Gemcom Used in Exploration Planning

S A Mawson Geologist, Cheston Minerals (Pty) Limited

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Gemcom GEMS Gemcom Used in Exploration Planning - Mawson

Introduction
Cheston Minerals Limited, as a management company now routinely uses Gemcom for modelling a variety
of gold mines in central and southern Africa. There is the Lily open pit mine, an Archaean gold deposit near
Malalane, the Transvaal Gold Mining Estates flat dipping gold reefs at Pilgrim Rest and the Worcester
underground gold mine near Barberton, all in eastern South Africa. Based on sketchy initial exploration
information, Gemcom is being used to model the Mugusu project in Tanzania to plan drilling programs. In
Zimbabwe, Gemcom is used for the resource evaluation of the Ayrshire underground gold mine, the Muriel
underground gold mine and the Maligreen open pit gold mine. In all of these locations, the Gemcom models
illustrate where there is sparse data coverage, where data is of poor quality and in-accurate. Gemcom
therefore assists in the refining of routine mine assessment and in the planning of efficient exploration
programs.

Lily Mine Steep-Dipping Archaean Gold Deposit

The Lily Mine is an open pit gold mine located approximately 24 kilometres crow flight north east of
Barberton in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa (Figure 1). Regionally, the mine workings are
situated along the east-west trending Lily Fault, which defines a major structural break for 20 kilometres
along the northern flank of the Barberton Mountainland. On average, 12,500 tonnes of ore a month is
trucked 17 kilometres up the hill to the Makonjwaan CIL plant and about 25 kilograms (800 ounces) of gold is
recovered every month.

Geology
The Gemcom model at Lily Mine is driven by the lithological and structural controls of the gold
mineralization. This is a steeply dipping Archaean deposit where gold mineralization is hosted by a suite of
fault splays emanating from the Lily Fault. This fault is a major stratigraphic break separating the
Onverwacht Group metavolcanics forming the lower part of the Lily Syncline in the north, from the Fig Tree
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Group metasediments forming part of the Eureka Syncline in the south .

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Gemcom GEMS Gemcom Used in Exploration Planning - Mawson

Figure 1: Locality plan for both the Lily Mine and the Pilgrims Rest area.
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South of the fault (mine hanging wall) is a 20 to 80 metre wide zone called the Lily Zone hosting the
irregularly distributed gold mineralization occurring in an interlayered sequence of banded shales-chertamphibolite and greywacke (Figure 2).

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Gemcom GEMS Gemcom Used in Exploration Planning - Mawson

Figure 2: Simplified section through the Lily Mineralized Zone.

Gemcom
In December 2001, Gemcom Africa (Pty) Ltd was used to initiate a two phase program of data capture,
modeling, resource evaluation, mine design and planning. The first phase of the program created a 3D
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geological model of the Lily Mine ore bodies and generated a grade model . The second phase of the
Gemcom program involved the open pit optimization using Whittle Four-X to derive a profitable economic
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shell for a pit to a depth 30 metres below present floor elevation . The pit was designed (based on this
economic shell) and the scheduling based on the geological block model was completed. From an initial 2
year pit life, with the help of Gemcom, the pit life was extended to 7 years of which there are 3 years left
(Figure 3). Thereafter, mining is planned to be from underground.

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Gemcom GEMS Gemcom Used in Exploration Planning - Mawson

Figure 3: Lily planned final pit showing the remaining ore zones to be mined. Looking to the west.

Gemcom is routinely used to report reserve depletion volumes on a monthly basis. These are compared to
the survey measured depletion in the field. The comparison is then used to update the existing block model
(block size changes, search radius changes, algorithm changes and database up-dates) to improve the
annual estimation of resources and reserves. The most recent Lily block model is illustrated below in figure
4.

Figure 4: Block model of the Intermediate Reef at Lily Mine. Looking north.

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Gemcom GEMS Gemcom Used in Exploration Planning - Mawson

Exploration
The spin-off from this on-going work is that the block model clearly indicates where there are gaps in the
database. This is particularly important for gathering the information that is required for the underground
feasibility studies. Therefore, using the Gemcom block model, the next phase of exploration can be targeted
specifically to fill the information gaps. Once the gaps are identified, the model can also be used to plan the
information density, for example, drill hole spacing. The intersection density should then be adequate to
populate the new block model from which all the future volumetrics are based.

Pilgrims Rest Flat Dipping Proterozoic Gold Reefs

Gold was first discovered in the Sabie Pilgrims Rest area in 1873, and by the time mining ceased in 1971,
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over 200 tonnes of gold had been won . Regular gold production was again started by Transvaal Gold
Mining Estate in September 1999. The present monthly gold production is about 25kg (800 ounces), all won
from the Rho Reef mined at the Clewer, Morgenzon and Dukes Hill Sections.

