Auditing Grade Control Procedures and Data

Auditing Grade Control Procedures and Data

While the dynamic nature of grade control data flow and procedures make it difficult
to apply meaningful checks and controls, it is nonetheless important to do so. There are
several factors that can negatively impact the grade control process and cause material to
be misclassified:
• Incorrect data.
• Incomplete data.
• Incorrect marking in the field.
• Incorrect modeling techniques.
• Gaps in the standard work flow.

In order to insure that all proper steps were completed by the grade control personnel
and that the data used is correct and complete, solutions have been developed to more
accurately track and capture problems before they are introduced in the field.

Procedure and Work Flow Validation

Historic Methods
In the past, most sites kept track of the state of the grade control process by manually
entering information into a log sheet. This practice required a great deal of discipline to
make sure the required information was noted on a timely basis.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 1. Manual shot assignment.

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Auditing Grade Control Procedures and Data

While better than absolutely nothing, this approach left much to be desired with respect to
accuracy and validation of the results.
Another method used in the past revolved around the concept of simply reviewing the
MineSight® 3-D (MS3D) audit file (msaudit.txt) for clues to determine if the required
functions executed properly. While the msaudit.txt file contains quite a bit of useful
information, it does not always have the level of detail necessary to properly communicate
successful execution of a procedure or multi-run. The following example does indeed show
that procedures have been executed, but does not reveal if the execution was successful.

Figure 2. msaudit2.txt snippet.

This entry from the audit file shows a good example of the tracking of several key processes,
and the reporting of a problem with one of the processes.

Figure 3. msaudit.txt snippet showing problem.

New Approaches
Mintec, Inc.
The advent of MineSight® Grail (MSGrail) has opened up many new possibilities when it Global
comes to workflow and procedure compliance. The ability to read complex MineSight® Mining
Compass™ (MSCompass) multi-runs and determine the actual processes that are in place
Software
gives us the capability to extract pieces of information relevant to the audit process. Report
Solutions
files created by standard MineSight® programs have long been a mainstay in conveying
information about the results of the execution. Since
1970
In a grade control environment, the complex nature of the process makes this approach so
cumbersome to the point of ignoring the information in the report files that are generated.

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 Auditing Grade Control Procedures and Data

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 4. Example of modeling multi-run.

This example illustrates the large number of report files that would have to be manually
checked in order to insure successful completion of the modeling process. In order to relieve

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Auditing Grade Control Procedures and Data

the manual nature of these checks, Mintec, Inc. has been working on the development of
several solutions that take advantage of the aforementioned ability to read the contents of a
multi-run with a MSGrail script.

Figure 5a. MineSight® MultiRun Audit Manager script – MultiRun Selection tab.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

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 Auditing Grade Control Procedures and Data

Figure 5b. MineSight® MultiRun Audit Manager script – Procedures tab.

The MineSight® MultiRun Audit script gathers a list of the report file names and scans the
reports for errors. It is also designed to make sure that all of the procedures critical to the
model build are included and have run to completion.
With very little effort, the solution can be modified to include information about the data
itself. This might include, but is not limited to:
Mintec, Inc. • Date the blasthole data was last modified.:
Global • Number of blastholes that have missing data
Mining
o Assays.
Software
Solutions o Geology.
Since • Outliers:
1970
o Assays.
o Geology.

Data Validation
One of the best ways to make sure that the data is complete and accurate is to use the
visualization capabilities of MS3D. As most grade control sites utilize acQuire™ to store the

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Auditing Grade Control Procedures and Data

blasthole data, there is sometimes a disconnect between the data represented in a MS3D/
acQuire™ drillhole view, and the actual data in the composite file( the file actually used for
modeling). A quick visual check shows discrepancies between the two data sets.

Figure 6. Drillhole view created from acQuire™ data.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 7. The drillhole view from the MineSight® composite file.

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 Auditing Grade Control Procedures and Data

While visual checks tell us about gaps or missing data, some cases are so complex that we
have to rely on a scripted solution to give feedback as to the veracity of the data.
An example of this is a case where a blasthole is deemed to be a certain material type based
on geologic outlines as interpreted by a grade control geologist.
Usually there are certain assay grade conditions that must be met for this material
classification to be legitimate. Several sites have implemented solutions that perform the
basic function of assigning classification codes to the blastholes, but also go one step further.
The material codes are checked against a set of business rules to make sure that they fall
into the acceptable ranges for definition. If holes fall outside of that range, they are deemed
outliers and are flagged as such.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 8. Script to report and store outliers.

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Auditing Grade Control Procedures and Data

Figure 9. Outlier report.

Interfaces have been developed to allow the grade control engineer or geologist to
go through each hole marked as an outlier and validate the assigned material type
as legitimate, even though it falls outside of the defined business rules. The material
classification can also be changed at this time.

Figure 10 Material type validation/override entry.

Conclusion
The review of both grade control process and data can be made easier and more robust by
better utilizing the information that is already being created during the process. The key
is to find a solution to automate these repetitive tasks. The dynamic nature of data flow in
the grade control world makes it imperative that data and process audits are easy and as Mintec, Inc.
automated as they can possibly be. Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

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