Manual Micomine Drillholes

MICROMINE Version 11.
0 Training
Part 7 Drillholes 1
PART 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS

LESSON 1 PRELIMINARY DRILLHOLE INVESTIGATION ................................................................. 1
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 1
DRILLING STATISTICS .............................................................................................................................. 1
GETTING MORE (OR LESS) FROM DRILLHOLE DATA ........................................................................................... 5
LESSON 2 SUMMARISING DRILLING RESULTS ............................................................................ 10
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 10
ONE-RECORD-PER-HOLE SUMMARIES........................................................................................................... 11
Examples ...................................................................................................................................... 11
MULTIPLE-RECORDS-PER-HOLE SUMMARIES .................................................................................................. 15
Examples ...................................................................................................................................... 15
LESSON 3 CREATING DRILLHOLE LOGS........................................................................................ 22
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 22
Log display vs. extraction ................................................................................................................ 27
SIDEBARS
An alternative way to calculate drillhole summary statistics.......................................................................... 3
Identifying properties with irregular boundaries ......................................................................................... 6
Copyright Micromine 2009
Revision 2009-05D1
Part 7 Drillholes 1
MICROMINE Version 11.0 Training
Revision 2009-05D1
Lesson 1 Preliminary
Drillhole Investigation
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Duration: XX minutes
The geologist in charge of a drilling programme is commonly asked one of
two questions while the programme is under way: how many holes have
been drilled totalling how many metres, and what significant intervals were
intersected? This and the following lessons will teach you the tools needed to
generate both results.
This lesson will teach you to prepare basic summaries of data held in drillhole
databases.
After this lesson you will be able to:
Create summaries of holes drilled and total depths;
Summarise assay statistics;
Create distributions of assay data.
Introduction
As well as displaying data MICROMINE has many functions that manipulate
drillhole data. These functions are located in the Drillhole menu mainly in
the Calculations and Compositing sub-menus.
There are also a number of data manipulation functions, commonly applied
to drilling information, that are located in the File | Fields | menu.
Note that you cannot use any file manipulation functions that create new
values and fields on ODBC or Microsoft Access or GBIS linked files. However,
these linked files can be saved as DATA files prior to use.
Drilling Statistics
In the following exercise youll generate basic drillhole summary statistics,
comprising the number of holes drilled and their total length.
Exercise 1.1: Generate drillhole summary statistics

To count the number of holes and total number of metres found within the
Example drillhole data:
1.
Select Drillhole | Calculations | Extraction from the main menu.
1.
Select EXAMPLE_COLLAR as the Input File.
Page 7.1
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
2.
Modify the file to add a CALC field, Numeric, 6 Characters 0 decimals.

Enter 1 in the START field of the Modify Form and Close. This will
replicate the value in all records.
3.
Set up the dialog as indicated below:
4.
On the Drillhole Extraction dialog note the following:
Constant field 1 = CALC. The function reads the file from the top and
performs the action selected in the Extraction type window on
successive records that have the same value in this field.
Extraction type = SUM. This tells the function to calculate the total of
all the numeric fields.
By checking the Use other extraction types and selecting the CALC
field to extract the SUM, the function will total the values in this field,
which equals the number of drillholes in the file. If you are operating on
the whole file (no Filter set) this step is not strictly necessary as the
number of holes in the file will equal the number of records in the file.
This step is used to write the total number of holes in the Output file
so it can be used as required for other reporting purposes.
The Character field output can be any of the options.
5.
Run the function and examine the output file, shown here (some fields
have been hidden for clarity):
The fields of interest are TDEPTH, which contains the sum of the drillhole
depths, and CALC, which contains the number of drillholes in the file.
Page 7.2
The other numbers are meaningless and may be hidden or removed as

required.
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Note that you cannot perform this operation on the EXAMPLE_ASSAY

interval file and get the correct answer. The maximum TO value is not
necessarily the total depth of a drillhole. This information is only located
in a properly verified collar file.
In the next exercise youll use the statistical tools of MICROMINE to calculate
some basic information about the assay data.
Exercise 1.2: Generate basic assay statistics

