CSIRO - Mathematical and Information Sciences - Staff Look-up - Geoff Robinson

Staff Profile

Geoff Robinson
Professional Interests

Stockpiling and Sampling

I am interested in the variability of particulate materials, which include mineral ores, coal, wood chips, sugar and streams of waste material.  I have two areas of particular expertise.

1. The blending and targeting functions of stockpiles.  The expense of having stockpiles is primarily justified by their buffering function, but they are also used for reducing grade variation and to assist in the targeting of grade. This is further explained in a publicly available paper (stockpile).  I have completed several projects concerned with choosing between stockpiling options, including ones for the Olympic Dam Expansion Project, Hamersley Iron, BHP Iron Ore and Ravensthorpe Nickel.  A computational tool that assists in this work is the stockpile model CHASM which tracks parcels of ore in three dimensions through stacking and reclaiming.  It can be linked to the statistics package Splus in order to do a variety of computations concerning stockpiles.
2. The sampling of particulate materials.  With colleagues in CMIS and in CSIRO Minerals, I have completed many research and consulting projects which are concerned with sampling. Several of these are listed below.  In addition, I am active in International Standards Organization subcommittee ISO/TC 102/SC 1 and Standards Australia Subcommittee MN/2/1,  which are concerned with the sampling of iron ores, and Standards Australia Subcommittee MN/10 (Sampling of Minerals) which is writing guides to be used as the basis for standards for sampling and bias testing of particular commodities.  In particular, I was the primary writer for AS 4433.4 2001 Guide to the sampling of particulate materials.  Part 4: Checking for bias.

The papers listed below are concerned with sampling or with stockpiling for the purposes of blending or targeting. Papers 1-5 are concerned with the theory of sampling. Papers 6-20 describe applied work in sampling or work on test methods which is concerned with both sampling and testing precision and bias. Note particularly that papers 17-19 concern my contribution to some litigation about the Kelian gold mine.

Papers 21-30 are concerned with the theory of stockpiling. In particular, paper number 30 describes the computer software
package CHASM and is available on this page. Papers 31-40 describe applied work which considered stockpiling options for existing or proposed mining operations. Report 32 is the overview report for a review of Hamersley Iron's grade control system, and papers 33-35 were amongst a large number of supporting papers written as part of that review.

1. I.W. SAUNDERS and G.K. ROBINSON. (1989). Restricted stratified random sampling International Journal of
Mineral Processing, 25 159-166.

2. I.W. SAUNDERS, G.K. ROBINSON, T. LWIN and R.J. Holmes. (1989). A simplified variogram method for the
estimation error variance in sampling from a continuous stream. International Journal of Mineral Processing, 25
175-198.

3. ROBINSON, G.K. (1990). A role for variograms. Australian Journal of Statistics, 32 327-335.

4. ROBINSON, G.K. (1994). Book Review: Sampling of Heterogeneous and Dynamic Material Systems. Theories of
Heterogeneity, Sampling and Homogenizing by P.M. Gy. Int. J. Miner. Process. 42 295-297.

5. Geoff ROBINSON and Paul CLEARY. (1998). The conditions for sampling to be unbiased -- Using granular flow modelling to provide insight. CSIRO Report No. CMIS-98/70.

6. E.J. Dickinson and G.K. ROBINSON. (1976). The inter-laboratory precision of the penetration test for paving bitumens when the test is done at 15 degrees C with a 200g mass and a 60s loading time. Australian Road Research Board Research Report ARR No. 73.

7. ROBINSON, G.K. (1979). The use of nuclear density meters to estimate the compaction of asphalt layers. Australian Road Research Board Internal Report AIR 273-2.

8. J.W.H. Oliver and G.K. ROBINSON. (1979). A proposed procedure to check the accuracy of British portable skid
resistance testers in the user's laboratories. Australian Road Research Board Discussion Note DN 438.

9. R.J. Holmes, T. LWIN, G.K. ROBINSON and I.W. SAUNDERS. (1986). Co-ordination of standards for sampling from moving streams. AMIRA Project 84/P205. CSIRO Mineral Engineering Report VI6 238.

10. ROBINSON, G.K. (1989). Towards functional specification of a sampling scheme for commercial sampling of prepared cane. CSIRO DMS Report No. VT89/17.

11. R.J. Holmes, G.K. ROBINSON, J.A. Aylmer and J.HA. (1990). Investigation of Sample Cutter Operations. AMIRA
Project P313. CSIRO Mineral and Process Engineering Report VI6 516.

