Seam Modelling and Reserve Calculation for Lignite Field in Adana-Tufanbeyli (Turkey)

Since the first investment in mining operations is very high, so, it is absolutely important to model the field inthree dimensions for appropriate planning and cost analysis. The whole data set belonging to the geological, geophysicaland drilling exploration studies carried out in the field should be evaluated as a package. In the modelling phase, thecomputer-aided tri-dimensional mining software has been used instead of the classical reserve calculation methods beingutilized in previous years. Thus, more realistic and shorter results are achieved. In the present work, three-dimensionalseam modelling of the Adana-Tufanbeyli (Turkey) lignite field was carried out. In modelling, the coal horizon of thefield was examined. Then, the sub-seam levels in the horizon were determined and after examining their geometricrelationships with each other, three sub-seams were defined. Seam composites were prepared by the downhole methodto make the analysis results of different sizes uniform. It is possible to make block quality estimations, which will be thebasis for reserve calculations, by creating variograms in different directions. Variograms are first created in the verticaldirection and then in the horizontal direction respectively, to obtain the necessary parameters. The nugget effect andstructural distance parameters were obtained from the created variogram models. To assign quality estimation values onthe block model, the Kriging method was used when the number of data was sufficient, and the inverse distance methodwas applied, when it was insufficient. As a result of this modelling study, a total of 355.617.194 tons of lignite reserveswith an average calorific value of 1.153 Kcal/kg were determined in the field.