402 There are five steps for the implementation of a GMBM (Canchaya 2008); see Figure 6: Phase I: Pilot geometallurgical characterization, the primary objective of which is to identify and characterize critical variables that will influence the success and cost of mining and metallurgical processing. Phase II: Metallurgical testing of samples with known content of the critical variables, to model their metallurgical behavior. In this phase the specification limits of every critical variable are also outlined. Phase III: Systematic sampling and quantitative analysis of the critical variables, using analytical methods, that must be fast and cheap. Sampling must be carried out in accordance with the principles of the Theory of Sampling (Gy, 1992 and 1999). Optimal sampling distances should be determined by geostatistical methods. Phase IV: Geometallurgical block modelling of every critical variable, which should be done by kriging or simulations from geometallurgical databases, in the same way as is done for ore assays (Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn, Sn, etc.) or for penalized or undesirable elements (As, Sb, Hg, etc.). Phase V: Updating the model whenever a substantive change in the mineralogical assemblages or in textural and/or structural patterns occurs. GMBM is essentially similar to the Geological Block Model, where each block contains: estimated assays of economic elements (% Cu, % Mo, Au and Ag ppm, % Zn, etc.), lithology, and alteration type. If we also include, through their respective estimation, the critical geometallurgical variables in each block, we will be implementing a GMBM.
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