MICROMINE Version 11.

0 Training Part 7 – Drillholes 1

PART 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS

LESSON 1 – PRELIMINARY
PRELIMINARY DRILLHOLE
DRILLHOLE INVESTIGATION
INVESTIGATION .................................
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INTRODUCTION ................................
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DRILLING STATISTICS .................................
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GETTING MORE (OR LESS) FROM DRILLHOLE DATA ................................
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LESSON 2 – SUMMARISING
SUMMARISING DRILLING
DRILLING RESULTS
RESULTS ....................
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INTRODUCTION ................................
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ONE-RECORD-PER-HOLE SUMMARIES.................................
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Example
Exampless ...................................
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MULTIPLE-RECORDS-PER-HOLE SUMMARIES ................................
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Example
Exampless ...................................
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LESSON 3 – CREATING DRILLHOLE LOGS
LOGS..................................
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INTRODUCTION ................................
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Log display vs. extraction ................................................................................................................ 27

SIDEBARS

An alternative
alternative way
way to calculate
calculate drillhole
drillhole summary
summary statistics...............
statistics........................
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Identifying properties with irregular boundaries ......................................................................................... 6

Copyright © Micromine 2009 Revision 2009-05D1

Part 7 – Drillholes 1 MICROMINE Version 11.0 Training

Revision 2009-05D1 Copyright © Micromine 2009

MICROMINE Version 11.0 Training Part 7 – Drillholes 1

Notes:
Lesson 1 – Preliminary
Drillhole Investigation
Duration: XX minutes

The geologist in charge of a drilling programme is commonly asked one of

two questions while the programme is under way: how many holes have
been drilled totalling how many metres, and what significant intervals were
intersected? This and the following lessons will teach you the tools needed to
generate both results.

This lesson will teach you to prepare basic summaries of data held in drillhole
databases.

After this
this lesson you will be able
able to:

• Create summaries of holes drilled and total depths;

• Summarise assay statistics;
• Create distributions of assay data.

Introduction
As well as displaying
displaying data MICROMINE
MICROMINE has many functions that manipulate
drillhole data. These functions are located in the Drillhole menu mainly in
the Calculations and Compositing sub-menus.

There are also a number of data manipulation functions, commonly applied

to drilling information, that are located in the File | Fields | … menu.

Note that you cannot use any file manipulation functions that create new
values and fields on ODBC or Microsoft Access or GBIS linked files. However,
these linked files can be saved as DATA files prior to use.

Drilling Statistics
In the following exercise you’ll generate basic drillhole summary statistics,
comprising the number of holes drilled and their total length.

Exercise 1.1: Generate drillhole summary statistics

To count the number of holes and total number of metres found within the
Example drillhole data:

1. Select Drillhole | Calculations

Calculations | Extraction from the main menu.
1. Select EXAMPLE_COLLAR as the Input File.
File.

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Notes: 2. Modify the file to add a CALC field, Numeric, 6 Characters 0 decimals.
Enter 1 in the START field of the Modify Form and Close. This will
replicate the value in all records.
3. Set up the dialog as indicated below:

4. On the Drillhole Extraction dialog note the following:

• Constant field 1 = CALC. The function reads the file from the top and
performs the action selected in the Extraction type window on
successive records that have the same value in this field.
• Extraction type = SUM. This tells the function to calculate the total of
all the numeric fields.
• By checking the Use other extraction types and selecting the CALC
field to extract the SUM, the function will total the values in this field,
which equals the number of drillholes in the file. If you are operating on
the whole file (no Filter set) this step is not strictly necessary as the
number of holes in the file will equal the number of records in the file.
This step is used to write the total number of holes in the Output file
so it can be used as required for other reporting purposes.
• The Character field output can be any of the options.
5. Run the function and examine the output file, shown here (some fields
have been hidden for clarity):

The fields of interest are TDEPTH, which contains the sum of the drillhole
depths, and CALC, which contains the number of drillholes in the file.