Before commencing any detailed analysis of an assay interval file you can
use the basic statistics functions to determine the range of values and
various estimates of the median and mode of the values.
This is a basic part of the data validation process. Validation of a drillhole
database checks the relationship between files and interval values; it does
not check the assay values.
This process is concerned with discovering gross errors in the data, i.e. that
no values in a percentage field are outside the range 0-100.
1.
Select Stats | Descriptive | Normal/Ln from the main menu.
2.
Select EXAMPLE_ASSAY as the Input File.
3.
Click the Fields... button, set the Weighting field to INTERVAL and
the first two Field Names to AU1 and AG. There is no need to set Min,
Max, or Cut Values.
4.
Click the Numeric Exceptions button and set all three exceptions.
5.
Enter EXAMPLE_ASSAY_DES_STATS as the Output file and Run the

function.
6.
MICROMINE will calculate and display a range of statistics for each field,
which you can browse by clicking the Next or Previous buttons.
7.
Close the Descriptive Statistics dialog and then right-click the Output
file response. Note the contents of the file, which reproduce the
information originally displayed on the dialog.
An alternative way to calculate drillhole summary

statistics
You can also use Descriptive Statistics to generate the holes and metres
report from Exercise 1.1. In this case, use EXAMPLE_COLLAR as the
Input File and TDEPTH as the Field Name. No. of points represents
the number of holes, and the Sum the total metres drilled. The
disadvantage of this method is the output cannot be used as the input for
any other report or calculation, whereas the output from Drillhole
Extraction can.
Page 7.3
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
In the workplace you should examine the values for each field to determine if
they are within the expected range.
In the next exercise youll display a histogram of the assay data, which will
reveal the statistical distribution of the values.
Exercise 1.3: Generate distribution statistics of assay data

Further examine the EXAMPLE_ASSAY file by graphically displaying the
distribution of values. This is another way of validating data, and a
preliminary step in the resource calculation process.
To do this:
1.
Select Stats | Distribution from the main menu.
2.
Set the Input File to EXAMPLE_ASSAY and the Graph field to AU1.
3.
Click the Numeric Exceptions button and set all three exceptions.
4.
Set the Graph type to HISTOGRAM and the Values used to NATURAL
LOG.
5.
Click the Graph Limits button and set the options as listed here:
Prompt
Setting
Graph min:
[Double-click to set]
End first bin:
blank
Bin size:
Graph max:
[Double-click to set]
Graph increment:
blank
6.
Click the Graph Options button set Graph colour and Line colour to
red, the Normal curve colour to green, set all options, set Display
mode to LINE and Line type to SOLID.
7.
Click the Analysis button, select any six Population colours, and set a
contrasting Model colour.
8.
Save the form and Run the function. Your display should resemble the
diagram on the following page.
9.
Optionally experiment with different values to see their effect on the

display.
You can improve the display of NATURAL LOG data by manually setting
the Graph min to the lowest data value (usually the detection limit).
Notice also that from the graphic display a new menu line is displayed at the
top of the screen. The Mode menu allows you to switch between Histogram,
Cumulative Frequency (Cum freq) and Probability Plot (Prob plot) displays.
Page 7.4
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Clicking on the graph will display the Bin number, Min and Max value for the
bin, its Centroid value and the number of Points in the bin within the
Information Box at the right of the screen.
The Model menu option allows you to statistically Decompose the data into
the separate populations that may be contained within it, or to fit a
3 Parameter model to remove bias from NATRAUL LOG values.
A histogram allows you to determine if there is more than one population
within the sample. This in turn requires you to identify the limits of each
population, either geographically of statistically, so each can be modelled
separately for anomaly definition, or for resource calculation.
Further detailed analysis of the distribution of samples is beyond the limits of
this course. For more information on using the histogram, refer to Part 14
Statistical Essentials, which is part of the Advanced Exploration or Block
Modelling course.
Getting More (or Less) from

Drillhole Data
Sometimes you need to divide your drillhole data in a way that makes it
easier to separate different groups of drillholes by a parameter such as their
coordinate values, the name of the property theyre within, or their drill date.
In the next two exercises youll learn how to set up your data for this kind of
use.
Page 7.5
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Exercise 1.4: Use more than one drillhole database

In this exercise youll learn to prepare different drillhole databases from the
same data files in order to accomplish different objectives.
Step 1: determine how to classify the drillhole data

