O trabalho proposto considerou o desenvolvimento de uma abordagem por autômatos celulares para modelagem de recursos minerais. De uma maneira geral, os autômatos celulares permitem a modelagem de sistemas e fenômenos levando em conta parâmetros de forma, dimensão, geometria, regras de evolução, regras de vizinhança e estado inicial. Para a aplicação dos autômatos celulares, foi desenvolvida uma ferramenta de software com apoio do Núcleo de Desenvolvimento de Software, do Departamento de Engenharia de Departamento de Sistemas Eletrônicos da Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo. A ferramenta de modelagem desenvolvida foi aplicada para modelar um banco de dados conhecido na mineração, que é o Walker Lake Dataset Isaaks e Srivastava (1989). Os resultados obtidos demonstraram que a abordagem por ACs tem potencial para a área de modelagem de recursos minerais, e indicaram a importância de definir uma metodologia específica para a seleção do método de interpolação mais adequado para cada conjunto de dados estudados. / This research project proposes a new approach for modeling geological resources using cellular automata. In general, cellular automata allow modeling systems taking into account parameters of shape, dimensions, evolution rules, neighboring rules and initial state of the cells. For the application of cellular automata in this project, a new tool has been developed in conjunction with the Software Development Group of the Department of Electronics of University of São Paulo. The modeling tool has been applied to model a popular dataset in mining which is the Waker Lake dataset (Isaaks e Srivastava,1989). The results showed that the approach has potential for ACs to the area of modeling of mineral resources and indicated the importance of defining an interpolation method most appropriate for evolutionary change of ACs for the dataset studied.

A family of top-down statistical models describing energy consumption in the mining, milling, and refining of uranium are formulated. The purpose of the models is to estimate the energy-to-grade dependence for uranium extraction, while defining a minimum grade that can be feasibly mined and produced. The results serve as a basis for understanding the factors governing energy consumption in the production of U3O8. The models are applied to a considerably larger data set of operating mines than in any previous effort. In addition, the validity of the modeling approach is established by modeling energy for two other commodities, gold and copper, thereby showing it can be applied to other metals. Statistical measures of explanatory power show that the models the energy-to-grade relationship is well-described for both uranium and gold. For copper, there was insufficient data over a broad range of ore grades to obtain a model that passed statistical confidence measures. The results show that mining of lower-grade deposits of uranium is likely to be less energy-intensive than previous investigators concluded. It is shown that the uncertainty in the results is dominated by the contribution of the grade-independent component of energy consumption. / text

O trabalho proposto considerou o desenvolvimento de uma abordagem por autômatos celulares para modelagem de recursos minerais. De uma maneira geral, os autômatos celulares permitem a modelagem de sistemas e fenômenos levando em conta parâmetros de forma, dimensão, geometria, regras de evolução, regras de vizinhança e estado inicial. Para a aplicação dos autômatos celulares, foi desenvolvida uma ferramenta de software com apoio do Núcleo de Desenvolvimento de Software, do Departamento de Engenharia de Departamento de Sistemas Eletrônicos da Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo. A ferramenta de modelagem desenvolvida foi aplicada para modelar um banco de dados conhecido na mineração, que é o Walker Lake Dataset Isaaks e Srivastava (1989). Os resultados obtidos demonstraram que a abordagem por ACs tem potencial para a área de modelagem de recursos minerais, e indicaram a importância de definir uma metodologia específica para a seleção do método de interpolação mais adequado para cada conjunto de dados estudados. / This research project proposes a new approach for modeling geological resources using cellular automata. In general, cellular automata allow modeling systems taking into account parameters of shape, dimensions, evolution rules, neighboring rules and initial state of the cells. For the application of cellular automata in this project, a new tool has been developed in conjunction with the Software Development Group of the Department of Electronics of University of São Paulo. The modeling tool has been applied to model a popular dataset in mining which is the Waker Lake dataset (Isaaks e Srivastava,1989). The results showed that the approach has potential for ACs to the area of modeling of mineral resources and indicated the importance of defining an interpolation method most appropriate for evolutionary change of ACs for the dataset studied.

<p> The recent discovery of ore grade gold in the Hemlo area of Northern Ontario has provided the initiative for extensive exploration in that region. This study concentrates on rocks from the footwall to the ore zone on the Williams property of Long Lac Mineral Exploration. </p> <p> The footwall rocks consist of fine grained, finely laminated tuffs. The suite has undergone low grade regional metamorphism. Retrograde metamorphic effects are also present but appear to be confined to certain bands. Some of the minerals may have been introduced by the action of metasomatic fluids. </p> <p> The tuffs are quite felsic and many have the composition of a rhyolite. Samples tested for gold have up to 200 times the background concentration of a rhyolite . The gold is associated with high Sio2 and K20 and low Al2O3, CaO, Na2O, Fe2O3 and MgO contents. </p> <p> The ore deposit is similar in many respects to the Bousquet deposit of Northern Quebec. The Bousquet deposit has been interpreted as syngenetic by some authors and therefore it is quite possible that the Hemlo deposit is syngenetic as well. However the metamorphism and possible metasomatism that these rocks have undergone suggests that it may be an epigenetic deposit. Due to the limited number of samples in this study it could not conclusively be determined which hypothesis is correct. </p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Science (BSc)