The Citation Program in Applied Geostatistics

Instructor

Instructor: Prof. Clayton V. Deutsch

Dr. Clayton V. Deutsch: Clayton is a Professor in the School of Mining and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Alberta. Clayton launched the Centre for Computational Geostatistics (CCG) when he returned to the University of Alberta in 1998. Prior to 1998, Clayton worked in industry for six years, earned a doctorate in geostatistics from Stanford in 1992, a masters in geostatistics from Stanford in 1987 and a batchelors in engineering from the University of Alberta in 1985. He has published eight books and over 200 research papers. He holds the Alberta Chamber of Resources Industry Chair in Mining Engineering and the Canada Research Chair in Natural Resources Uncertainty Characterization.

Background

Background

The Citation Program in Applied Geostatistics program (CPAG) provides a broad coverage of the most up-to-date mineral resource and reserve evaluation and estimation techniques. The programme is designed to assist geoscientists and mining engineers discover and extract mineral wealth under optimal conditions. It is ideally suited to mining and resource evaluation practitioners, developing knowledge, skills and in-depth understanding of modern geostatistical tools allowing them to better quantify resources and reserves. The course explains geostatistical concepts and tools, demonstrating the place of geostatistical models of heterogeneity and uncertainty in modern resource and reserve evaluation. It also builds an understanding of uncertainty management concepts through simulation methods.

The course content emphasises the importance of sound geological understanding as a precursor to the application of geostatistical methods and stochastic modeling. The topics include trends and non-stationarity, variograms for spatial continuity modeling, kriging for optimal estimation of resources, simulation for uncertainty quantification, multivariate modeling and decision making in the presence of uncertainty. The course is not specific to any particular mineral type, covering a wide range of mineral deposits as well as energy minerals and materials, and can be adapted for precious metals and bulk commodities. The course comprises classroom based instruction, tutoring, and self-study. In addition to prepared assignments, each participant undertakes a realistic mini-project using data from their work site. This program fills an important niche between the conventional one-week short course and the two-year Master’s degree program in the Faculty of Engineering, at Edmonton University. A Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering and/or Geoscience related field is a prerequisite for admission.

South Africa’s geostatistical capacity has been seriously eroded over the last decade and there are very few non-captive (not employed fulltime by a mining company) geostatisticians in the market. Even geostatisticians employed by mining companies are invisible because they do not belong to the main professional societies. The skill level of the geostatistical fraternity is strongly dependent on the training provided by vendors of geostatistical modeling and software packages. The Citation course will provide the necessary updates for South African practitioners in the latest approaches to geostatistical modeling and mineral resource evaluation. It will assist many geologists and mining engineers to develop their skills and advance considerably in their ability to think along geostatistical framework and avoid many of the pitfalls of poor geostatistical decision making.

Qualification

Qualification

To overcome travelling constraints imposed by Covid-19, the course will be delivered as ‘live’ online lectures by Prof Clayton Deutsch. He will lecture between 2pm and 6pm every day over the four weeks arranged for the course. The four weeks are January 18-22, February 15-19, March 15-19, and April 12-16, 2021, with the final project due at the end of June 2021. Delegates are requested to ensure that they have appropriate IT infrastructure and Wi-Fi connectivity to attend the online course successfully.

Delegates are expected to produce exercises and reports for assessment on work allocated in the three-week periods between the lecture-weeks. A signifigant assignment using the tools and methods covered during the course must be submitted for assessment at the end of June. The exercises and assignment are evaluated, and the delegate is awarded the Citation based on a pass mark for the work done. The pass mark is set at 80%.

The course cannot be run unless we have 22 registrations or more. All registrations must be paid for by 30 June 2020.

Contact

Contact

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Camielah Jardine, Head of Conferencing 
E-mail: camielah@saimm.co.za
Tel: +27 11 834-1273/7