Assume that a large amount of drilling data is available over a large
landholding. In the process of exploring this area, prospects in separate
geographical areas have been discovered and drilled in detail.
It makes sense to create separate drillhole databases for these different
areas. The EXAMPLE_COLLAR file contains a PROPERTY field, which is
currently empty. Youll use that to classify the drillholes according to their
coordinate.
1.
Open EXAMPLE_COLLAR and apply a filter (Filter | Edit Filter from the
Editor menu) that defines North >= 15880. Be sure to set the Condition
as Numeric.
2.
Click Save and Close to apply the filter, and then select Filter | Use
Filtered Records (or press Ctrl+F4) to restrict the following step to
just the filtered records.
3.
Enter the text NORTH in the first filtered PROPERTY record and press
Ctrl+R to replicate that value to the end of the file. All collars north of
15880 are now marked in the PROPERTY field.
4.
Invert the filter and use the same technique to enter SOUTH into the
remaining PROPERTY records.
Identifying properties with irregular boundaries

In the workplace, different property boundaries are usually stored as
polygons in either a GIS application or MICROMINE. You can use those
polygons to assign the property names to the collar file using the
Modelling | Assign Outlines function.
Page 7.6
5.
Select Drillhole | Database | Create from the main menu to set up a

database called PROSPECTS using the settings in the diagram on the
following page.
6.
Optionally, Use EXAMPLE_EVENTS as an Event File.
7.
Use EXAMPLE_ASSAY and EXAMPLE_LITH as interval files.
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
8.
Click OK to create the PROSPECTS database.
This database is different from the EXAMPLE database because it uses an

attribute in the file to allow definition of two different prospects (NORTH
and SOUTH), which can be selected on the Drillhole Trace dialog in
Vizex.
To display the different prospects do the following:
9.
Double-click Drillhole Trace in the Vizex Form Sets pane and select
PROSPECTS as the Database. Set up a simple plan trace display using
the EXAMPLE_LITH file, and save it as a form set with the Title
Drillholes by prospect.
10. After displaying the plan, double-click the Drillholes by prospect

Display layer to reopen the Drillhole Trace dialog.
11. Switch to the Input Data tab and set the Filter checkbox. Right click
the blank filter response to display the DHDB Filter Setup dialog.
12. If a filter has already been created, select New from the pop-up menu.
13. Pull down the first Field Name list and select ATTRIBUTE FIELD 1,
which you previously configured to contain the PROPERTY information.
14. Enter NORTH in the Value field and Save this as a form set with the
Title North Prospect.
Page 7.7
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
15. Repeat the process to define another filter that uses SOUTH as the
Value, and save that as a form set titled South Prospect.
Now that youve defined how the drillholes will be separated into the NORTH
and SOUTH prospects, youll display holes from the individual prospects in
the next exercise.
Exercise 1.5: Filter drillhole data

Exercise 1.4 took the drilling data and separated it into two geographical
areas. All thats needed to display the different prospects is to use one of the
database filters you just created.
Switch between the NORTH and SOUTH displays

A database filter is similar to an ordinary MICROMINE filter. It is only applied
to the collar file used when the database is defined; this means you only
have to select the database name when applying a filter.
To apply the database filter:
Page 7.8
1.
Reopen the Drillholes by prospect form if it is not already open.
2.
Set the Filter checkbox (if it is not already set), double-click the filter
response, and select the North prospect form set.
3.
Click OK to display only the drillholes north of 15880N.
4.
Repeat the above steps to display the drillholes south of 15880N.
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Lesson 1 Summary
This lesson has shown you how to use a drillhole database to selectively
display data. A collection of drill data can be grouped or classified in a variety
of ways depending on the outcome required.
The topics covered are:
Using more than one drillhole database definition.
Identifying what data to display.
Define classification values in the collar file.
Setting filters using the classifications.
Displaying different database views.
Filters are only applied to the collar file.
Move between displays by selecting different filters.
Good Practice
Using filters on a database is better practice than trying to maintain separate
collar and other data files for different prospects. There is only one version of
the collar file for a large area.
Areas that are initially recognised as separate prospects can overlap with
further drilling. All that is necessary to reclassify drillholes is to change the
values in the collar file that identify the prospect.
Help Topics
For information on:
See:
Creating a
Drillhole Database
Drillholes > Drillhole databases >

Using drillhole databases
Filtering a
Drillhole Database
Drillholes > Drillhole databases >