Geology
The gold mineralization in the Pilgrims Rest area is located in the eastern margins of the Transvaal Basin,
marked effectively by the Drakensberg escarpment (Figure 1). The stratigraphic succession, in decreasing
age upwards, is the Archaean basement granite, minor Godwan Formation sediments and the Transvaal
Supergroup. The mineralization in the area of interest is principally flat bedding parallel shears (dipping 5
west) located mainly on shale partings within the Malmani Dolomites. However, there are other reefs located
in the overlying sediments apart from the dolomite. Figure 5 below illustrates the simplified stratigraphy
surrounding the Rho Reef.

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Gemcom GEMS Gemcom Used in Exploration Planning - Mawson

Figure 5: Simplified Stratigraphic section through the Rho Reef.

At the TGME Mine, the Top Rho Reef is mined from Morgenzon section in the north, through the Clewer
section in the middle, to the Dukes Hill section in the south, a distance of 2.3 kilometres. The reef averages
25 centimetres in thickness, contains up to 98% modal content of pyrite (averages 60% pyrite) that hosts
about 95% of the contained gold (Plate 1). Gentle open folding of the reef accounts for thicker mineralization
and changes in dip and strike are seldom more than a degree or two. Gold mineralization is accompanied by
various sulphides of Fe, Cu, As, Sb and Bi, but fortunately the sulphidic gold ores are not refractory in the
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true sense .

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Gemcom GEMS Gemcom Used in Exploration Planning - Mawson

Plate 1: Top Rho reef containing 75% course grained pyrite in quartz and
calcite hosted by dolomite and black chert.

Exploration
The Rho Reef is known and the hosting stratigraphy well understood. There is no need to look for it on
surface by mapping, geochemistry or geophysics. It is keeping the miners on payable reef that is a whole
new exploration problem. The reef thickness is irregularly distributed and the gold distribution within this reef
is very erratic. Stope payability averages 40% and may get up to 60%. By developing on reef, there is no
way of carrying out underground diamond drilling ahead of development without the large expense of raising
and driving in waste to construct drill cubbies. With regard to drilling from surface, the fact that the reef dips
west, while the rugged topography increases in height westwards, surface diamond drilling 800 to 1000
metre holes hoping for a 25 centimetre intersection of which, at best, 4 out of 10 may indicate payable reef is
not feasible. Exposing new ore is therefore done only by developing on reef. The problem in this case is to
try and identify trends of payability along which the miners can expect good reef with out too much waste
mining.

Gemcom
Underground sampling of the Rho Reef at TGME takes the form of channels cut perpendicularly across the
reef. At each sample site, the position (Lo based X and Y co-ordinate) and channel width is recorded. The
channels are spaced at 2 metre intervals along each wall of the development and 2 metres apart along stope
faces that are sampled after every 3 metres of advance. Therefore every exposure of Rho reef underground
is sampled at least at a 2m x 3m interval (sometimes closer). Over the 2 kilometres of exposed reef strike,
there is now a database comprising 13 thousand assay results recording the position, width, grade and
value (cmg/t Au) of each sample
Various packages have been used to contour gold grade, reef width and gold value trends, and in each
case, the packages were felt to be unsatisfactory for a number of reasons. At the same time, no preferential
mineralization or reef width trends were identified and it was thought this could be due to those contouring
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Gemcom GEMS Gemcom Used in Exploration Planning - Mawson

methods. With the assistance of Gemcom Africa Limited, a block model of the Rho reef was generated using
a block of horizontal dimensions 1metre x 1metre. Each block is 1 centimetre thick. Each of these 720,000
thin blocks was kriged and populated with a cmg/t gold value using ID on a horizontal search radius of 5
metres. In addition, by colouring each block according to the value, a coloured pixel plan of the reef value
is made. If there are any preferential reef value trends (if they do indeed exist) they should be highlighted in
the resultant plan. An example is illustrated in figure 6 below, but it takes a lot of imagination to see any
trends there at all. The company is going to have to settle for the fact that gold mineralization in the Rho
Reef is erratically distributed with no preferred trends. At this stage, reef and as a result, stope preparation,
is going to remain an expensive exercise. Fortunately this is offset by high gold grades and the relatively
simple metallurgy of the Rho Reef.

Detail showing the 1 m blocks populated with the Cmg/t Au

values as per the colour key below.

Values as cmg/t Au for the Top Rho Reef.

Figure 6: A 2 kilometre strike of the Top Rho Reef depicted as a Gemcom generated block model, each block
being 1m x 1m x 0.01m in size and populated with the cmg/t Au coloured to give a pixel style plan to indicate
mineralization trends if they do indeed exist.

