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Quality Control and Assurance (QAQC)

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Applied Mining Geology

Part of the book series: Modern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences ((MASE,volume 12))

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Abstract

The chapter provides a detailed review of the modern principles and techniques applied in mining industry to assure the samples quality and their appropriateness for evaluation of the mineral deposits. This group of techniques is traditionally referenced as Quality Assurance – Quality Control system and often called by acronym ‘QAQC’. In general, QAQC procedures consist of monitoring accuracy and precision of analytical results, controlling the samples contamination, timely diagnostics of the sample errors and identification the error sources.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For consistency with other measurements coefficient of variation (CV) (one standard deviation divided by mean) is expressed as percentage (CV%)

  2. 2.

    Conventional formula (Goovaerts 1997) of the relative variogram is as follows \( {\gamma}_{\mathrm{R}}\ \left(\mathbf{\mathsf{h}}\right) = \frac{1}{2\mathrm{N}}{\displaystyle \sum_{\mathrm{i}=1}^N\frac{\kern1.25em \left[\mathrm{Z}\left({\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{i}}\right) - \mathrm{Z}\right({\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{i}}+\mathbf{\mathsf{h}}{\left)\right]}^2\kern0.5em }{{\mathrm{m}}^2}} \), where Z(x) is a value of variable (Z) at the location (x), (h) is a vector separating Z(x) from \( \mathrm{Z}\left({\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{i}}+\mathbf{\mathsf{h}}\right) \) points and (m) is mean of the variable [Z(x)]

  3. 3.

    Conventional formula (Goovaerts 1997) of the pair-wise relative variogram: \( {\gamma}_{\mathrm{PWR}}\ \left(\mathbf{\mathsf{h}}\right) = \dfrac{1}{2\mathrm{N}}{\displaystyle \sum_{\mathrm{i}=1}^N\dfrac{\kern1.25em \left[\mathrm{Z}\left({\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{i}}\right)-\mathrm{Z}\right({\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{i}}+\mathbf{\mathsf{h}}{\left)\right]}^2\kern0.5em }{{\left[\dfrac{\mathrm{Z}\left({\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{i}}\right) + \mathrm{Z}\left({\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{i}}+\mathbf{\mathsf{h}}\right)}{2}\right]}^2}} \), where Z(x) is a value of variable (Z) at the location (x) and (h) is a vector separating Z(x) from \( \mathrm{Z}\left({\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{i}}+\mathbf{\mathsf{h}}\right) \) points

  4. 4.

    For consistency with other estimates discussed in this section the (PRMA(%)) value is estimated at 1 standard deviation and expressed as percentage.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MASSA geoservices, Mount Claremont, WA, Australia

    Marat Abzalov

  2. Centre for Exploration Targeting (CET), University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia

    Marat Abzalov

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  1. Marat Abzalov
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Abzalov, M. (2016). Quality Control and Assurance (QAQC). In: Applied Mining Geology. Modern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39264-6_10

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