Filtering drillhole databases
Page 7.9
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Lesson 2 Summarising
Drilling Results
This lesson will teach you to prepare single record and multiple record
summaries from different drillhole files.
Exploration drilling results are commonly manipulated prior to display.
After this lesson youll be able to:
Extract bottom of hole assays;
Determine minimum, maximum and weighted average values;
Merge extracted data from assay or geology files back to collar files.
Introduction
The techniques described here are some examples of the calculations and
extractions that can be made using the Drillhole |Calculations |
Extraction function.
This is an extremely versatile function; its use is not confined to drillhole
interval data files but can be used on any suitably sorted file.
Drillhole interval data must be sorted by HOLE ID, then by ascending FROM
values. When Drillhole Extraction is used on a drillhole interval file the HOLE
ID field (e.g. HOLE) is used as Constant field 1. When you run this function
to, say, extract the highest assay in a field for every hole, MICROMINE reads
through every record in the file from the top and finds, for each hole, the
record with the maximum value. When the HOLE ID changes the record with
the highest assay is written to the Output file.
This process is repeated with variations as changes are made to the form. If
a lithology field is selected as Constant field 2 and the function is Run to
extract average values, it will calculate the average grade of each lithology
interval for each hole and write that to the output file.
Special handling is available for character fields. Special handling can also be
applied to individual numeric fields; the function can extract any mix of
extraction types for different fields.
Other data files, such as block model files, can be examined through this
function. If you wanted to extract the top and bottom elevation of columns
of equal sized blocks in order to create a DTM surface you would first sort
the block model by North, East and RL, in that order. Then use North as
Constant field 1, East as Constant field 2 and extract successively the
Maximum and Minimum RL to different files. Now add and subtract half the
block size to the Top and Bottom RL values and use these points to create a
DTM or Grid.
Page 7.10
One-record-per-hole Summaries
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
The following exercises extract one-record-per-drillhole by performing the

selected action sequentially from the start of the file on every record in the
file (unless a filter is applied). The grouping, or classification, is created by
constant values in successive records in one or more of the Constant fields.
The most common examples of one-record-per-hole summarise include:
End-of-hole values
Extracts the record from the bottom sample in each drillhole. Commonly
used to plot Bottom_of_Hole geology from exploration drilling.
Minima, maxima, or weighted averages

Extracts the record with the maximum value of a selected field for each
drillhole. Commonly used to generate grids or contours of geochemical
data.
Merging extracted data with collar coordinates

The initial step of a process with the object of adding values to a field in a
collar or other file based on some value in an assay, lithology or event file.
For example, prior to block modelling it is necessary to identify the holes that
contain samples that are part of a particular domain. Domains are commonly
defined by wireframes, which are Assigned to interval files. Extraction of
single records that identify these domains is necessary so that they can
either be applied as a Filter or merged to a file that identifies multiple records
that can be used as input to a process.
Exercise 2.1: Extract the end-of-hole LITH

Typical of this type of extraction is creating plan displays of bottom of hole
lithology.
1.
Select Drillhole | Calculations | Extraction form and select or enter

values shown in the diagram on the following page.
Although this is an interval file it is not necessary to enter the From and
To field names.
Page 7.11
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
2.
Run the function and examine the Output file, which will resemble
this:
3.
Notice that record 2 has a blank LITH value. This is caused by a missing
value in the original file.
4.
To overcome this set the filter shown on the following page in the
Drillhole Extraction dialog.
This filter forces the extraction to operate on records that have a LITH value.
This means the value extracted is not the lithology of the bottom of the hole
but rather the last record in each hole with a LITH value.
Page 7.12
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
5.
Re-Run the function and inspect the modified Output file.
6.
Save the Drillhole Extraction form as a form set Titled EOH Lith.
Exercise 2.2: Extract maximum AU1 from the EXAMPLE_ASSY

file:
1.
Modify the Drillhole Extraction form and select or enter values as

follows:
Page 7.13
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
2.
Examine the Output file. This extraction writes the complete record
that contains the maximum AU1 value for each hole.
Variations on this extraction could include using the LITH field as Constant
field 2; which would output the maximum AU1 value for each separate
lithology.
3.
Save the Drillhole Extraction form as a form set Titled Max AU1.
The extracted file records may contain coordinates but these will not
correspond to the collar of the associated drillhole. Even vertical holes will
contain elevation differences. In the next exercise youll merge the extracted
information back into the collar file so you can create a plan display showing
the distribution of values.
Exercise 2.3: Merge extractions to the collar coordinates

