3D modeling for mineral resource assessment of fluorite ore and its industrial application in Jbel Tirremi, northeast Morocco

3D modeling was undertaken to establish the morphology, volume, and spatial distribution of the fluorite orebody, and ore grade of Jbel Tirremi located in northeastern Morocco. The ore is hosted in the intensely fractured Jurassic carbonates. The mineralization is structurally controlled because it is primarily hosted in N–S- and NNW–SSE-trending faults/fractures. Using Surpac software, the study of all boreholes was carried out to generate physical 3D and block models of the orebody and to estimate the fluorite resource and grade of the Jbel Tirremi. The total CaF 2 resource is 4.77 Mt with average grade of 28.0% CaF 2 was estimated based on geostatistical analysis (kriging). The analysis of the spatial distribution of ore and grades and the geotechnical study show that the open-pit mining would maximize the exploitation of the mine. The geochemical data revealed that the fluorite mineralization is of high quality, with good grades reaching up 97.5% of CaF 2 and very low concentrations of impurities. The wide range of grades of the Tirremi fluorspar determines the feasibility of the mining project and allows for its use in various industrial applications. Flotation method would be the best ore extraction method that maximizes the recovery of ore and remove the impurities. Based on the data of this study, the Tirremi ore deposit will be one of Morocco’s most important fluorite producers.