Core samples obtained by drilling surveys are a current practice in the mining industry and are extremely important to mineral exploration and mine planning. However, this type of information is expensive to be obtained and is frequently used for short term mine planning. Diamond drill holes are commonly sampled at a large sampling spacing incompatible with the resolution required for short term mine planning. This study compares the volume estimated using data from borehole cores drilled in a grid of 140 x 140 m with the volume calculated from data obtained by geophysical logging in a grid of 10 x 10 meters. The study analysed the volume of a block delimited by few blast holes. There was a very significant difference between the volume calculated from borehole core samples and the actual volume. However, there was no significant difference between the actual volume and the volume calculated from data obtained by geophysical logging. Thus, it can be concluded that a widely-spaced sampling mesh is not enough to foresee short term production for the case study. However, geophysical logging can be used for this purpose without disturbing mining operations; it also gives immediate results, with easy and fast data acquisition at substantially low costs.
Geophysical logging; borehole cores; estimation; kriging; short term planning
