Seequent, The Bentley Subsurface Company, has unveiled what it says is a considerable update to its industry-leading 3D earth modelling and analysis tool Leapfrog.

The new functionality enhances core tools and workflows to improve productivity and help solve a range of geoscience challenges in mining projects, including resource estimation, mine planning, and exploration targeting.

Highlights for Leapfrog Geo include:

• Ability to run multiple instances of Leapfrog on a single machine for project multi-tasking;
• Visualisation of downhole survey data to aid drilling analysis;
• Attributed mapping data to create better models more quickly; and
• A re-blocking tool to easily produce regular block models for mine planning optimisation.

In the 2024.1 release, resource estimation tool Leapfrog Edge also benefits from various performance improvements and the ability to work with more complex deposits.

Rachel Murtagh, Product Manager, Geology, Geostatistics and Data Science, Seequent, says: “The industries we serve are solving critical challenges under increasingly tighter economic and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) conditions. Our goal is to help our customers focus as much of their time as possible on the geoscience. The latest update of Leapfrog emphasises enhanced productivity, investment in core functionality and puts in place key capabilities to enable an evolving future.”

Leapfrog’s continued customer-led evolution resonates with users and is demonstrated in the number of models created with our software, according to Murtagh.

In 2023, Leapfrog users created nearly 200,000 new geological models, providing crucial subsurface insights for mining, civil, energy and environmental projects.

Murtagh added: “We spend a lot of time listening to customers about what they need to succeed, and we iteratively work through a discover-design-build-test loop with expert and early user groups. This ensures we capture the feel and function that works best of our customers allowing them to master new workflows quickly and become experts in dynamic modelling so they can better understand the subsurface and its resources.

“Leapfrog 2024.1 is a strong release that strengthens and broadens key capabilities of Leapfrog and significantly enhances the users’ experience.”

3D subsurface modelling software Leapfrog Geo for mining and exploration projects allows users to build and refine models fast, the company says.

Murtagh added: “Seequent pioneered implicit modelling in geology with Leapfrog, and we’re still leading the way. Its user-centric, intuitive, well-designed interface and dynamically linked workflows hugely simplify the updating of models with new data. So, we are continuing to build on what’s made Leapfrog so successful.”

Leapfrog 2024.1 release updates boost 3D modelling, interoperability and visualisation capabilities:

• Users can now run multiple instances of Leapfrog on a single machine, while utilising a single seat. This allows users to work faster, working on one project while another one runs simultaneously;
• Drilling improvements deliver new visualisation and access to survey data. The visualisation of downhole survey data provides additional insights and validation of drill hole orientation to aid drilling data analysis. Features to evaluate and sub-set by geology, drilling orientation, drilling type, hole diameter and more are also enabled. Other drilling improvements focus on saving time when modelling resource grade or contaminants, flexible tools to execute complete workflows, and gaining more comprehensive context for data in the 3D context alongside other geological information;
• Improvements to geological modelling with new flexibility for inputs help users create better informed models quicker by supporting attribution of mapped data, improve insights into the data points influencing the model surfaces with updates to mesh surface values, and provide better control over vein surfaces when modelling; and
• Leapfrog Geo is now interoperable with OpenGround, a cloud-connected geotechnical data management and reporting tool, to streamline ground investigations.

Updates for resource estimation tool, Leapfrog Edge, focus on improved overall performance for estimating resources in situ, including tonnage, grade and metal. They include:

• Functionality advancements help users work with more complex estimates and better understand their resources. These advancements include enhanced parameter table editing, new change log tracking, upgraded declustering, and improved overall performance; and
• Regular model outputs from sub-block models can now be produced from Leapfrog Edge, an extension of Leapfrog Geo and readily shared with engineering and mine planning teams to streamline mine planning.

Rob Ferguson, Director of Mineral Exploration at Seequent, says: “Resource estimation is a critical process in the mining industry, providing the foundation for understanding both potential and risks of a proposed project. Trusted estimates and reporting are essential for companies investing, planning and executing mining operations.”

Murtagh adds Leapfrog Edge is fantastically visual and being dynamically linked with Leapfrog Geo estimates are fully integrated with 3D geological models: “Edge combined with Leapfrog Geo delivers a powerful integrated solution for mineral resource estimation and management, but importantly, they deliver a set of tools that aren’t complicated to use.”

With an eye to the future, the Leapfrog 2024.1 release also includes technologies to improve interoperability between desktop and cloud products, which, in the future, will unlock hybrid workflow opportunities through the new geoscience data platform being built by Seequent.