| Daniel Gerhardus Krige | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 August 1919 Bothaville, (OFS), South Africa |
| Fields | geostatistics |
| Institutions | Anglo Transvaal, University of the Witwatersrand, |
| Alma mater | University of the Witwatersrand |
| Known for | kriging |
| Notable awards | Order for Meritorious Service, Class 1, Gold |
Danie G. Krige (Daniel Gerhardus Krige) is a South African Mining Engineer who pioneered the field of geostatistics and, until recently, was professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, Republic of South Africa. The technique of kriging is named after him. Krige's empirical work to evaluate mineral resources[1] was formalised in the 1960s by French engineer Georges Matheron.[2]
Born in Bothaville (OFS) on the 26th August 1919, Daniel G. Krige grew up in Krugersdorp on the West Rand. He matriculated from Monument High School in Krugersdorp in 1934 at the age of 15 and graduated with a B.Sc.(Eng.) degree in mining engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand at the end of 1938 (age 19).
In 1938 he joined Anglo Transvaal where he worked on a number of gold mines until 1943, gaining a wide range of valuable practical experience in surveying, sampling and ore valuation. He then joined the Government Mining Engineer’s Department where he worked for eight years during which time he participated in the uranium negotiations with the British and American authorities and designed the uranium pricing formula for the contracts which led to the establishment of South Africa's profitable uranium industry in the early 1950s. During the same period he began his pioneering work in the application of mathematical statistics to the valuation of new gold mines using a limited number of boreholes and of ore reserves for existing mines.
His early papers in the application of mathematical statistics, some republished in French, created world-wide interest that led to the development of the science and concepts that surround the spatial evaluation of mineral resources and reserves known as geostatistics. This has contributed to improved ore evaluation techniques as well as the reduction of the financial risks associated with investment in mining enterprises. Furthermore, it led to the recognition of his contributions to the evaluations of mineral deposits through the coining of the term ‘kriging’ that is used to describe a spatial mineral evaluation process known and practised in international mining circles.
Krige continued his work in geostatistics throughout his career as Group Financial Engineer of the Anglovaal Group until his retirement in 1981 and afterwards for ten years as Professor of Mineral Economics at the Witwatersrand University. He is still active as a consultant and is a registered Professional Engineer.
He has published some 90 technical papers and has lectured and participated in international congresses in many countries. His contributions were recognized by the Witwatersrand University through the award of the D.Sc.(Eng.) degree in 1963, by three honorary degrees (from the universities of Pretoria, UNISA and Moscow State Mining University), by many awards from the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the International Association for Mathematical Geology, Die Suid Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, the SME of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, the International APCOM Council in 1999, the University of Antofagasta in Chile, and by the South African President (Order for Meritorious Service, Class 1, Gold).
Krige has served on various Government committees, notably that for State Aid for gold mines (1967/8) and designed the State Aid formula which enabled many mines to survive a period of low gold prices; also various taxation committees, and the mining mission to Iran in 1974. He is a fellow and/or honorary life member of various technical societies locally and overseas, including the Royal Society of South Africa. During the period in the Government service he also handled several of the post-war lease applications in the Free State and Klerksdorp goldfields. The fact that decisions on new gold mines of critical importance to the State and the economy as a whole, were being taken on a limited number of drillholes without any scientific analysis of the risks of failure, stimulated him to start basic research into ore evaluation. His approach was based on the application of Mathematical Statistics to these problems, an approach of which very little was known world-wide at that stage but which had already been initiated in South Africa by Sichel via the lognormal frequency distribution model.
In Krige's 1951 paper published in the Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa he covered the statistical explanation of the conditional biases in ore block valuations and stimulated the use by several gold mines of regression corrections for routine ore reserve valuations, a technique which, in effect, was the first use on an elementary basis of what is now known as kriging. His 1952 paper introduced, inter alia the basic geostatistical concepts of ‘support’, ‘spatial structure’,’ selective mining units’ and ‘grade-tonnage curves’. His 1951 paper was based on his M.Sc. (Eng.) thesis submitted in the Department of Mining Engineering to the University of the Witwatersrand, and expounded his pioneering work in geostatistics in more detail. His early research papers that had stimulated interest in several mining circles overseas, were republished in French in1955, resulting in a major research effort by French mining engineers in this field. This, in turn, led to the establishment of the now world-renowned French school of ore evaluation in Fontainebleau, Le Centre de Geostatistique de l’École des Mines de Paris.