The Economic Definition of Ore | Kenneth F. Lane | Cut off grades in theory and practice

Inevitably, the question that is asked about any body of mineralisation is - Does it containt ore? Or, more strictly- Does it contain any potential ore?

An inconvenient consequence of adopting an economic definition of ore is that there is no longer any inherent property of the mineralised which permits an answer to this question in isolation. Although exploration personnel often calculate a 'dollar value per ton of rock' in order to assess target, in fact, minerals in the ground have no explicit value. Not until they have been extracted, treated and delivered to a customer is any value realised. Therefore, the economics of ore definition cannot be assessed separately from the economics of the total mining process. Indeed, it is the economics of the mining process which determine the economic definition of ore.

Book | PDF | 33.4 MB | 151 pages| English