One record per hole summaries are usually merged back to the collar file for
display purposes.
1.
Open and then Modify the EXAMPLE_COLLAR file to add the following
fields:
BOH_LITH C 10 0
MAX_AU1 N 8 2
Page 7.14
2.
Select Edit | Tools | Merge | MM from the Editor menu, or click the
Merge Menu button followed by MM, to display the Merge dialog, and
fill it out as shown here:
3.
Click the Merge Fields button and select the following:
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
4.
Click the Merge button to write the EOH_LITH values to the BOH_LITH
field in the EXAMPLE_COLLAR file.
5.
Repeat the above steps to merge the AU1 value from the
NVG_MAX_AU1 file into the MAX_AU1 field in the EXAMPLE_COLLAR file.
6.
Optionally, display the collars as a Vizex Points layer, colouring by

BOH_LITH (using the Lithology colours colour set) or MAX_AU1 (using
the Drillhole Au1 statistical colour set) as desired.
Multiple-records-per-hole
Summaries
Examples of multiple-records-per-hole summaries are:
Simplified lithology
Generates a simplified lithological file from typical field logging in which
logging is carried out at fixed sample intervals, causing long geological
intervals to be repeated over several samples.
Significant intersections
Extracts composited intersections above a specified cut-off or threshold
value. Minimum interval length and inclusion of waste material can be
used to finely control the output.
Gram-metre values
Uses the extracted average grade and accumulated interval length to
calculate a length-grade product.
Page 7.15
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Page 7.16
Exercise 2.4: Create a lithology file from field sample records

1.
Select Drillhole | Calculations | Extraction from the main menu and

fill out the form as follows:
2.
Open EXAMPLE_FIELD_LOG to view the input file.
3.
This is a typical field log as prepared with the Micromine FIELD

MARSHAL program, or imported from another file editor.
The geologic fields LITH and ALT will be used to create the lithology log
file. The LITH field contains the rock type codes and is the primary field,
the ALT field contains codes for the weathering intensity.
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
The INTERVAL field does not have values entered. This type of file
normally contains regular intervals as defined by the FROM-TO values,
the field is only used for the composited output file.
4.
The form as shown above will generate composited records from

samples where both the values in the LITH and ALT fields are the same
in successive records.
5.
Note that the INTERVAL value has been calculated and written to the
file. The SAMPLE value written to the file will be the character string
from the FIRST record of the group.
6.
An interesting feature of this dialog is that it will produce the same

output regardless of the Extraction type selection (SUBUNIT excepted).
7.
If there is only one geology interval use the Drillhole | Compositing |

Geology menu with the following setup:
Page 7.17
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
8.
Note that this dialog does not have the exception handling or calculation
functions of the Drillhole | Extraction menu. This process will create
the following output:
9.
Once this and other files of this type are created it is good practice to
modify the files to delete the spurious and incorrect fields such as
SAMPLE so they will not be used improperly.
Exercise 2.5: Extract AU1 assays over 0.8 g/t

To a significant intersections file, write each contiguous interval to a separate
record. Calculate the gram-metre values for each output interval.
Page 7.18
1.
Select Drillhole | Calculation | Extraction from the main menu and

select or enter values as follows:
2.
The filter in this case is set to Au1 > 0.8 with the Numeric checkbox
set. This will calculate intersections where all the intervals are greater
than 0.8 g/t.
3.
Setting the Maximum gap length to a value less than the smallest
sample interval causes the function to exclude intervals that are
excluded by the filter.
4.
The thickness of each interval will be calculated and written to the

INTERVAL field. This is done by entering the following in the Use other
extraction types More....
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Page 7.19
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
5.
Note that the above process is not compositing assays, it is extracting

selected records and doing various mathematical operation on them.
Compositing is examined in detail in Part 12 Drillholes 2.
Exercise 2.6: Calculate the gram-metre product of the

extraction intervals
Once the calculation is complete, open the Output file for editing in order to
calculate the gram - meter product.
Page 7.20
1.
Click on the Calculator icon to open the following form:
2.
The result field, G_M will be created by the function and the product will
be written to this field.
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Lesson 2 Summary
This lesson has shown you how to extract required records from an interval
file and use the extracted records to calculate required values.
Extractions are based on Numeric or Character fields and can be performed
with any suitable file.
Topics covered are:
Calculate significant intersections:
Set a filter to identify the values to be extracted;
Use the other extraction type dialog to perform different operations on
some fields;
Calculate further values from extracted files:
Extracted values can be used to derive values that are not present in the
original files by using the editor Calculator or similar tools.
Good Practice
Use this dialog any time you have to create summaries from existing files.
Among the output you can produce is:
Maximum assay value per hole
Maximum assay values in different lithologies for each hole
Sums of values for selected holes
Weighted averages across various intervals
Help Topics
For information on:
See:
Drillhole Calculations
Drillhole extractions >Drillhole extraction

calculations
Drillhole Calculations
Drillhole extractions > Example Extractions
Page 7.21
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Lesson 3 Creating Drillhole

Logs
This lesson will teach you how to display values of individual drillholes on the
screen and interactively identify, calculate and display intersection values.
After this lesson youll be able to:
Display individual drillholes as graphic logs;
Calculate multiple intersections and write them to a file;
Output individual logs as plots.
Introduction
There are many ways to calculate and display drillhole intersections,
automatic compositing is covered in Part 12 Drillholes 2.
This lesson allows you display individual holes and values on the screen and
graphically select the intervals to be composited. Results are written to a
separate file, which can then be displayed beside the individual holes.
Multiple intersections can be interpreted for each hole but must be arranged
from the top to the bottom of the hole, and intersections cannot overlap.
Exercise 3.1: Set up a log display

Select Drillhole | Log | Intersections from the main menu. This function
allows you to totally control the display of individual drillholes.
The following display is but one example that can be displayed. A selection
can be made between Hatch, Graph, Intersection and Multi-field displays.
Once displayed a new menu line opens that allows starting and stopping
depths to be selected while MICROMINE calculates and displays weighted
average interval intersections.
Additionally there is a Strip Log dialog that enables users to display up to ten
different fields in a choice of formats.
Plots of all these displays can be prepared.
Page 7.22
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
This display is prepared using the following dialog:
Because of the number of choices available the preferred method of laying

out the display is to create the hole trace with its reference scale, then add
Page 7.23
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
the required selection of values, events, hatches graphs, intersections and

multi-field displays.
The display does not reference a Vizex drillhole database so the required files
must be individually selected.
1.
The Collar file and Collar Fields identify hole location and hole depth.
2.
Hole ID identifies the drill hole to be displayed. If no list file is selected

the holes will be displayed in the order they appear in the Collar file.
3.
A List file can be selected. If used this controls the sequence in which
the holes are displayed. It can contain as little as one field, to contain
the Hole ID. If selected, the Collar file must also be selected as this
contains the coordinate and depth information.
4.
The Downhole reference scale enables the display of downhole

depths.
Display limits
5.
The Min and Max depth fields contain the range of downhole depths to
be displayed. The Min is commonly blank and the Max should be equal
to the depth of the deepest hole.
6.
The X range field defines the relative horizontal width of the display.
The left hand margin of the display is always at a value of zero.
Commonly a value of 100 is used, the position of the other display
features are then defined using values between 0 and 100.
7.
The Trace X location requires a value for the position of the vertical
drillhole trace. In the above display 10 is used.
Display
8.
The Hole Annotation dialog controls the parameters of the top and
bottom hole information . Collar coordinate displays can be suppressed
by inserting the @ symbol in the relevant field.
9.
The Trace, Value, Events, Hatch and Graph dialogs allow you to
select information to be displayed. These are standard MICROMINE
objects and will not be described in detail. Each requires an offset
location measured from the reference position followed by display
values.
Exercise 3.2: Interactively measure significant intersections

Once the basic display is prepared you can interactively calculate and display
intersections on screen and write them to a separate file, as well as write a
code identifying the intersection back to the interval file.
Calculate intersections
1.
Page 7.24
To calculate and display length-weighted intersections check the

Calculate intersections prompt and open the dialog.
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
2.
There are four possible Run modes:
OUTPUT INTERSECTION: Calculated intersection written only to the

