Sampling across the Mine Value Chain

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2020)

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sampling is a critical component throughout the Mine Value Chain; it includes the sampling of both in situ and broken material for exploration, resource and grade control, geoenvironmental, metallurgical and geometallurgical purposes. The data produced must be fit-for-purpose to contribute to Mineral Resources/Ore Reserves reported in accordance with The 2012 JORC Code 2012 or other international reporting codes. Quality assurance/quality control is critical to maintain data integrity through documented procedures, sample security, and monitoring of precision, accuracy and contamination. Samples are their associated assays are key inputs into important decisions throughout the Mine Value Chain.

The Theory of Sampling (TOS) was developed in the 1950s by the late Dr. Pierre Gy to improve sampling within the mining industry (though it has far wider applications). It defines and provides guidelines for the reduction of sampling errors, which may lead to uncertainty and create an overall measurement error. TOS attempts to break down this error into a series of contributions along the sampling value chain (e.g., the planning to assay-measurement process). Errors are additive throughout the sampling process and generate both monetary and intangible losses. The aim is to collect representative samples to accurately describe the material in question.

Despite the wealth of knowledge available on correct sampling principles, it is surprising how little attention and resources are often dedicated to collecting representative samples. Often, practitioners appear to be satisfied as long as some material is collected and delivered to the laboratory for analysis. Yet, unless the samples are representative, the whole measurement process is flawed at the outset and no amount of re-analysis can fix the problem. Consequently, companies stand to lose millions of dollars in terms of poor investment decisions, wasted resources, poor plant performance, poor product quality and income from product sales. Sampling, therefore, needs to be given the attention it deserves to ensure that the samples extracted are representative so that meaningful decisions can be made based on their analyses.

Dr. Simon Dominy
Prof. Hylke Glass
Prof. Kim Esbensen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Theory of Sampling
  • Exploration sampling
  • Sampling for resource/reserve estimation
  • Mine grade control sampling
  • Geoenvironmental sampling
  • Metallurgical and geometallurgical sampling
  • Sample preparation, testing and assaying
  • Quality assurance/quality control
  • Mathematical modelling of sampling systems
  • New developments in sampling, sample preparation and blending equipment
  • Future technologies
  • Case studies

Published Papers

There is no accepted submissions to this special issue at this moment.
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