UNFOLD Parameters

UNFOLD is a grade estimation technique where folded orebodies are unfolded to reduce structural complexity. When an orebody is folded in the world coordinate space (WCS), spatial relationships are reduced which means that traditional linear estimation techniques may not do a good job at grade estimation (because mineralization occurred before the rock was folded).

An unfolding parameter file contains a single line of parameters for unfolding which is used by all estimates, which describe the unfolding transform applied to strings and samples. These parameters are required by other processes in order to unfold the block model and discretization points during a grade estimation.

UNFOLD in Advanced Estimation has been added to the Advanced Estimation workflow as well as to the underlying process COKRIG. The Advanced Estimation console can also be used to export an in-use unfolding parameters file.

See UNFOLD in Advanced Estimation.
UNFOLD parameters can also be input to the ESTIMATE wizard (powered by the ESTIMA process) for univariate estimation.

Typically, the unfolding parameters file is created initially by the Unfold Wizard, via the User Files & Current Section controls:

The Unfold Wizard's parameter file export function

When this parameter file is used in Advanced Estimation or set as an input in COKRIG, unfolding is applied to all estimates in a run. It is not possible for some estimates to be unfolded while others are not in a single run of COKRIG. Put another way, it is not possible to execute a mixture of estimates in the world coordinate space (WCS) and unfolded coordinate space (UCS).

An Unfolding parameter file contains the following compulsory fields:

Field Name	Type	Description
SAMPLE	A24	Name of unfolded sample file. This name is used to set the sample value in the user interface. When running COKRIG, the value of &SAMPLE overrides this value if different.
STRING	A24	Name of string file e.g. str09_hwfe_valid. When running COKRIG, the value of &STRING overrides this value if different.
SECTION	A24	Section identifier field, for example, SECTION
BOUNDARY		Boundary HW/FW field ID, for example, BOUNDARY
WSTAG	A24	Within section tag field, for example, WSTAG
BSTAG	A24	Between section tag field, for example, BSTAG
LINKMODE	N	Method by which within and between section tags are defined, for example, 3
UCSAMODE	N	Define coordinate adjustment in X , for example, 2 Adjusted
UCSBMODE	N	Define coordinate adjustment in Y, for example, 3 True length
UCSCMODE	N	Define coordinate adjustment in Z, for example, 2 Adjusted
PLANE	N	Orientations of interpretation as vertical section (1) or plane (2)
HANGID	N	Hangingwall string ID in BOUNDARY, for example, 1
FOOTID	N	Footwall string ID in BOUNDARY, for example,. 2
TOLRNC	N	Tolerance in the calculation of the UCSA, for example, 0
UCSALIMT	N	Limits of UCSA, for example, 1
ORGTAG	A24	Tag number or origin, for example, 10001

If an unfolding parameter file is selected and applied using the Scenario Setup screen of the Unfold Wizard, it will populate Select Samples and Unfolding with the parameters in the file. See Using Unfold in Advanced Estimation for more details.

An Unfolding parameters file may also be used when running UNFOLD from the COKRIG.