When Prof. Hatheron was asked to delineate the history of geostatistics, he objected that such discipline is still too "young" to be treated from a historical point of view. The more and more increasing practical applications requiring newer and newer methodologies would rather suggest the necessity of empha­ sizing the steps taken and the results obtained up to now. The reason of certain epistemological choices as well as the difficul­ ties and success in establishing a dialogue with the people most likely to benefit from the results of geostatistics are necessary premises to understand the present status of this discipline. The human bearing of characters of the persons that have introduc­ ed and studied this science blending theory with economic prac­ tics is a factor playing a not inconsiderable role in the develop­ ment of geostatistics. These concepts were the guidelines in organizing the ASI-Geo­ stat 75. Canada, France and Italy are three different situations in an industrial and academic context, especially in the interac­ tion between these fields. Yet it was our impression that the time had come to assemble experts, scholars, and other people in­ terested in geostatistics in order to evaluate its present posi­ tion on various levels in the different countries and to discuss its future prospects. Prof. Hatheron and Hr. Krige as well as other prominent people were of the same opinion.

Inhalt

I - Basic Concepts.- Les Concepts de Base Et L'Evolution de la Geostatistique Miniere.- Le Choix Des Modeles En Geostatistique.- II - Kriging.- The Practice of Kriging.- Linear Estimation of non Stationary Spatial Phenomena.- How to Adapt Kriging to Non-Classical Problems: Three Case Studies.- Optimal Interpolation using Transitive Methods.- Application of two Methods for the Interpretation of the underlying Variogram.- III - Ore-Waste Discrimination.- Selection and Grade-Tonnage Relationships.- Selecting Mineable Blocks: Experimental results observed on a Simulated Orebody.- Planning from Estimates: Sensitivity of Mine Production Schedules to Estimation Methods.- Convex analysis for Mine Scheduling.- Ore Grade Distributions and Conditional Simulations - two Geostatistical Approaches.- The Problem of Ore Versus waste Discrimination for individual Blocks: The Lognormal Model.- IV - Theoretical New Developments.- A Simple Substitute for Conditional Expectation: The Disjunctive Kriging.- Forecasting Block Grade Distributions: The Transfer Functions.- The Practice of Transfer Functions: Numerical Methods and their Application.- V - Industrial Applications.- A Review of the Development of Geostatistics in South Africa.- The Potential of Geostatistics in the Development of Mining.- Application de la Geostatistique au Niveau d'un Groupe Minier.- La Geostatistique au B.R.G.M..- Geostatistics in Petroleum Industry.- VI - Case Studies.- Improving the Uranium deposits Estimations (the Novazza Case).- A 2-Dimensional Geostatistical Study of a Skarn deposit, Yukon Territory, Canada.- A Case Study: Multivariate Properties of Bentonite in Northeastern Wyoming.- Some Practical Computational aspects of Mine Planning.- VII - Interface with other Disciplines.- New problems at the Interface Between Geostatistics and Geology.- Geostatistique et Analyse des Donnees.- Bayesian Decision theory Applied to Mineral Exploration and Mine Valuation.- VIII - Glossary of French-English Geostatistical Terms.- Tentative Glossary of Geostatistical terms and Notations.