This paper has been written to introduce new mining engineers to mineral resource block models: their structure, the brands they may come across, the types they may come across, and issues that they will need to understand to avoid mistakes in their use.

For the past five years, Lewis Meyer has taught Deswik software at the Camborne School of Mines at the University of Exeter. As Senior Lecturer in Mining Engineering, 257 students have graduated from Lewis’s Deswik course which consistently receives rave reviews from students.

This article, recently published in Global Mining Review, describes the modeling techniques tried and tested at an Australian mine. The mine needed a solution to produce a 3D visual landform which, while reducing costs, could also achieve desired rehabilitation objectives.