Rank statistical analysis of nickel sulphide resources of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt, Western Australia
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Springer-Verlag
2016
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| Online Access: | http://www.springerlink.com/content/lu73333v274256q8/ |
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| author | Mamuse, Antony Guj, Pietro |
| author_facet | Mamuse, Antony Guj, Pietro |
| author_sort | Mamuse, Antony |
| collection | DSpace |
| description | Abstract |
| format | Article |
| id | ir-11408-916 |
| institution | My University |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Springer-Verlag |
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| spelling | ir-11408-9162022-06-27T13:49:06Z Rank statistical analysis of nickel sulphide resources of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt, Western Australia Mamuse, Antony Guj, Pietro Zipf’s law Residual endowment Natural endowment, undiscovered endowment Kambalda Western Australia Abstract Estimating the undiscovered mineral resources of a terrane is a challenging, yet essential, task in mineral exploration. We apply Zipf’s law rank statistical analysis to estimate the undiscovered nickel sulphide resources in the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt, Western Australia. The analysis suggests that about 3.0 to 10.0 Mt of nickel sulphide resources are yet to be discovered in this belt, compared to the currently known total nickel sulphide endowment of 10.8 Mt. This undiscovered nickel sulphide endowment is likely to be hosted by incompletely delineated deposits and undiscovered deposits in less explored komatiites in the belt. Using the more detailed data subset of the Kambalda domain, this study manipulates Zipf’s law to estimate the sizes of undiscovered deposits, in addition to the domain’s total nickel sulphide endowment estimate. Importantly, regression analysis shows that the gradient of the line of best fit through the logarithmic rank-size plot for the detailed Kambalda data subset is −1. This gradient, which is the key Zipf’s law constant k, has the value of −0.92 for the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt which is collectively less mature than the Kambalda domain. This result corroborates the use of k = −1 in Zipf’s law predictive analyses of mineral resources for deposit populations for which the value of k = −1 has not yet been attained due to exploration immaturity 2016-04-19T19:38:57Z 2016-04-19T19:38:57Z 2011 Article http://www.springerlink.com/content/lu73333v274256q8/ en Miner Deposita;Vol. 46; p. 305–318 none Springer-Verlag |
| spellingShingle | Zipf’s law Residual endowment Natural endowment, undiscovered endowment Kambalda Western Australia Mamuse, Antony Guj, Pietro Rank statistical analysis of nickel sulphide resources of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt, Western Australia |
| title | Rank statistical analysis of nickel sulphide resources of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt, Western Australia |
| title_full | Rank statistical analysis of nickel sulphide resources of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt, Western Australia |
| title_fullStr | Rank statistical analysis of nickel sulphide resources of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt, Western Australia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rank statistical analysis of nickel sulphide resources of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt, Western Australia |
| title_short | Rank statistical analysis of nickel sulphide resources of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt, Western Australia |
| title_sort | rank statistical analysis of nickel sulphide resources of the norseman-wiluna greenstone belt, western australia |
| topic | Zipf’s law Residual endowment Natural endowment, undiscovered endowment Kambalda Western Australia |
| url | http://www.springerlink.com/content/lu73333v274256q8/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mamuseantony rankstatisticalanalysisofnickelsulphideresourcesofthenorsemanwilunagreenstonebeltwesternaustralia AT gujpietro rankstatisticalanalysisofnickelsulphideresourcesofthenorsemanwilunagreenstonebeltwesternaustralia |