Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Speaking at the official launch of Eureka software at the North America users conference in Denver yesterday, Maptek CEO Barry Henderson said that Maptek had developed Eureka to help explorers satisfy the massive global demand for minerals.
‘In the next 30-50 years, the world will consume as much copper as has been mined historically. The same applies to iron ore and other metals,’ Henderson said.
Allowing information to be analysed and exploited at a very large scale, Eureka represents a paradigm shift in the way exploration data is used.
‘A few years ago, an exploration company asked us for help in viewing seismic sections. Our software was 3D, the sections were in 2D and they really needed to see where those sections were in 3D space.’
‘Once we’d solved that problem, we realised that we could bring in other types of data and this was the catalyst for developing Eureka,’ Henderson explained.
Eureka allows large datasets with millions of points such as airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys, space shuttle topography data and imagery to be viewed in a single 3D environment. Interacting with the spatially located data in context allows geologist to analyse the relationships, and confirm their intuition.
Eureka offers much more than a viewing platform. Intelligent tools convert seismic time data to depth without ignoring the important drillhole information. The powerful, modern graphics allow geologists to see the big picture over vast regions, and also explore local targets in detail.
Ease of use is a common driver in Maptek technology development. The Eureka Field tablet offers tabular data entry via drop-down list, hand-writing recognition or virtual keyboard. Logged data can be synchronised between the tablet and Eureka desktop application in real time using Wi-Fi or 3G connections.
Maptek Eureka will ensure explorationists make full use of data from expensive drilling and geophysical programs and allow serious explorers to achieve their goals.