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Gemcom GEMS Gemcom Used in Exploration Planning - Mawson

Tanzania Mugusu Project Gold Exploration

Location and History
The Mugusu Project is a fairly advanced gold exploration project belonging to Shanta Mining Company
Limited. It is located in the Geita Greenstone Belt about 100 kilometres west south west of Mwanza in
northern Tanzania, 14 kilometres west of the Geita Gold Mine (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Locating the Mugusu Project in northern Tanzania.

Gold was first discovered at Mugusu in 1913, with sporadic mining and prospecting occurring since then.
Pangea Minerals started drilling in 1996 and published an indicated gold resource estimated to 100 metres
below surface. In-fill drilling early in 1998 refined the resource down to 70 metres below surface but excluded
the upper 25 metres, which has been turned over by the artisanal miners. Work to date has entailed
geological mapping, soil and rock sampling, 1,855 metres of reverse circulation drilling from 23 holes and
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1,630 metres of diamond drilling from 8 holes . The mapping, sampling and drilling information was used to
construct the initial model.

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Gemcom GEMS Gemcom Used in Exploration Planning - Mawson

Geology
Gold is associated with shearing occurring in intrusive quartz felspar porphyry located in the upper Nyanzan
Tuffs. The immediate footwall of the mineralization is hard and massive banded ferruginous chert.
Mineralization occurs as auriferous sulphides and stockwork quartz-sulphide veining in the sheared quartz
felspar porphyry. Mineralization strikes about azimuth 60 and dips around -50 to the southwest. Dip near
surface is -75 and it shallows with depth to about -40 some 200 metres below surface.
Gold mineralization occurs over a 500 metre strike length while the main mineralized zone is about 300
metres long and up to 60 metres wide. Initial drilling indicates that the zones continue in depth to beyond 200
metres. For the purposes of the exploration planning, an open pit potential was assumed and had to be
proved to 100 metres below surface. The initial Pangea drilling certainly indicates that this is feasible.

Gemcom
The information used to create the initial model comprises geological mapping, 142 surface survey points,
489 rock chip and channel sample assays and 1,434 and 1,939 diamond and RC assay results respectively.
Using these data, an initial solid geological model was constructed from screen digitized sections. A block
model was generated and then populated using ID (Figure 8). The volumetrics was used to estimate a
rough geological resource of the potential in-situ gold content bearing in mind that this information base is
compiled from partly unreliable information.

Figure 8: The Mugusu Project block model looking north east.

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Gemcom GEMS Gemcom Used in Exploration Planning - Mawson

The gaps in the exploration database are well illustrated by the block model. These gaps can now be filled
with a second phase of reverse circulation and diamond drilling designed specifically to fill the gaps and
cover areas of unreliable information. Using Gemcom to construct an initial model, even if it is based partly
on unreliable information, allows for a far more efficient usage of exploration funds without unnecessarily
duplicating work.

Conclusion
The Lily Mine block model is driven by detailed, accurate and up to date information derived from everyday
mining activities. The Mugusu Project model however is driven by a few widely spaced bore holes and a
mixture of channel and grab samples, some of questionable quality. In both cases, the models are used to
plan and carry out drilling programs that are effective in producing the optimum amount of information
required for future resource and reserve estimation. The TGME block model was constructed in an attempt
to contour reef values to highlight grade trends in order to assist the underground mining activities.
Whether or not Gemcom was designed to do this is a moot point, but it does work, and in turn illustrates the
versatility of the package.

References
1. Anhaeusser, C. R. 1986. The Lily Gold Mine, Barberton Greenstone Belt: Geology, mineralogy, and
supergene gold enrichment. Mineral Deposits of Southern Africa, (C. R. Anhaeusser and S. Maske,
eds), Geological Society of South Africa, 1, pp. 187-196.
2. Roodt, E. 2001. Report on the Geological consulting work carried out on Lily Mine during the period
13 June to 10 July 2001. Prepared for Cheston Minerals (Pty) Ltd.
3. Johnstone, W. P. 2002 Report on the Revised Geological and Grade Model for the Lily Mine. Phase
2 - Revised. Gemcom Africa Report.
4. Hanson, N. 2002. Pit Optimization and Conceptual Life of Mine Schedule. Phase 3. Gemcom Africa
Report.
5. Fowler, A. R. C. 1968. Mining at Transvaal Gold Mining Estates Limited 1872 to 1967. Journal of
South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. February 1968.
6. Mawson, S. A. 2003. Geological Report for Feasibility_TGME. Prepared for Cheston Minerals (Pty)
Ltd.
7. Milne, B. and Wagendorp, J. 2003. Infill Sampling and Resource Expansion Report. Mugusu Project.
Prepared for Shanta Mining Company Limited.

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form part of any contract. Changes may be made in products or services at any time without notice. Copyright 2011, Gemcom
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