Block Models and Default Density

What is Default Density?

Rock or material densities are stored in the DENSITY field (a standard system field) in a block model (or drillholes) file. This field is needed in order to fully utilize all the block modeling functionality within your application, especially when performing block model evaluations.

In the absence of a DENSITY field, or when absent values '-' are present in the field, the system uses the default density  value currently set for the project. The default value for this parameter is '1', until you define a value to be used in your project.  

Calculating the Default Density

The selection of a default density value should have as little detrimental effect on evaluations as possible.

Default densities, per material, rock type or ore category, can be calculated using the STATS Process and a suitable input file, for example, a drillhole assays table, drillholes or block model file.

Setting the Default Density Manually

Typically, you set the default density for a block model evaluation using the tool doing the evaluation, such as the Evaluate 2D Strings or Evaluate Wireframe screen.

See Block Model Evaluation.

Note: For other commands, you can set the density independently using the set-default-density command. Note that the command-line evaluation commands referenced above do not recall the default density set in this way.

Related topics and activities: