Introduction

Quantitative mineral resource assessment, as developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), consists of three parts: (1) development of grade and tonnage mineral deposit models; (2) delineation of tracts permissive for each deposit type; and (3) probabilistic estimation of the numbers of undiscovered deposits for each deposit type (Singer and Menzie, 2010). The estimate of the number of undiscovered deposits at different levels of probability is the input to the EMINERS (Economic Mineral Resource Simulator) program.

EMINERS uses a Monte Carlo statistical process to combine probabilistic estimates of undiscovered mineral deposits with models of mineral deposit grade and tonnage to estimate mineral resources. It is based upon a simulation program developed by Root and others (1992), who discussed many of the methods and algorithms of the program. Various versions of the original program (called “MARK3” and developed by David H. Root, William A. Scott, and Lawrence J. Drew of the USGS) have been published (Root, Scott, and Selner, 1996; Duval, 2000, 2012).

The current version (3.0) of the EMINERS program is available as USGS Open-File Report 2004–1344 (Duval, 2012). Changes from version 2.0 include updating 87 grade and tonnage models, designing new templates to produce graphs showing cumulative distribution and summary tables, and disabling economic filters. The economic filters were disabled because embedded data for costs of labor and materials, mining techniques, and beneficiation methods are out of date. However, the cost algorithms used in the disabled economic filters are still in the program and available for reference for mining methods and milling techniques included in Camm (1991).

EMINERS is written in C++ and depends upon the Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 programming environment. The code depends heavily on the use of Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) for implementation of the Windows interface. The program works only on Microsoft Windows XP or newer personal computers. It does not work on Macintosh computers.

This report demonstrates how to execute EMINERS software using default settings and existing deposit models. Many options are available when setting up the simulation. Information and explanations addressing these optional parameters can be found in the EMINERS Help files. Help files are available during execution of EMINERS by selecting EMINERS Help from the pull-down menu under Help on the EMINERS menu bar.

There are four sections in this report. Part I describes the installation, setup, and application of the EMINERS program, and Part II illustrates how to interpret the text file that is produced. Part III describes the creation of tables and graphs by use of the provided Excel templates. Part IV summarizes grade and tonnage models used in version 3.0 of EMINERS.

References Cited in Introduction

Camm, T.W., 1991, Simplified cost models for prefeasibility mineral evaluations: U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 9298, 35 p. (Also available at https://pubs.usgs.gov/usbmic/ic-9298/html/cammfrms.htm.)

Duval, J.S., 2000, A Microsoft Windows version of the MARK3 Monte Carlo mineral resource simulator: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 00–415, 1 CD-ROM. (Also available at https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2000/of00-415/.)

Duval, J.S., 2012, Version 3.0 of EMINERS—Economic Mineral Resource Simulator: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2004–1344, available only at https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1344. (Version 3.0 of EMINERS updates version 2.0, released in 2004 as USGS OFR 2004–1344. Version 2.0 of EMINERS superseded USGS OFR 2002–0380.)

Root, D.H., Menzie, W.D., and Scott, W.A., 1992, Computer Monte Carlo simulation in quantitative resource estimation: Nonrenewable Resources, v. 1, no. 2, p. 125–138.

Root, D.H., Scott, W.A., Jr., and Selner, G.I., 1996, Computer program for aggregation of probabilistic assessments of mineral resources: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 96–94, 1 diskette.

Singer, D.A., and Menzie, W.D., 2010, Quantitative mineral resource assessments—An integrated approach: New York, Oxford University Press, 219 p.

Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

First posted June 29, 2012