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The other numbers are meaningless and may be hidden or removed as Notes:
required.

Note that you cannot perform this operation on the EXAMPLE_ASSAY

interval file and get the correct answer. The maximum TO value is not
necessarily the total depth of a drillhole. This information is only located
in a properly verified collar file.

In the next exercise you’ll use the statistical tools of MICROMINE to calculate
some basic information about the assay data.

Exercise 1.2: Generate basic assay statistics

Before commencing any detailed analysis of an assay interval file you can
use the basic statistics functions to determine the range of values and
various estimates of the median and mode of the values.

This is a basic part of the data validation process. Validation of a drillhole

database checks the relationship between files and interval values; it does
not check the assay values.

This process is concerned with discovering gross errors in the data, i.e. that
no values in a percentage field are outside the range 0-100.

1. Select Stats | Descriptive | Normal/Ln from the main menu.

2. Select EXAMPLE_ASSAY as the Input File.
3. Click the Fields... button, set the Weighting field to INTERVAL and
the first two Field Names to AU1 and AG. There is no need to set Min,
Max, or Cut Values.
4. Click the Numeric Exceptions button and set all three exceptions.
5. Enter EXAMPLE_ASSAY_DES_STATS as the Output file and Run the
function.
6. MICROMINE will calculate and display a range of statistics for each field,
which you can browse by clicking the Next or Previous buttons.
7. Close the Descriptive Statistics dialog and then right-click the Output
file response. Note the contents of the file, which reproduce the
information originally displayed on the dialog.

An alternative way to calculate drillhole summary

statistics

You can also use Descriptive Statistics to generate the holes and metres
report from Exercise 1.1. In this case, use EXAMPLE_COLLAR as the
Input File and TDEPTH as the Field Name. No. of points represents
the number of holes, and the Sum the total metres drilled. The
disadvantage of this method is the output cannot be used as th e input for
any other report or calculation, whereas the output from Drillhole
Extraction can.

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Notes: In the workplace you should examine the values for each field to determine if
they are within the expected range.

In the next exercise you’ll display a histogram of the assay data, which will
reveal the statistical distribution of the values.

Exercise 1.3: Generate distribution statistics of assay data

Further examine the EXAMPLE_ASSAY file by graphically displaying the

distribution of values. This is another way of validating data, and a
preliminary step in the resource calculation process.

To do this:

1. Select Stats | Distribution from the main menu.

2. Set the Input File to EXAMPLE_ASSAY and the Graph field to AU1.
3. Click the Numeric Exceptions button and set all three exceptions.
4. Set the Graph type to HISTOGRAM and the Values used to NATURAL
LOG.
5. Click the Graph Limits button and set the options as listed here:

Prompt Setting
Graph min: [Double-click to set]
End first bin: blank
Bin size: 3
Graph max: [Double-click to set]
Graph increment: blank

6. Click the Graph Options button set Graph colour and Line colour to
red, the Normal curve colour to green, set all options, set Display
mode to LINE and Line type to SOLID.
7. Click the Analysis button, select any six Population colours, and set a
contrasting Model colour.
8. Save the form and Run the function. Your display should resemble the
diagram on the following page.
9. Optionally experiment with different values to see their effect on the
display.

You can improve the display of NATURAL LOG data by manually setting
the Graph min to the lowest data value (usually the detection limit).

Notice also that from the graphic display a new menu line is displayed at the
top of the screen. The Mode menu allows you to switch between Histogram,
Cumulative Frequency (Cum freq) and Probability Plot (Prob plot) displays.

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Notes:

Clicking on the graph will display the Bin number, Min and Max value for the
bin, its Centroid value and the number of Points in the bin within the
Information Box at the right of the screen.

The Model menu option allows you to statistically Decompose the data into
the separate populations that may be contained within it, or to fit a
3 Parameter model to remove bias from NATRAUL LOG values.

A histogram allows you to determine if there is more than one population

within the sample. This in turn requires you to identify the limits of each
population, either geographically of statistically, so each can be modelled
separately for anomaly definition, or for resource calculation.

