What if the most expensive mistake in grade control isn't mining low-grade material — but making the wrong decision about what is ore and what is waste?
In this two-part episode of Fresh Thinking by Snowden Optiro, Senzeni Matondi, Principal Consultant, joins Melanie Bully, Senior Consultant, to explore why grade control is fundamentally a decision-making discipline, not simply a grade estimation exercise.
In Part 1, Senzeni and Melanie unpack the operational and financial consequences of misclassification, including:
Ore loss — when valuable material is classified as waste and potentially lost forever
Dilution — when waste enters the ore stream, reducing head grade and consuming valuable processing capacity
Misclassification — and why it can result from accumulated uncertainty across sampling, geological interpretation, estimation, blast movement, survey accuracy and mining execution
Reconciliation — and why poor reconciliation can reflect issues across the entire mining value chain, rather than the resource model alone
The key takeaway? A technically sound grade estimate is only useful if it supports the right operational decisions.
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