Building a Gridded Seam

Model
©2011 Dr. B. C. Paul
Note – The term Gridded Seam Model comes from the MineSight package by
Mintec. These slides contain screenshot from the MineSight Computer
program and procedures shown in these slides can also in similar form be
found in Mintec training courses, help menus, training books, and news letters.
Where This Presentation Assumes
You Begin
• You have a project initialized as a gridded
seam project
• You have a collection of uncomposited drill
holes in a “file 11”
• You have a surface
• Your files 10, 11, and 12 exist.
 What We Will Do
• We will set up a drill hole composite file
that will compile and average all the
assays over the height of each seam
– This is called a file 9 (drill hole composite file)
• We will run a MineSight Compass
Procedure to composite the assays
• We will set up a file 15 to contain our
gridded seam model
 More Actions
• We will interpolate the top of the 6 seam from
our drill hole data and store the result in our
GSM Model
• We will interpolate the thickness of the 6 seam
from our drill hole data and store the result in our
GSM Model
• We will calculate the bottom of the 6 seam as
Zbot = Ztop – Thick
• We will prepare a model view so we can look at
our model.
To Build a Drill Hole Composite I
Will Start with MineSight Compass
Under the MineSight
Drop down tab
I select
MineSight Compass
MineSight Compass Starts Up
I click on the Projects
Tab

Then I click on the

Open Project Editor
Box
When the Editor Opens I Get
Ready to Create My File 9 (My
Composite Drill Hole File)
Under the drop
Down menu under
File I select New
It Asks Me What Type of File I
Want to Create
I will click on and
Pick a file 9,
A composite file.
It Offers Me All the Basic Items for
a File and the Chance to Type in
My Own Items
Usually there will be
A number of important
Coal quality
Parameters that I
Need.
 I Type in the List of Parameters I Will Need,
the Expected Ranges for the Values and the
Precision I need in storing the values.
Then I Click the Save Box and it
asks me for my file name
I Type the Project Name and then
Click on Save

It is common to give
The file the 4 letter
Name of the project
And then the number
9. This allows the file
To be easily matched
To the project it goes
With and for people to
Know it is a file 9 or
Drill hole composite
File.
When I Do This the Program Tells
Me That a File 9 has been Added
to the Project
 Progress Report
• The first task of creating a composite file
has been completed
• Our next task will be to composite our
assays over the thickness of each seam.
To Put Data in the Drill Hole Composite File
pick the Seam Compositing Program from
the Compass Menu
Note that I chose the
Menu tab.

Click on the compass

Routine to select and
Run the program.
The First Screen of the Composite
Routine Comes Up
I’m going to tell it to
Start a new file

And if a coal seam is

Missing just omit it.

When I’m ready to

Move to the next
Panel click on the
Go forward arrow
(incidentally you can
Also go back)
The Next Panel is on What Seams
to Composite
Who ever started this
Project allowed 8 seams,
However, my drill hole
Data only covers three
Coal seams so I am
Going to tell the program
To composite only 3
Seams who’s numbers
Are 2, 5, and 8 (seams
1,3,4,6, and 7 were put
There for something else
Not in the current drill
Logs)
The Next Panel Asks Me How to Match Item
Names in My Composite File to Item Names
in My Assay File
I have to tell the
Program what the
Seam variable is in
Each drill hole file.
There are other
Places to indicate if
Names of other items
Don’t match in the
Two drill hole files.
(Since I made both
Drill hole files I was
Pretty consistent in
What I named
Things).
 The Next Panel Asks Me Which Quality
Properties to Composite from the Assay File
into the Composite File.
I match the different
Items using the drop
Down menus. (I
Created both files so
My coal property
Names match in both
Files).

An assay file contains

Sample information
On any drill core
Interval chosen. A
Seam composite file
Averages the assays
Over an entire seam
Height.
I Have Another Panel In Case
There is a Big List of Stuff to
Composite
 It Asks Me About Some Optional
Items that I Don’t Need Right Now
Note that this panel
Indicates it is the last
One before the
Program runs.
The Program Announces Its Intent
to Run
And identifies the
Names of the files it
Will create to report
Results.
You See the Screen Output as the
Program Rapidly Runs
(There was a time
When programs
Took a long time
To run but
Todays computers
Are much faster)
 It Then Gives You a Chance to
Examine the Run Report

Its usually a good idea to read them to make sure everything executed correctly.
 Progress Report
• At this point drill hole composites covering
the 3 coal seam have been prepared.
• The next task will be to ready a file15 for
the gridded seam model.
To Create Our File 15 We Again
Activate MineSight Compass
Under the Project Tab We Click on
the Project File Editor
In the Editor We Create a New File
This Time We Pick a File 15 (A
Gridded Seam Model)
 Each Seam in The Gridded Seam Model
can Have Any Set of Information You Wish
to Keep Track Of
Type in what you like,
Its range of values,
And the precision
With which you want
To store the
Information.

