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<p>Uniform conditioning (UC) has historically been applied to estimate recoverable resources in a sedimentary uranium deposit in Niger that is currently being mined. The method is implemented on a panel grid, whose cell size is defined by the spacing of exploration and development drill holes, which is usually wide. As a result, proportions must be calculated to correctly approximate ore tonnages and mined quantities over a given period. Because a sub-block model cannot be used with UC, an alternative to the intersection method has been to locate the UC results on the selective mining unit (SMU). However, this approach introduces artifacts in the spatial continuity of the estimates. This paper proposes another method: performing UC directly on the SMU, allowing monthly and annual depletions to be evaluated at the SMU scale without requiring proportion calculations. This is made possible by assuming that the conditioning SMU grade estimates are conditionally unbiased. A comparison was conducted among UC on the SMU grid, UC on the panel grid, and localized UC (LUC). Regardless of the cutoff grade considered, the global results are comparable. UC has the advantage of providing estimates directly at the SMU scale while avoiding the artifacts observed in LUC cross sections. For UC applied to SMUs, a method is also proposed to define an ore-percentage threshold, resulting in a location of blocks above cutoff grade similar to that obtained with LUC.</p>

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Uniform Conditioning Applied to the Selective Mining Unit as an Alternative to Localized Uniform Conditioning

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月2日

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  • M. C. Febvey,
  • J. Rivoirard,
  • Z. Jannel

摘要

Uniform conditioning (UC) has historically been applied to estimate recoverable resources in a sedimentary uranium deposit in Niger that is currently being mined. The method is implemented on a panel grid, whose cell size is defined by the spacing of exploration and development drill holes, which is usually wide. As a result, proportions must be calculated to correctly approximate ore tonnages and mined quantities over a given period. Because a sub-block model cannot be used with UC, an alternative to the intersection method has been to locate the UC results on the selective mining unit (SMU). However, this approach introduces artifacts in the spatial continuity of the estimates. This paper proposes another method: performing UC directly on the SMU, allowing monthly and annual depletions to be evaluated at the SMU scale without requiring proportion calculations. This is made possible by assuming that the conditioning SMU grade estimates are conditionally unbiased. A comparison was conducted among UC on the SMU grid, UC on the panel grid, and localized UC (LUC). Regardless of the cutoff grade considered, the global results are comparable. UC has the advantage of providing estimates directly at the SMU scale while avoiding the artifacts observed in LUC cross sections. For UC applied to SMUs, a method is also proposed to define an ore-percentage threshold, resulting in a location of blocks above cutoff grade similar to that obtained with LUC.