12. ROBINSON, G.K. (1995). A trip to Ottawa for a TC102 meeting. CSIRO DMS Report No. DMS-D95/3.

13. ROBINSON, G.K. (1995). Statistical evaluation of international testwork for ISO/TC102/SC3/WG13.

14. ROBINSON, G.K. (1995). Statistical analysis of international round robin test for ISO/TC102/SC3/WG31 (Tin).

15. ROBINSON, G.K. (1995). Statistical analysis of international round robin test for ISO/TC102/SC3/WG12. CSIRO DMS Report No. DMS-D95/40.

16. G.K. ROBINSON and R.J. Holmes. (1995). Iron ores -- Results of testwork on sample division for iron ores. ISO/TC102 -- Iron ores. TC102 Technical Committee Report No. 9..

17. ROBINSON, G.K. (1996). Expert advice in relation to statistical analyses. CSIRO DMS Report No. DMS-D96/34.
(Also referred to as Witness Statement of Geoffrey Keith Robinson in the Supreme Court of Victoria at Melbourne
Commercial List F.4235 No. 2059 of 1994 between `Grants Patch Mining Limited (ACN 009 852 500) and others' and
`CRA Limited (ACN 004 458 404) and Fundprops Pty Limited (ACN 005 421 885) filed on behalf of the defendants by Arthur Robinson & Hedderwicks)

18. ROBINSON, G.K. (1996). Comment on the Witness Statement of Phillip James Hellman. CSIRO DMS Report No. DMS-D96/44. (Also referred to as Reply Witness Statement)

19. ROBINSON, G.K. (1996). Rejoinder to the Reply Statements of Phillip James Hellman, John Henstridge, Allen Graham Royle and Paul Switzer. CSIRO DMS Report No. DMS-D96/65.

20. R.J. Holmes and G.K. ROBINSON. (1998). Monitoring Bias in Hamersley Iron Operations. CSIRO Minerals Report
DMR-752.

21. G.K. ROBINSON and K.A. Ross. (1988). What shape is a chevron stockpile? CSIRO DMS Report No. VT88/14.

22. ROBINSON, G.K. (1988). Variations on a standard chevron stockpile. CSIRO DMS Report No. VT88/15.

23. G.K. ROBINSON and S.J. Ross. (1988). A chevron model with layers of constant grade. CSIRO DMS Report No.VT88/16.

24. ROBINSON, G.K. (1988). A mathematical model for the effect of stockpiling on the pattern of quality variation. CSIRO DMS Report No. VT88/17.

25. ROBINSON, G.K. (1988). Grade estimation for trains from lump stockpiles at Tom Price. CSIRO DMS Report No.VT88/18.

26. ROBINSON, G.K. (1988). Description and application of stockpile models. CSIRO DMS Report No. VT88/28.

27. ROBINSON, G.K. (1988). Computer simulation of blending. CSIRO DMS Report No. VT88/32.

28. G.K. ROBINSON and S.J. Ross (1988). A program for simulating variable stacking rate. CSIRO DMS Report No.
VT88/33.

29. G.K. ROBINSON and K.A. Ross. (1991). Blending in the ends of chevron stockpiles. Bulk solids handling, 11 No. 3595-602.

30. G.K. ROBINSON and J.W. van der TOUW. (1993). CHASM -- A model for blending stockpiles. CSIRO DMS Report No. DMS-D93/71.

31. ROBINSON, G.K. (1988). Queensland Phosphate Blending Review. CSIROMATH Consulting Report.

32. R.J. Holmes, G.K. ROBINSON and K.R.Weller. (1988). Improvement of Grade Control at Hamersley Iron. CSIRO
Mineral and Process Engineering Report VI6 397.

33. G.K. ROBINSON, J.A. Aylmer and R.J. Holmes. (1988). Analysis of stockpile data. CSIRO DMS Report No. VT88/29.


34. ROBINSON, G.K. (1988). Stockpile grades at Paraburdoo. CSIRO DMS Report No. VT88/30.

35. ROBINSON, G.K. (1988). Analysis of ship data and predictions. CSIRO DMS Report No. VT88/31.

36. ROBINSON, G.K. (1991). Marandoo Blending Study. Part 1: Facilities at Marandoo. CSIRO DMS Report No. V91/4.

37. ROBINSON, G.K. (1991). Marandoo Blending Study. Part 2: Impact of Marandoo on port blending facilities. CSIRO DMS Report No. V91/5.

38. ROBINSON, G.K. (1995). Grade variation consequences of stacking options for lump ore at Tom Price. CSIRO DMSReport No. DMS-D95/11.

39. ROBINSON, G.K. (1997). Stockpile blending options for the Olympic Dam expansion project. CSIRO DMS Report No.DMS-D10/97.

40. ROBINSON, G.K. (1997). Simulation of blending performance of proposed stockpiles at Olympic Dam. CSIRO DMSReport No. DMS-D52/97.



Geoff Robinson
2001-04-24

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last updated 22/11/04
Geoff.Robinson@cmis.csiro.au