DEVELOPMENT OF A 3D VARIOGRAM USING THE ANALYTICAL GEOMETRY OF THE PLANE AND SPACE: APPLICATION IN NKOUT CENTER IRON DEPOSIT (SOUTH CAMEROON)

This paper contributes to improve the knowledge of the continuity of an ore body in order to optimize its estimation, both qualitative and quantitative. For the iron deposit of Nkout, the composites data were computed in a program which uses the principles of analytical geometry of plane and space to calculate variograms. This program consists of four main modules which deal with data management, basic statistical analyzes, spatial analyzes and 2D directional variogram analysis for the construction of the final three-dimensional variogram model. The mineralization has been subdivided into four major planes which have for dips 0, 45, 90 and -45 degrees respectively. For each plane, a 2D variogram model was produced following the minor and major directions of mineralization. The anisotropies encountered were corrected and it was found that the 3D variogram is a nested structure of the four planar variograms. The model was authenticated by cross-validation, which study showed that the produced 3D variogram model was adequate for estimating mineralization.