Sectioning

Table of Contents

Overview

 What You'll Learn

 Section along Northings.
 Plan sections
 Review
 Where To Next

Overview

Surpac allows you to extract orthogonal, oblique and/or dipping sections through a Block Model. You may extract
either block centroids or block outlines. The results are written to a string file, with attributes stored in description
fields. The resulting files may be used for further manipulation.Sectioning tools are located on the main block model
menu bar.

The following exercises will demonstrate how to extract sections, and some of the potential uses for the resulting files.

What You'll Learn

This section will cover the following concepts:

 Extracting sections normal to the Y axis

 Extracting sections normal to the Z axis
 Avoiding sections coincident with block faces
 Plotting sections

Objective.

To create northing sections (perpendicular to the Y axis) through our block model
1. Ensure you are connected to the training.mdl. You can check to see if the icon is present on your status
bar at the bottom of the screen. Connect by clicking and dragging from the navigator.

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2. Choose Sections - Create.
The first step in extracting sections, is to nominate the sectional type required. The choices you have are:

 Normal to the Y, X or Z axis (most commonly used)

 Plan or vertical section (need to enter horizontal or vertical constraints for these options)
 Axis (using end point), (typically for oblique sections)
 Axis (using bearing and dip), typically for inclined oblique sections

The define button is used when extracting plan, vertical, axis (end point) and axis (bearing and dip) sections.
It brings up another form which allows you to define your extraction details more specifically.
In this exercise, you will be extracting sections normal to the Y-axis and so will not need to use this button.
3. Enter the parameters shown below, but do not apply the form.

The above example shows a common mistake made when extracting sections.
This model was originally set up with an origin of 7100 North and a block size in the y direction of 10. Therefore
extracting a section at 7120 would actually extract values from the blocks extending from 7110 to 7120 and also from
the blocks extending from 7120 to 7130. Plotting this section would result in the grades being over plotted as two
values would be plotted at every block.

You do not want your section range to correspond with block edges - this results in duplicate strings for each section.

To avoid duplicate segments in the section string file, complete the form as shown below:

It is obviously not desirable to extract sections at 7120.0001 or at 7115.0001 if your drill holes sections are at
even multiples of 10. This should be considered when creating the model in the first place. In our example, it
would have been better to have the origin or our block model at 7105 or 6995 so that block model sections
could be extracted at the same section interval as the drill hole sections and geological interpretations
(without producing duplicate segments).
The file created called `defgrp0' is a string file which shows the section boundaries, as a series of strings. It is not very
useful for this type of section extraction, but can be very useful when trying more complex extractions, such as Axis
(bearing and dip). It allows you to preview where the section will be extracted.

The next step is to nominate an output file location and details of how the section will look.

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4. Enter the details shown below and apply the form

5. Constrain the extraction to the BIF or QPY blocks as shown

Once processing is complete, your message window will indicate the files created. The section files can now be
combined with raw drilling data to help check the validity of the model.
6. By right clicking in the menu area, bring up the geological database menu.

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7. From the Display menu, select Section files and enter the following parameters..

8. Now bring in the string file sect7200.str by clicking and dragging from the navigator.
On section you now have the original sample drilling displayed with the model blocks for the 7200 mN section, as
shown below. These string files could also be used to produce a plotted map.

Objective.

This exercise will demonstrate how to extract sections normal to the Z-axis and produce a simple map which could be
used for mine planning purposes.

When the model was set up, the Z origin was at 820 mEl and the Z block dimension was 5 metres. This means that at
intervals of 5 metres in elevation (ie. 825, 830, 835, 840...) there will be coincident block faces. If sections are
extracted at these elevations there may be two coincident segments for each block outline or centroid. This may then
create problems, especially when plotting.

For the purposes of this exercise, assume that mining will be on 5 metre benches and that bench plans are therefore
required mid-bench (ie. bench from 970 - 975 has mid-bench of 972.5). The bottom cut-off is 1ppm gold.

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1. Choose Sections - Create from the Block model menu and enter the parameters as shown below.

2. Define the section files as shown below.

The name `sect' may be confusing here because, in essence, these are not ``sections'' but plan slices
through the model. A better name for this may be `plan' or `bm_plan' but for now we will leave it at `sect', as a
pre-defined map for plotting in a subsequent exercise uses this name.
When extracting plan view ``sections'' as above, coordinates can be set to Section View or Real World. See the
Online Reference Manual for a detailed explanation on this field and how it affects the function.
3. Enter the Constraints as shown below.

4. Call up the string file `sect9725' by clicking and dragging from the navigator. Bring in the string file lev9725
into the same layer by using Ctrl drag from the navigator.

On screen you should have the ore blocks for the 972.5 mEL and the pit outline. There are blocks outside of the
design pit, so before continuing, it would be useful to calculate the volume, mass and average gold content inside the
pit limits. This can be achieved using Block model report.

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5. Choose Report from the Block model menu and enter the parameters as shown below. We can use the
same format file that we created earlier.

6. The only thing we need to change to get our report is the constraint that we use. Enter the constraint
shown below. (Note the use of an extended string constraint limiting the report to blocks inside the pit
outline).
Your report will come up in the Print Preview window and the results will also be reported to the message
window
Finally, we will produce a map to show the results.
7. From the File menu choose Open - Plotting Window.
8. Go to Map - Edit and select the map called Ore Blocks. Modify the map as follows:

9. Select Process Map and process the map Ore Blocks.

10. Enter the Plot Presentation Parameters as shown below.

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11. Once processing is complete, the plot will appear in the plot preview window.

Review

This section has effectively covered the more commonly used vertical section and plan section extractions from the
Block Model and also the conventions and pitfalls of sectioning. Information about the other section types:

 Plan or Vertical Section

 Axis (using End Point) (typically for oblique sections)
 Axis (using bearing and dip) ( typically for inclined oblique sections)

can be found in the Online Reference Manual.

Where To Next

The next section introduces the concepts involved in manipulating values stored in the Block Model using general
expressions, ie. Block Maths.

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