Curtin University Homepage
  • Library
  • Help
    • Admin

    espace - Curtin’s institutional repository

    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item

    A time-series audit of Zipf s Law as a measure of terrane endowment and maturity in mineral exploration

    Access Status
    Fulltext not available
    Authors
    Guj, Pietro
    Fallon, M.
    McCuaig, T.
    Fagan, R.
    Date
    2011
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Guj, P. and Fallon, M. and McCuaig, T. and Fagan, R. 2011. A time-series audit of Zipf s Law as a measure of terrane endowment and maturity in mineral exploration. Economic Geology. 106 (2): pp. 241-259.
    Source Title
    Economic Geology
    DOI
    10.2113/econgeo.106.2.241
    ISSN
    0361-0128
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7048
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Controversy has surrounded the application of Zipf’s Law as a potential exploration tool since it was first proposed by Folinsbee in 1977. The current study empirically assesses, with the wisdom of hindsight, the realism of predictions that could have been made at various times in the past about the number and size of lode gold deposits yet to be discovered in the Archean Yilgarn craton of Western Australia. The size distribution of gold deposits predicted by the Zipf curve at any point in time represents an estimate of the original “natural” endowment for this terrane based on the knowledge available at the time. Predicted gold deposits not matched by known deposits, by contrast, represent the “residual” endowment, for deposits yet to be discovered. The study concludes that a Zipf curve based on the size distribution of gold deposits known in 1973, 1989, 2003, and 2008 would have provided remarkably realistic predictions of the size and number of the gold deposits that were discovered subsequently, or of the degree to which known deposits have grown in size in subsequent years as a result of better delineation.Because lode gold orebodies are notoriously difficult to fully delineate and their resources tend to grow with time, initial Zipf predictions generally prove conservative. Predictions are particularly sensitive to the accuracy of the resource inventory of the largest rank 1 deposit on which the Zipf curve is based—in our case, the Kalgoorlie Golden Mile—which has virtually doubled in size during the period covered by the study, from 36 to 72 Moz of contained gold. Nevertheless, the degree of exploration maturity could have consistently been estimated with a high degree of accuracy as 17 percent of predicted gold endowment discovered in 1973, 33 percent in 1989, 62.5 percent in 2003, and 75 percent in 2008. In conclusion, application of Zipf’s Law would have represented an effective motivator to embark into a well-resourced gold exploration campaign in the Yilgarn craton.

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Spatial statistical estimation of undiscovered mineral endowment: case of komatiite-associated nickel sulphide resources, Kalgoorlie Terrane, Western Australia
      Mamuse, Antony (2010)
      The Kalgoorlie Terrane of the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia, containing about 60% (~11 Mt) of the world’s known komatiite-hosted nickel sulphide resources, is the world’s best studied and economically most important ...
    • Paired Magmatic-Metallogenic Belts in Myanmar: An Andean Analogue?
      Gardiner, Nicholas; Robb, L.; Searle, M.; Morley, C. (2015)
      Myanmar (Burma) is richly endowed in precious and base metals, having one of the most diverse collections of natural resources in SE Asia. Its geological history is dominated by the staged closing of Tethys and the suturing ...
    • A new tectonic and temporal framework for the Tanzanian Shield: Implications for gold metallogeny and undiscovered endowment
      Kabete, J.; Groves, D.; McNaughton, Neal; Mruma, A. (2012)
      The lack of new gold discoveries in recent times has prompted suggestions that Tanzania is mature or approaching maturity, in terms of gold exploration. New tectonic–metallogenic subdivisions proposed in this study are ...
    Advanced search

    Browse

    Communities & CollectionsIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument TypeThis CollectionIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument Type

    My Account

    Admin

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Follow Curtin

    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 

    CRICOS Provider Code: 00301JABN: 99 143 842 569TEQSA: PRV12158

    Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy statement | Accessibility

    Curtin would like to pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of our community by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which the Perth campus is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation; and on our Kalgoorlie campus, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields.