Spatial Prediction of Lateral Variability of a Laterite-Type Bauxite Horizon Using Ancillary Ground-Penetrating Radar Data

Tropical laterite-type bauxite deposits often pose a unique challenge for resource modelling and mine planning due to the extreme lateral variability at the base of the bauxite ore unit within the regolith profile. An economically viable drilling grid is often rather sparse for traditional prediction techniques to precisely account for the lateral variability in the lower contact of a bauxite ore unit. However, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) offers an inexpensive and rapid method for delineating laterite profiles by acquiring fine-scale data from the ground. These numerous data (secondary variable) can be merged with sparsely spaced borehole data (primary variable) through various statistical and geostatistical techniques, provided that there is a linear relation between the primary and secondary variables. Four prediction techniques, including standard linear regression, simple kriging with varying local means, co-located cokriging and kriging with an external drift, were used in this study to incorporate exhaustive GPR data in predictive estimation the base of a bauxite ore unit within a lateritic bauxite deposit in Australia. Cross-validation was used to assess the performance of each technique. The most robust estimates are produced using ordinary co-located cokriging in accordance with the cross-validation analysis. Comparison of the estimates against the actual mine floor indicates that the inclusion of ancillary GPR data substantially improves the quality of the estimates representing the bauxite base surface.