Updating the concepts of mineral resources and reserves in Brazil

In mineral exploration, high geological, technological, and financial risks are involved, this being the phase in which the deposit is discovered and the quantity and quality of the ore present in situ are estimated. The variability of economically important attributes, coupled with the complexity of the geology of the deposits, has required, over time, the use of increasingly sophisticated techniques for evaluating deposits. The end of this exploratory phase, also called deposit delineation, allows the data obtained to be linked to mine planning and the definition of operational parameters for the functioning of the future mine.