Mining data management
3 col des MM march 2003 10/4/03 12:12 Page 20
Core advantage
Tim Dobush and Troy Wilson* suggest a way for preserving and enhancing the value of exploration data
E
very year explorationists, industrywide, collect billions of dollars worth of data. Yet, when it comes time for geologists to extract value from their information, they often find that value has been lost through poor practices in data management. There is no reliable record of the data that has been collected or data is not where it should be - it has been misplaced or corrupted.
Re-assembling information can consume weeks of their time and can dramatically reduce exploration productivity and the quality of decision-making.
Of all the information assets held by a mining company, exploration data is likely to be one of the largest as measured in bytes, paper volume and dollar value. An exploration group can store terabytes of digital information, including airborne geophysics, ground geophysics, geochemical data, drill hole logs, scanned topographic maps, digital elevation data, remotely sensed images, geological maps, reports and supporting documents.
And then there are the voluminous historic paper archives that may or may not have been scanned into digital form.
In an industry that is dependent on being able to collect, process and interpret large volumes of information, data management has become a key target for productivity gains.
This is particularly important in an era of global consolidation and downsizing when many mining companies are faced with the challenge of having to conduct effective exploration programmes with fewer staff and less money. Large mining companies such as Rio Tinto still invest up to $100 million a year in exploration while junior exploration companies operating at the opposite end of the scale may expend less than 1% of that amount.
*Tim Dobush is CEO, Troy Wilson is Global
Marketing Officer at Geosoft Inc, Toronto,
Canada. Tel:
Core advantage
Tim Dobush and Troy Wilson* suggest a way for preserving and enhancing the value of exploration data
E
very year explorationists, industrywide, collect billions of dollars worth of data. Yet, when it comes time for geologists to extract value from their information, they often find that value has been lost through poor practices in data management. There is no reliable record of the data that has been collected or data is not where it should be - it has been misplaced or corrupted.
Re-assembling information can consume weeks of their time and can dramatically reduce exploration productivity and the quality of decision-making.
Of all the information assets held by a mining company, exploration data is likely to be one of the largest as measured in bytes, paper volume and dollar value. An exploration group can store terabytes of digital information, including airborne geophysics, ground geophysics, geochemical data, drill hole logs, scanned topographic maps, digital elevation data, remotely sensed images, geological maps, reports and supporting documents.
And then there are the voluminous historic paper archives that may or may not have been scanned into digital form.
In an industry that is dependent on being able to collect, process and interpret large volumes of information, data management has become a key target for productivity gains.
This is particularly important in an era of global consolidation and downsizing when many mining companies are faced with the challenge of having to conduct effective exploration programmes with fewer staff and less money. Large mining companies such as Rio Tinto still invest up to $100 million a year in exploration while junior exploration companies operating at the opposite end of the scale may expend less than 1% of that amount.
*Tim Dobush is CEO, Troy Wilson is Global
Marketing Officer at Geosoft Inc, Toronto,
Canada. Tel: