9 - Sampling - the critical decisions

Most important decisions in mining are in some shape or form dependent on the accuracy of sampling. There are many ways to introduce errors and its important to eliminate as many as possible. Optiro's Director of Geology Ian Glacken explains why sampling is so important, the sorts of errors that can be introduced during sampling and how to avoid them.

In this episode:

0:36 Why is sampling important in the mining industry? 1:42 What are sampling errors? 2:54 What are the key principles of sampling in mining? 3:46 What are the things we can do to make sampling random? 4:25 What are the differences between correct and incorrect errors? 5:25 What are some of the incorrect errors? 7:30 What are correct errors? 8:53 How do we go about reducing errors in sampling? 11:22 To learn more about sampling, where should people go?

For more information:

• Contact Ian Glacken - Optiro Director of Geology: iglacken@optiro.com
• Sampling Theory and Best Practice training course.
• Optiro website

Further reading:

Dominy, SC; Importance of good sampling practice through the mine value chain. Transactions of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) 2016, 125:3, 129-141