Further detailed analysis of the distribution of samples is beyond the limits of

this course. For more information on using the histogram, refer to Part 14 –
Statistical Essentials, which is part of the Advanced Exploration or Block
Modelling course.

Getting More (or Less) from

Drillhole Data
Sometimes you need to divide your drillhole data in a way that makes it
easier to separate different groups of drillholes by a parameter such as their
coordinate values, the name of the property they’re within, or their drill date.

In the next two exercises you’ll learn how to set up your data for this kind of
use.

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Notes:

2. Run the function and examine the Output file, which will resemble
this:

3. Notice that record 2 has a blank LITH value. This is caused by a missing
value in the original file.
4. To overcome this set the filter shown on the following page in the
Drillhole Extraction dialog.

This filter forces the extraction to operate on records that have a LITH value.
This means the value extracted is not the lithology of the bottom of the hole
but rather the last record in each hole with a LITH value.

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Notes:

5. Re-Run the function and inspect the modified Output file.

6. Save the Drillhole Extraction form as a form set Titled EOH Lith.

Exercise 2.2: Extract maximum AU1 from the EXAMPLE_ASSY

file:

1. Modify the Drillhole Extraction form and select or enter values as

follows:

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Notes: 2. Examine the Output file. This extraction writes the complete record
that contains the maximum AU1 value for each hole.

Variations on this extraction could include using the LITH field as Constant
field 2; which would output the maximum AU1 value for each separate
lithology.

3. Save the Drillhole Extraction form as a form set Titled Max AU1.

The extracted file records may contain coordinates but these will not
correspond to the collar of the associated drillhole. Even vertical holes will
contain elevation differences. In the next exercise you’ll merge the extracted
information back into the collar file so you can create a plan display showing
the distribution of values.

Exercise 2.3: Merge extractions to the collar coordinates

One record per hole summaries are usually merged back to the collar file for
display purposes.

1. Open and then Modify the EXAMPLE_COLLAR file to add the following
fields:
BOH_LITH C 10 0
MAX_AU1 N 8 2
2. Select Edit | Tools | Merge | MM from the Editor menu, or click the
Merge Menu button followed by MM, to display the Merge dialog, and
fill it out as shown here:

3. Click the Merge Fields button and select the following:

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Notes:

4. Click the Merge button to write the EOH_LITH values to the BOH_LITH
field in the EXAMPLE_COLLAR file.
5. Repeat the above steps to merge the AU1 value from the
NVG_MAX_AU1 file into the MAX_AU1 field in the EXAMPLE_COLLAR file.
6. Optionally, display the collars as a Vizex Points layer, colouring by
BOH_LITH (using the Lithology colours colour set) or MAX_AU1 (using
the Drillhole Au1 statistical colour set) as desired.

Multiple-records-per-hole
Summaries
Examples of multiple-records-per-hole summaries are:

• Simplified lithology
Generates a simplified lithological file from typical field logging in which
logging is carried out at fixed sample intervals, causing long geological
intervals to be repeated over several samples.

• Significant intersections
Extracts composited intersections above a specified cut-off or threshold
value. Minimum interval length and inclusion of waste material can be
used to finely control the output.

• Gram-metre values
Uses the extracted average grade and accumulated interval length to
calculate a length-grade product.

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Notes: 2. In the Thickness Annotation box enter the text that will follow the
thickness value i.e. metres.
3. The Side list controls placement relative to the trace.
4. The Field box allows selection of the values to display. This can include
character fields to enable constructions like 3.2 metres at 23.5 g/t Au to
be created where the metres at and the g/t Au components are
contained in different fields. Use the Justify options and the Width
values to format the output.
5. The Label box controls the delimiters that appear between the values
and their Colour, the Offset distance and the Size factor. The Size
factor will not be reflected on the display screen but will be written to
any plot file and will be reflected in the output.
6. The Ticks box enables control and placement of ticks for the calculated
intersections. A vertical line joining the left side of the tick marks serves
to distinguish intersection displays from multi-field displays.

