As mining companies begin to adopt or mature their digitalisation strategies, major efficiency and performance gains will be made during the mineral exploration process. Micromine Product Strategy Manager Mark Gabbitus will discuss this topic as a guest speaker at the inaugural Australian Geoscience Council Convention (AGCC) in Adelaide from October 15th – 19th 2018.
Titled ‘Exploration on the Edge’, the presentation highlights the current state of data management in mineral exploration and how companies can optimise the process using connected devices and edge computing.
Mineral exploration is one of the most critical stages in the mining value chain and the efficient capture and analysis of drilling data has a major influence on the overall profitability of a project. MICROMINE is focused on digitalization opportunities that are cost effective, add value and can be implemented throughout the mining value chain.
This focus began in the early 2000’s with the release of MICROMINE’s Field Marshall, designed to replace the paper log sheets used by Geologists, and continues today with recent releases of Geobank Mobile that has a strong focus on integration with data capture devices now available to Exploration Geologists.
These devices, such as magnetic susceptibility readers, portable XRF’s and geotechnical measurement devices are often connected to a service or database in the cloud but someone, somewhere still needs to merge it into the master database at some point. Additionally, issues can arise when there is no network connectivity, a common issue on the edge.
“If an Exploration Geologist can collect, validate and access their data in a single platform, whilst they are in the field, real time insights can be drawn, enabling smarter decisions at the rig”, says Gabbitus. “Having this data available, would then allow a Geologist to make decisions in the field; to end a hole early or justify extending a hole beyond its planned depth. This adds immediate value, either by reducing planned drilling costs or preventing costly re-drills later.”
Recently, the computing power available to the Exploration Geologist in a ruggedized form has improved, to the point where not only can the Geologist run Geobank Mobile, but Micromine is also able to be run on a tablet. “This ability to see data in 3D and build models on the fly brings even more power to the Geologist on the edge”, explains Gabbitus.
AGCC 2018 will explore all aspects of Geoscience, with technical themes covering theoretical and applied Geoscience, mineral and energy resources, environmental and societal science, Geoscience education and communication, and emerging technologies.
To find out more please visit the AGCC 2018 event page or contact us.