Deposit

Marlborough

A mineral deposit recorded by the USGS Ni-Co laterite database, at Queensland, Australia. The compilation classifies it as the clay silicate subtype. Its recorded status is "exploration, feasibility study".

recognition basis: authoritativeDatabase
realm: australia

What this record is, and who says so

Recognised on the basis of

Authoritative database

A curated deposit database published by a scientific institution, in which inclusion is itself a documented editorial decision with stated criteria.

A deposit is an occurrence of sufficient size and grade that it might, under the most favourable circumstances, be considered to have economic potential. Lithoen records that a named authority made that judgement. It is not a statement that anything here is recoverable, and it is not a resource or a reserve.

How it is interpreted

A deposit is not a mineral system. A source interprets it as an example of one, and interpretations change while the rock does not.

Interpreted as an example of Nickel-cobalt laterite system
By — Membership of the USGS Ni-Co laterite database, which is a compilation of one deposit class. The interpretation is the compilation’s, not Lithoen’s.
Inclusion in a compilation of this deposit class is the compilation’s classification of this deposit. It is not a determination made at the deposit, and no mechanism at this deposit follows from it.

Commodities documented here

Cobalt (commodity)documented association
The compilation reports a grade for this metal at this deposit. Lithoen records the documented association and asserts nothing about recoverability.
Nickel (commodity)documented association
The compilation reports a grade for this metal at this deposit. Lithoen records the documented association and asserts nothing about recoverability.

Reported figures, and what each one is

A sample assay, a deposit average, a compiler total and a reported reserve are different quantities. Each figure below carries which one it is; none of them is a current resource or reserve.

0.06 wt%m Cobalt

Reserve grade

A grade reported inside a formal ore-reserve estimate, which additionally embeds modifying factors — mining, processing, economic, legal.

The USGS Ni-Co laterite database reports a cobalt grade of 0.06 weight percent for Marlborough, stated with respect to reserve tonnage. The compilation carries a separate grade field for each tonnage basis and they are not interchangeable: a resource is not a reserve, and neither is production.

0.06 wt%m Cobalt

Resource grade

A grade reported inside a formal mineral-resource estimate. Meaningful only with its reporting framework, category and effective date.

The USGS Ni-Co laterite database reports a cobalt grade of 0.06 weight percent for Marlborough, stated with respect to resource tonnage. The compilation carries a separate grade field for each tonnage basis and they are not interchangeable: a resource is not a reserve, and neither is production.

0.06 wt%m Cobalt

Deposit average

An average grade attributed to a whole deposit by a compiler, over a tonnage defined by that compiler at a stated cut-off. Not a measurement of anything: a summary of an estimate.

The USGS Ni-Co laterite database reports a cobalt grade of 0.06 weight percent for Marlborough, stated with respect to total tonnage. The compilation carries a separate grade field for each tonnage basis and they are not interchangeable: a resource is not a reserve, and neither is production.

0.82 wt%m Nickel

Reserve grade

A grade reported inside a formal ore-reserve estimate, which additionally embeds modifying factors — mining, processing, economic, legal.

The USGS Ni-Co laterite database reports a nickel grade of 0.82 weight percent for Marlborough, stated with respect to reserve tonnage. The compilation carries a separate grade field for each tonnage basis and they are not interchangeable: a resource is not a reserve, and neither is production.

1.02 wt%m Nickel

Resource grade

A grade reported inside a formal mineral-resource estimate. Meaningful only with its reporting framework, category and effective date.

The USGS Ni-Co laterite database reports a nickel grade of 1.02 weight percent for Marlborough, stated with respect to resource tonnage. The compilation carries a separate grade field for each tonnage basis and they are not interchangeable: a resource is not a reserve, and neither is production.

1.02 wt%m Nickel

Deposit average

An average grade attributed to a whole deposit by a compiler, over a tonnage defined by that compiler at a stated cut-off. Not a measurement of anything: a summary of an estimate.

The USGS Ni-Co laterite database reports a nickel grade of 1.02 weight percent for Marlborough, stated with respect to total tonnage. The compilation carries a separate grade field for each tonnage basis and they are not interchangeable: a resource is not a reserve, and neither is production.

The source records behind this

What one row of a published dataset was taken to mean, and why. The original record stays traceable after reconciliation.

Ni-Co laterite deposits of the world (USGS OFR 2011-1058), record 7
Named there
Marlborough
The source calls it
deposit
Lithoen reads it as
deposit (stated)
The usgs ni-co laterite database states what one of its rows is, and this row is read as the deposit the compilers named. The compilation states that it excludes occurrences and prospects that are less well known, so the row is a deposit by its own definition.
Read and refused
- grade columns with a value of zero — In both USGS deposit databases a grade of zero means the value was unavailable, not that the grade is zero. Reading it as a measurement would publish a false number.
- decimal-degree columns beyond the authored precision — The decimal-degree columns carry floating-point residue from the degrees-minutes-seconds columns that were actually authored. The point is emitted at the authored precision instead.

How this is mapped

One published representation of where Marlborough is. Each is one interpretation, by one identified source, at one scale — not the shape of the thing itself.

Representative point
Point · 1 positionspreferred for publication
A single position standing for something that is not a point. It exists so a feature can be shown on a map or listed by location, and it asserts NOTHING about extent. A representative point for a 2,000 km province is a label anchor, not a location.
A representative point for Marlborough from the USGS nickel-cobalt laterite database. It is a label anchor and not an extent: the compilation records an ore-body area, length and width for many of its rows, but places no outline on the ground. This row was authored in degrees, minutes and seconds, so the position is stated to about 30 m.
Boundary certainty
ApproximateThe position is known only within a distance much larger than the line width on any map that shows it. Drawing it thinner does not make it better known.
Status of this geometry
inferredThe status of the geometry, which need not match the status of what the entity’s claims assert.
Dataset
Ni-Co laterite deposits of the world (USGS OFR 2011-1058)Berger, V.I., Singer, D.A., Bliss, J.D., and Moring, B.C., 2011, Ni-Co laterite deposits of the world: Database and grade and tonnage models: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011-1058, doi:10.3133/ofr20111058.
What was done to this geometry
- By Lithoen — Rounded to 4 decimal places, the precision the compiler authored: this row was recorded in degrees, minutes and seconds, so the position is stated to about 30 m. The dataset's decimal-degree columns carry more digits, which are conversion residue rather than knowledge.
- Before it reached Lithoen — The compilation authored positions in degrees, minutes and seconds and stores a decimal conversion; the further decimal places are conversion residue rather than knowledge.

How this record is known

11
Settled consensus: Cited as the accepted position of the discipline.

11 of 11 claims on this page cite at least one registered source. Counts describe how each statement is known, not how likely it is to be true.

What Lithoen records

Each claim states how it is known and cites its evidence.

Establisheddeparea=66; deplength=28; depwidth=3; depthick=?70

Reported for this deposit

The compilation records ore-body dimensions for Marlborough: deparea=66; deplength=28; depwidth=3; depthick=?70. These describe the dimensions of a body and place no outline on the ground.

precision note: Dimensions of an ore body are not a boundary. No polygon follows from an area in square kilometres, and the deposit still has only a point.
assertion basis: SOURCE_REPORTED

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence 2 sources, single source