198 4. DISCUSSION 4.1. Economic Implications: Recoverable Resources The smoothing effect of Kriging has direct economic consequences: it dilutes ore, lowering the estimated grade below the cut-off, effectively "destroying" economic ore in the block model. Figure 2. Grade-Tonnage Curves comparing metal recovery. Cut-off (g/t) Metal Error (Kriging) Metal Error (GeaAI) Value Recovery 124.1 -74.1% -24.2% +49.9% 134.4 -75.9% -24.7% +51.2% 144.8 -77.0% -22.2% +54.8% Table 3: Metal Recovery Analysis at Selective Mining Cut-offs At a selective cut-off of 144.8 g/t, the traditional Kriging model underestimates the contained metal by 77%. The GeaAI model recovers the majority of this value, with an error of only 22%. For a mining operation, this difference represents a massive increase in the Net Present Value (NPV) of the project, simply by using a better estimation algorithm that respects the selectivity of the deposit. 4.2. Operational Application: The "Value Window" We analyzed the model's performance across different drilling densities to determine the optimal application stage.
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