Making the Calculation

7. Click on the Run button. MICROMINE will display the graphic log of the
hole and a new menu and icon bar.

Regardless of the length of the hole the complete range as defined in the
Max depth field will be displayed. To zoom to the complete hole click on the
Zoom Hole icon. You can also zoom to any part of the hole using the Zoom
menu function which will allow you to click on the upper and lower limits as
required. When zoomed in so that not all of the hole is displayed triangles
appear at the top and bottom of the trace.

The PgUp and PgDn menu items move the display at the current scale
when not all the hole is displayed.

Prev and Next move to the adjacent holes in the List file (if used).

To make a calculation select the Intersect menu. A horizontal red line will
appear; use the mouse to move the line to the upper limit of the intersection.
Notice that the line will only attach itself to an interval boundary, you cannot
subdivide the intervals. Left click to fix the upper boundary then repeat the
process to define the lower limit of the interval.

Notice that as you move the mouse after the upper limit is selected the
Hole, From and To values and the Interval are displayed on the right hand
side of the display with the calculated values for each field defined.

Left click on the lower boundary. An Output intersection to file? Query

appears. Select Yes to write the complete intersection to the Output File. A
Key in code prompt appears, enter the identifier of the interval then OK.
This will add the code to the Output File and prompt for Another
Intersection?

Continue to add intersections as required. Note that you should create the
intersections from the top down. You are creating a new interval file; these
files must be arranged in order of increasing From values. If you enter
intersections out of order they will be written to the Output file, which must
then be sorted by Hole and From before it can be used.

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Intersections should not overlap. If you require different calculations that will Notes:
produce overlaps they must be put in different intersection files.

Viewing the result

Once the intersections have been digitised click on the Refresh button in the
Icon bar.

This will regenerate the display using the contents of the Output file as
defined in the Intersect/MF 1 dialog. The result should resemble the image at
the start of the lesson.

Click the Next menu item to move to the next drillhole in the List file and
select Intersect to process that hole.

If you close the Drillhole Intersection Display then run the function again you
will be prompted to Overwrite or Append the existing Output file. The
default is Append, which will add any new intersections to the existing file.
If you select Overwrite the current contents of the file will be deleted.

Log Display vs. Drillhole Extraction

The log display is totally under the users control so can be used as an
interpretation tool. It allows the user to be somewhat subjective by using any
of the displayed information to decide where intersection boundaries to be
set.

The contrasts with the Drillhole | Calculations | Extraction process that

uses a rigorous process of calculating intersection intervals based on fixed
values of minimum output thickness and maximum gap lengths, plus other
parameters.

This loss of interpreted input is balanced by the speed of the extraction

process. Hundreds of holes can be calculated quickly whereas the log display
requires each intersection to be selected manually.

The extraction process provides a consistent set of conditions to the

calculation of intersections.

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Notes: Lesson 3 Summary

This lesson has shown you how to display drillholes in a form that allows
subjective interpretation and composition of intervals. It enables users to
select intervals that cannot be identified using the Extraction and
Compositing functions.

New output files may be prepared that can be added to a Drillhole Database.

Set up display

Define the trace location of the drillhole trace.

Position the relevant values.
Prepare an output file to contain the calculations.

Indentify the Intervals

Select holes in an order that augments interpretation in adjacent

locations.
Select interval values from the top down.
Interpret intervals by varying the width of selected samples.

Good Practice

This function would not be used to calculate intersections in numerically

large databases. Its application is where a hole-by-hole geological
interpretation can produce a superior result to one of the compositing
options.

Help Topics

For information on: See:

Drillhole intersections Drillholes > Advanced Drillhole functions >

Drillhole Log > Calculating and displaying
drillhole intersections

Displaying results ... Drillhole Log > Intersections: Display Tools

Multiple fields ... Drillhole Log> Intersections:

Displaying multiple fields

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