Elsevier, the provider of scientific, medical and technical information products and services, has announced a collaboration with the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) to incorporate thousands of maps from SEG’s leading journal, Economic Geology, into Geofacets, Elsevier’s premier research tool for geoscientists working in exploration for the metals, mining, and oil and gas industries. The announcement said that the move “underlines Elsevier’s continued drive to accelerate geoscientists’ discovery of hard-to-find scientific maps through Geofacets, supporting confident decision-making in a high-risk exploration environment. This collaboration particularly boosts Geofacets’ ability to support metals and mineral exploration, given SEG’s well-established footing in the industry.”

By January 2013 the joint venture will add a further 14,800 plus maps collated over the past 107 years from Economic Geology into Geofacets, bringing the total maps within the research tool to more than 240,000. “A significant part of SEG’s mission is to disseminate geological information and aid those working in exploration, mineral resource appraisal, mining and metal extraction,” said Brian Hoal, Executive Director at SEG. “Collaborating with Elsevier to make our maps and information much easier to discover, and therefore easier to apply to their work, will help geoscientists combat specific industry challenges such as low drilling success rates and the increasing difficulty in finding new orebodies.”

“We see and hear excitement from our users in the metals and mining industry every time we mention the upcoming integration of SEG content into Geofacets,” said Phoebe McMellon, Senior Product Manager Geofacets at Elsevier. “By incorporating the unique content of such a renowned society as SEG, we are able to help Geofacets users discover critical, niche content that could otherwise remain buried in volumes and centuries’ worth of publications.”