You Will likely want to

Have things about
Elevation, thickness,
And various quality
Or characteristic
Parameters.
When You Are Done Click on the
Save Icon

It asks you what to

Name the file.
Name the File and Click Save

You will probably want

To give it your 4 letter
Project name and the
Number 15.
The Program Proclaims the File
Was Successfully Added
 Progress Report
• Composite files showing the positions of
the coal seams have been prepared
• A file space has been prepared to put the
Gridded Seam Model into.
• We will next use an interpolation program
to calculate a surface that represents the
top of the #6 coal.
From the Compass Menu Pick
Pinterp
The First Panel Asks You A Bunch
of Plotting Questions
Since we are not
Going to plot anything
Right now we
“Just Say No”
 It Wants to Know What To Use for
the Interpolation
I’m going to use a
Drill hole file (check)

It will be my file 9

My position is found
From the northing,
Easting, and Ztop

My result is to become
Part of my gridded
Seam model in my
File 15

I want it to use a
Gradient to interpolate
The top of my seam.
(My drill holes are to sparse and far apart to use Kriging right now)
The Next Panel Wants to Know
What I Will Interpolate
I’m going to
Interpolate by
Seam

Over a range of
#2 to #2
(English translation
I’m going to do
Interpolation on
The number 6
Coal seam)
Which Variable in the Seam Will Be
Interpolated?
This will be the
Second seam in
My Gridded Seam
Model (GSM)

The variable is
Ztop (the elevation
Of the top of the
Number 6 coal)

Reset values to -1
Before calculating
In case there is
Some silly number
There already.
It Wants to Know How Far to Look
for Drill Holes
Since I have an
Idea about how
Good my drill
Grid is I tell it
How far to look
For holes to
Interpolate.
The Program Announces Its Intent
to Run a Large Number of
Subroutines
It Begins to Run
 Progress Report
• We now have the top of the #6 coal seam
coded into our Gridded Seam Model
• Next we will interpolate the thickness of
the coal seam into the Gridded Seam
Model
– We will use simple IDW2 weighting
From the Compass Menu Pick The
IDW Routine
Tell It I Will Add My Results to File
15 in Seam #2

Give it the letters to

Use as an extension on
Its reports.
Tell It How Far to Search for Drill
Holes to Use
Give the Names for the Thickness
Variable in the Block Model and the
Composite
Tell it to use IDW

Tell it to reset the

Value of any block
That is not
Interpolated.
I’m Not Using Any of These
Optional Parameters
None of These Either
Options are Great for Very Specific
Needs But Not My Needs Now
I Will Pass on My Last Options
Panel
The Routine Announces the Name
of Its Reports
And It Begins to Execute
 And Here Is A Report for Me to
Check and Make Sure Things Ran
Ok
 Progress Report
• We now have a gridded seam model that
contains the elevation of the top of the
number 6 coal and its thickness
• The next thing I will do is to use a user
calculation routine and define the elevation
of the seam bottom as Zbot = Ztop - thick
I Pick the User Calculations
Routine
I’m Going to Do this Only for the #6
Coal Seam Right Now (my 2nd
Seam in the GSM)
The Variables I Will Use Are Thick,
Ztop and Zbot
No Options Right Now
The Equation I Want to Have Used
is Zbot = Ztop - Thick
The Results are to be Stored in
Zbot
The Program Announces the
Names of Its Report Files
And Begins to Execute
And I Have a Nice Report File to
Check
 Progress Report
• The Top Elevation, Thickness, and Bottom
Elevation of the #6 coal seam have all
been calculated and put in our GSM Model
• We will next take a peak at that model
I First Identify the Directory I Will
Put My Model View in
From the File Menu I Pick a New
Model View
It Wants to Know What I Will Name
This Model View
Because I am so
Creative I will call it
GSM Model

And will click Ok

It Needs to Know What Project
Control File to Reference
Pick my file 10 for
This project

And then click

Open.
It Now Wants to Know What Model
to Look at
I pick my file
15 (GSM Model)

And click Ok
It Asks Me What to Display And
Suggests the Top of 6 Coal

I can go for that so

I click Ok
It Show Me A Color Range
Ya I’ll buy that for a
First try – click the
Close box
Now I’m Upset! There is Nothing
There
 Before Punching the Computer Screen or
Bursting into Tears I Decide to Take Another
Look at My Model View.
I pick my model
View and then
Right click to pop
Up the menu

Then I pick
Properties.
 Under the Range Tab I Set the
Level to Study to My 6 Coal Seam
Using the Slider Boxes
The clue that I will
Look at the #6
Coal is this label
That says
coal6
Wow I Think I’ve Got Something
I Pan Around and Zoom Out

Oh I think I have a
Big twist or discontinuity
Here.
I Can Use Query to Get a Run
Down on Various Points in the
Model
The ? Icon is for
Query.

I click on it and then

A point in the model

And I get a run down

On that point

When I’m done with

My Queries I right
Click my mouse.
I Think I’d Like to See My Coal
Thickness
Pick my model view

Right click to bring up

The menu

Pick Properties.
Pick the Display Tab
Click on the little blue
Box and pick
Thick
Pick My Color Code Box

Click in the Cutoff

Box and then
Click on intervals
It Ask Me About My Interval Range

Put in a reasonable
Range and interval
For the coal seam
You are studying

And click Ok
It Gives Me My Range

Select properties
Set the Color Range

Exit the boxes

Looks Like I’m Pinching Out In
Here
 Well I’m Sure That Was Fun
• Now I Bet You Can’t Wait to do this for
your other coal seams.