Output File. Code field in Input File is disabled.
ASSIGN CODE: Output File disabled, Code is written to the Code field
of the Input File.
OUTPUT & ASSIGN: Calculated intersection is written to the Output File

and Code is written to Code field in Input File.
DISPLAY ONLY: Output to screen only.
3.
The Input File is an interval file that contains values to be calculated

and a Code field to which an identifier will be written. Up to six fields can
be selected for calculation.
4.
When you select Gaps = missing the length of the sample of any
missing value in any field over an interval is treated as NULL for
averaging. When you clear it, the interval is included in the averaging
and treated as if it had a value of zero.
5.
The Output File must exist. It is usually created by copying the

structure if the Input File. The Thick field will receive the width of the
intersection.
Display output
To display the results of the calculation you must check at least one of the
Intersect/MF 1 boxes in the Display group. There are two possible
Display mode settings. The MULTIFIELDS option is only used for displaying
existing data; select the INTERSECTIONS option to display the results of the
calculations.
1.
The Input File will normally be the Output File that was defined in
Calculate Intersections dialog.
Page 7.25
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
2.
In the Thickness Annotation box enter the text that will follow the
thickness value i.e. metres.
3.
The Side list controls placement relative to the trace.
4.
The Field box allows selection of the values to display. This can include
character fields to enable constructions like 3.2 metres at 23.5 g/t Au to
be created where the metres at and the g/t Au components are
contained in different fields. Use the Justify options and the Width
values to format the output.
5.
The Label box controls the delimiters that appear between the values
and their Colour, the Offset distance and the Size factor. The Size
factor will not be reflected on the display screen but will be written to
any plot file and will be reflected in the output.
6.
The Ticks box enables control and placement of ticks for the calculated
intersections. A vertical line joining the left side of the tick marks serves
to distinguish intersection displays from multi-field displays.
Making the Calculation

7.
Click on the Run button. MICROMINE will display the graphic log of the
hole and a new menu and icon bar.
Regardless of the length of the hole the complete range as defined in the
Max depth field will be displayed. To zoom to the complete hole click on the
Zoom Hole icon. You can also zoom to any part of the hole using the Zoom
menu function which will allow you to click on the upper and lower limits as
required. When zoomed in so that not all of the hole is displayed triangles
appear at the top and bottom of the trace.
The PgUp and PgDn menu items move the display at the current scale
when not all the hole is displayed.
Prev and Next move to the adjacent holes in the List file (if used).
To make a calculation select the Intersect menu. A horizontal red line will
appear; use the mouse to move the line to the upper limit of the intersection.
Notice that the line will only attach itself to an interval boundary, you cannot
subdivide the intervals. Left click to fix the upper boundary then repeat the
process to define the lower limit of the interval.
Notice that as you move the mouse after the upper limit is selected the
Hole, From and To values and the Interval are displayed on the right hand
side of the display with the calculated values for each field defined.
Left click on the lower boundary. An Output intersection to file? Query
appears. Select Yes to write the complete intersection to the Output File. A
Key in code prompt appears, enter the identifier of the interval then OK.
This will add the code to the Output File and prompt for Another
Intersection?
Continue to add intersections as required. Note that you should create the
intersections from the top down. You are creating a new interval file; these
files must be arranged in order of increasing From values. If you enter
intersections out of order they will be written to the Output file, which must
then be sorted by Hole and From before it can be used.
Page 7.26
Intersections should not overlap. If you require different calculations that will
produce overlaps they must be put in different intersection files.
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Viewing the result

Once the intersections have been digitised click on the Refresh button in the
Icon bar.
This will regenerate the display using the contents of the Output file as
defined in the Intersect/MF 1 dialog. The result should resemble the image at
the start of the lesson.
Click the Next menu item to move to the next drillhole in the List file and
select Intersect to process that hole.
If you close the Drillhole Intersection Display then run the function again you
will be prompted to Overwrite or Append the existing Output file. The
default is Append, which will add any new intersections to the existing file.
If you select Overwrite the current contents of the file will be deleted.
Log Display vs. Drillhole Extraction

