We are facing a global mineral resource crisis. In fact, we have two of them. First, Earth has a finite supply of minerals for a population that is growing faster than at any time in history
(Figure 1.1). Second, mineral consumption is growing even faster than the population. Until recently, we were deeply concerned that most minerals were used in more developed countries (MDCs) with smaller consumption in less developed countries (LDCs) (Table 1.1).

Although aspects of mineral deposit evaluation are covered in such texts as McKinstry (1948), Peters (1978), Reedman (1979) and Barnes (1980), no widely available in-depth treatment of the subject has been presented. It is thus the intention of the present book to produce a text which is suitable for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of mining geology and mining engineering and which, at the same time, is of use to those already following a professional career in the mining industry. An attempt has been made to present the material in such a way as to be intelligible to the average geologist, or engineer, who is perhaps daunted by the more mathematical approach to the subject of orereserves found in more specialist books and papers. Although most of the theory in this book is written using metric units, individual case histories are described using the units employed at each mine at the time of writing <...>

An adequate and dependable nonfuel mineral supply is fundamental to the economic well-being of our industrial society and to our national security. For 20 of the 32 mineral commodities listed in Table 1, the projected cumulative demand by the year 2000 exceeds our domestic reserves.1 For only 3 of these commodities does the United States currently produce as much as it consumes. Even on a worldwide basis, reserves of fully half of the commodities will probably be consumed before the year 2020.

It is necessary to define some fundamental terms that will provide indispensable background for the entire book. The first term to be explained deals with the title of the book: mineral resources. A mineral resource can be defined broadly as the concentration of material of economic interest in or on the Earth’s crust. In this book, it includes solid earth materials such as metals (i.e., copper, gold, iron),

Classification of mineral resource estimates is one of the most important responsibilities of the Competent Person. In recent years, classification decisions have been driven more by the detailed block-by-block attributes generated by the now widely appliedgeostatistical estimation methods, and less by a general geological overview.

Classification of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves is an essential component of Resource/Reserve estimation, and is one of the most important responsibilities of the Competent Person. When carried out appropriately, it accurately conveys the Competent Person’s confidence in the estimates to those who need to make decisions which depend on the estimates, but who have less familiarity with the deposit than the Competent Person.

Mineral resource and ore reserve classification defines the risk associated with quoted resource tonnes and grades, allowing the interested party to make a judgement as to the ‘worth’ of the resource statement. The JORC Code and Guidelines (1992) are now well entrenched as the foundation upon which gold and base metal deposits in particular are publicly reported. There are three categories of resource, namely Measured, Indicated or Inferred reflecting decreasing levels of confidence. The ore reserve, that is the economically mineable part of the resource, is classified as Proven or Probable and can only be drawn from the Measured and Indicated resource categories. <...>

The Australasian Code for reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code) was updated in 1999 (JORC 1999). This paper has been written as an update of Snowden (1996 and 1997) to recognise the large amount of experience with the use of the JORC Code gained by industry over the last four years, and describes the latest developments in technology and toolkits for risk classification.

Справочник «Страны Африки: минеральные ресурсы» содержит информационно-статистические материалы по 48 странам континентальной Африки и Республике Мадагаскар. Справочник содержит общие сведения о стране, ее населении, экономике, внешней экономической деятельности, состоянии минерально-сырьевой базы основных видов твердых полезных ископаемых и производстве основных видов товарной минерально-сырьевой продукции. Также приведена общая характеристика законодательства в области лицензирования недропользования.

The process of estimating a Mineral Resource can only take place after the estimator is convinced of the soundness of the fundamentals underlying the estimation process. Thus the database of sampling, density, and other quality data for both estimation and geological interpretation must have integrity and robustness (Chapter 2);