The methane gas explosion at the Westray Mine in Plymouth, Nova Scotia, Canada on May 9, 1992 caused the death of 26 miners. Mine managers Gerald Philips and Roger Parry were charged with manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death. The mills of justice ground to a halt when the Crown had failed to give full disclosure of all of its exhibits by November 15, 1994.
Mr Duncan R Beveridge, QC, with Beveridge, Lambert & Duncan, called during the summer of 1999 to find out what I knew about sampling and statistics. I pointed to Sampling and Weighing of Bulk Solids, my activities on ISO Technical Committees, and my savvy in solving scams such as the Bre-X fraud. I transmitted a facsimile of my curriculum vitae which was similar to the one currently posted on my website.
I went to work on the Westray file shortly after October 1, 1999. It consisted of twenty–two (22) pages of text and ten (10) schedules marked A to F. I was pleased with the description of how post-explosion samples had been taken. Test results determined by Canmet and other participants in an interlaboratory test program were statistically identical. The Nova Scotia Department of Labour and the RCMP had selected test samples at intervals of 0.9 m in accordance with the Coal Mines Regulations Act. Test results for all test samples proved the average percentage combustible matter to be significantly higher than the maximum allowable limit of 35%. My report is titled Post-Explosion Sampling Procedures at the Westray Mine and was submitted on November 2, 1999.
What piqued my interest was the testimony of Andy Liney, PEng and a former mine manager and ventilation specialist from the United Kingdom. He testified that too few post-explosion samples had been taken to obtain a precise estimate for the average percentage combustible for all locations. Post-explosion samples had been taken at 0.9 m intervals. A statistical analysis of test results in samples taken by the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and the RCMP proved beyond reasonable doubt that the average percentage combustible matter in the underground workings at the Westray mine exceeded the maximum allowable limit of 35%.
Spatial dependence between measured values in ordered sets such as those taken after the explosion at the Westray Mine may or may not exist. As a matter of fact, testing for spatial dependence plays a key role in sampling practices for mined ores and mineral concentrates as defined in ISO Standards. The lead prosecutor was Herman C Felderhof. He knew as much about testing for spatial dependence at the Westray coal mine as did John B Felderhof at the Bre-X phantom gold project.
On-stream analysis of slurries in mineral processing plants became a powerful tool in the 1980s. That’s why I put together Simulation Models for Mineral Processing Plants. It was reviewed by The Metallurgical Society of CIM and published in CIM Bulletin of September 1991. On September 28, 1989 my son and I submitted for review our take on Precision Estimates for Ore Reserves. Here’s what I wrote to the Editor of CIM Publications, “The authors believe that their methodology provides a reliable measure for the risk to encounter less than the predicted grade”. What had troubled Professor Dr Michel David was that we had not only applied “our own method” but had also failed to refer to twenty years of geostatistical literature. Professor Dr A J Sinclair, PEng, PGeo was troubled because he deemed the variance of a general function a bit dated. He has been teaching generations of UBC students all he knows about geostatistics.
Variance of a general function
What I taught at UBC on November 22-24, 1989 was Sampling Precious Metal Deposits: Metrology-A New Look. Professor Dr A J Sinclair, PEng, PGeo welcomed the participants in Room 330A at 8:30AM. He didn’t object to anything I taught nor did he ask any questions. Yet, he had earlier reviewed for CIM Bulletin our take on Precision Estimates for Ore Reserves. His review was dated November 15, 1989. Surely, Emeritus Professor Dr Alastair J Sinclair, PEng, PGeo ought to explain how Gemcom software converted bogus grades and barren rock into Bre-X’s phantom gold resource. APEGBC ought to get a copy as soon as UBC's Emeritus Professor has explained why the variance was stripped off the distance-weighted average AKA kriged estimate!
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