The log display is totally under the users control so can be used as an
interpretation tool. It allows the user to be somewhat subjective by using any
of the displayed information to decide where intersection boundaries to be
set.
The contrasts with the Drillhole | Calculations | Extraction process that
uses a rigorous process of calculating intersection intervals based on fixed
values of minimum output thickness and maximum gap lengths, plus other
parameters.
This loss of interpreted input is balanced by the speed of the extraction
process. Hundreds of holes can be calculated quickly whereas the log display
requires each intersection to be selected manually.
The extraction process provides a consistent set of conditions to the
calculation of intersections.
Page 7.27
Part 7 Drillholes 1
Notes:
Lesson 3 Summary
This lesson has shown you how to display drillholes in a form that allows
subjective interpretation and composition of intervals. It enables users to
select intervals that cannot be identified using the Extraction and
Compositing functions.
New output files may be prepared that can be added to a Drillhole Database.
Set up display
Define the trace location of the drillhole trace.
Position the relevant values.
Prepare an output file to contain the calculations.
Indentify the Intervals
Select holes in an order that augments interpretation in adjacent
locations.
Select interval values from the top down.
Interpret intervals by varying the width of selected samples.
Good Practice
This function would not be used to calculate intersections in numerically
large databases. Its application is where a hole-by-hole geological
interpretation can produce a superior result to one of the compositing
options.
Help Topics
Page 7.28
For information on:
See:
Drillhole intersections
Drillholes > Advanced Drillhole functions >

Drillhole Log > Calculating and displaying
drillhole intersections
Displaying results
... Drillhole Log > Intersections: Display Tools
Multiple fields
... Drillhole Log> Intersections:

Displaying multiple fields

Manual Micomine Drillholes

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Manual Micomine Drillholes

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

MICROMINE Version 11.

PART 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Copyright Micromine 2009

MICROMINE Version 11.0 Training

Copyright Micromine 2009

MICROMINE Version 11.0 Training

Create summaries of holes drilled and total depths;

Summarise assay statistics;

Create distributions of assay data.

Exercise 1.1: Generate drillhole summary statistics

Select Drillhole | Calculations | Extraction from the main menu.

Select EXAMPLE_COLLAR as the Input File.

Copyright Micromine 2009

MICROMINE Version 11.0 Training

Modify the file to add a CALC field, Numeric, 6 Characters 0 decimals.

Set up the dialog as indicated below:

On the Drillhole Extraction dialog note the following:

The Character field output can be any of the options.

Copyright Micromine 2009

MICROMINE Version 11.0 Training

The other numbers are meaningless and may be hidden or removed as

Note that you cannot perform this operation on the EXAMPLE_ASSAY

Exercise 1.2: Generate basic assay statistics

Select Stats | Descriptive | Normal/Ln from the main menu.

Select EXAMPLE_ASSAY as the Input File.

Enter EXAMPLE_ASSAY_DES_STATS as the Output file and Run the

An alternative way to calculate drillhole summary

Copyright Micromine 2009

MICROMINE Version 11.0 Training

Exercise 1.3: Generate distribution statistics of assay data

Select Stats | Distribution from the main menu.

End first bin:

Optionally experiment with different values to see their effect on the

Copyright Micromine 2009

MICROMINE Version 11.0 Training

Getting More (or Less) from

Copyright Micromine 2009

MICROMINE Version 11.0 Training

Exercise 1.4: Use more than one drillhole database

Step 1: determine how to classify the drillhole data

Identifying properties with irregular boundaries

Select Drillhole | Database | Create from the main menu to set up a

Optionally, Use EXAMPLE_EVENTS as an Event File.

Use EXAMPLE_ASSAY and EXAMPLE_LITH as interval files.

Copyright Micromine 2009

MICROMINE Version 11.0 Training

Click OK to create the PROSPECTS database.

This database is different from the EXAMPLE database because it uses an

10. After displaying the plan, double-click the Drillholes by prospect

Copyright Micromine 2009

MICROMINE Version 11.0 Training

Exercise 1.5: Filter drillhole data

Switch between the NORTH and SOUTH displays

Reopen the Drillholes by prospect form if it is not already open.

Click OK to display only the drillholes north of 15880N.

Repeat the above steps to display the drillholes south of 15880N.

Copyright Micromine 2009

MICROMINE Version 11.0 Training

Drillholes > Drillhole databases >

Drillholes > Drillhole databases >

Copyright Micromine 2009

MICROMINE Version 11.0 Training

Extract bottom of hole assays;