The application of geostatistics based model for the phosphate mineral resource estimation in a dry climate region, case of the Bled El Hadba phosphate deposit, NE Algeria

Since many decades, several researchers have been exploring the potential of geostatistics in mineral resource estimation, resulting in numerous works and publications. The Bled El Hadba phosphate deposit, of the Jebel Onk mining basin, NE Algeria is structured in a basal, a principal, and a summit sublayer. A total of 24 core holes were drilled with a mesh size of 400*300m. We analyzed the exploration data with a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The results of the correlation circles of the loading factors on the chemical elements P2O5, CaO, mgO, SiO2, Fe2O3, CO2, and IR (Insoluble Residue) allowed us, the identification of three main associations: the first association is formed by P2O5 and CaO representing the phosphate material; the second association is that ofmgO and CO2 representing the dolomitic gangue; and the third association is made up of SiO2, Fe2O3 and IR representing the siliceous clay gangue. This study proves that the PCA model can accommodate drilling geological parameters and effectively approximate complex relationships among them. The variography of P2O5 contents allows the construction of a geostatistics model of the distribution of phosphate resources in each of these constituent sublayers. The geostatic simulation provided several possible variants, one of which could be the closest to reality. The latter would allow the most rigorous planning and control of the exploitation. Our approach could be applied in similar deposits with the same deposition conditions throughout the region. published by the Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences | JBES