation test. The effectiveness and reliability of the simulation were tested by histogram, semivariogram and summary statistics reproduction results. The contour and three dimensional maps for the coal variables were produced by kriging interpolation technique. The spatial variability of the coal quality parameters at the study fields was modeled by SGS. Probability, mean and standard deviation of simulation maps were produced with the SGS calculations. These maps exhibit spatial distribution, structural variation and continuity of the variables at the coal deposit. These maps are helpful for the coal mine operating and production. Therefore, for a successful mining, weekly, monthly and yearly production planning of the coal deposits can be provided using these maps. Keywords: Geostatistics, Kriging, Simulation, Sequential Gaussian Simulation, Coal Quality Parameters