Abstract
Macraes Mine is an open-cut and underground gold mine located in Central Otago, on the South Island of New Zealand, which has extracted over 3 million ounces of gold since production commenced in 1990. We show that a large amount of information can be gained from systematic geological mapping of the Macraes Open Pit such as identifying small to medium scale offsetting faults which can result in reactive mining decisions, validation of grade control assays can result in minimising ore dilution and by regularly collecting the orientations of variable stock works, optimal drilling orientations can be established. The manipulation of two-dimensional (2D) grade control data sets into three-dimensional (3D) views in combination with systematic mapping has allowed us to create the beginnings of a structural model of the hanging wall area. The 3D structural model has already proved to be a powerful tool used for the prediction of offsetting faults and interpretation of how the orebody may react to such faulting.
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