Tag Archives: PDAC

Veracio shows off latest tools to transform orebody sciences at PDAC 2024

Veracio, an orebody knowledge technology company that formerly operated as Boart Longyear’s Geological Data Services division, has used the backdrop of the PDAC Convention in Toronto, Canada, to unveil new and refreshed orebody knowledge tools set to, it says, improve, automate and digitally transform orebody sciences in exploration, resource definition and production globally.

TruScan® 2, TruProbe® and Strata™ were launched when the event kicked off on March 3, close to a year since Veracio came into existence.

JT Clark, CEO of Veracio, said: “In just one year – from introducing Veracio to the world to now – our progress has been remarkable. Our new technologies, our team’s dedication, and our strategic acquisitions like Minalyze have all been steps towards realising our overarching vision of transforming how we capture and utilise orebody knowledge, from exploration to production.”

TruScan 2, featuring HyperXRF™, a mineralogical solution integrated into Veracio’s core scanning platform boasts co-registered data streams from both hyperspectral and XRF (X-ray Fluorescence) scanning supported by enhanced QA/QC, the company says. The scanning capabilities of both chips and core provide scanning data, including mineralogical data, to teams within 24 hours. Field trials are commencing early in the June quarter, followed by first deliveries to customers in the September quarter of 2024.

TruProbe is an integrated app, cloud and stackable hardware solution; combining both rig and downhole sensing technologies. Building upon the foundations set by Veracio’s north seeking TruGyro, TruProbe “stacks” a robust gamma sensor to enable operators to log both borehole deviation and gamma simultaneously, Veracio claims. On the rig, the app connects to an azimuth rig aligner and wireless depth counter. The software in both the handheld app and the cloud drives efficiency and accuracy through a simple, easy-to-use design, while the hardware is integrated with industry-standard running gear for safer, faster operation, according to the company.

Strata is Veracio’s cloud technology environment, and 2024 will see more added to the experience. This cloud environment ensures there are sophisticated software offerings available to pair with all Veracio hardware, now further enriched by the recent additions to the Minalyze™ software offering, including Minalogger™. For downhole surveying, the seamless connectivity to the TruProbe app will, Veracio says, provide a new way to visualise 3D hole path and empower teams with easy-to-use data access to advance their projects no matter where they are in the world.

Mike Ravella, Chief of Innovation, added: “This portfolio represents just the beginning of our journey. We are constantly evolving, striving to pioneer the next-generation orebody knowledge and bring it to the forefront of the industry.”

IMDEX to launch next-generation digital core orientation tool at PDAC 2024

IMDEX says it will use this year’s PDAC forum to feature its next-generation digital core orientation tool ACTx as part of its end-to-end solutions to aid drilling optimisation, improve rock knowledge and assist fast data collection and analysis.

The integrated solutions cover activity from the drill rig to the core shed, and the office, with this year a second booth dedicated to mining production tools for the bench and underground working face.

IMDEX will have a focus on the collection of structural data, through ACTx and LOGRx and its industry partner, geoscience image analysis experts Datarock.

IMDEX Head of Product, Mark Gabbitus, said the solutions assisted mining and exploration companies to safely find, define, and mine orebodies with precision and at speed.

“ACTx provides unparalleled quality control and traceability,” Gabbitus said. “There are many ways that the ori mark can go wrong. This is where the ACTx solution changes the game. The new Smart Jig works with the ACTx down hole unit to not only make it harder to put a bad ori mark on the core but the system also collects QA data about the orientation and marking process that the geologist can access in IMDEXHUB-IQ.

“Additionally, the driller can see when there are issues and enter in comments about what went wrong and why. This gives the geologist more confidence in the data they are using.

“There are four key elements that define the rock: location, geochemistry, mineralogy, and structure and we have technology and tools that assist in the data capture and analysis of each of these elements.

“Geochemistry is the property of a rock that most people focus on, and grade is king, but at IMDEX we believe that structure is equally important.

“Pretty much all orebodies have some element of structural control and as we go deeper and chase smaller, lower grade orebodies, structure becomes even more critical.

“That’s why we have been focused on developing innovative solutions to enable the collection of structural data for more than 20 years.

“Knowing the structure of the rock indicates the shape of the orebody, how the rock will react when portions are removed through holes or tunnels, and how it will react when blasted and crushed.

“It can be used to find new ore zones and is critical to the safety and economic viability of a mine.”

The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto is from March 3 to 6.

The IMDEX end-to-end solutions on show at PDAC (from the drill rig (drilling optimisation and downhole solutions):

  • xFORM™ – IMDEX’s multifunctional fluids range;
  • DeviDrill – An innovative directional core barrel based on the wireline core drilling technology used in exploration drilling. It drills the hole in a curve while at the same time collecting a 3m/10ft core sample, leading to the application name, Directional Core Drilling (DCD);
  • ACTx – Next generation digital core orientation tool; and
  • Survey tools: OMNIx™ and DeviGyro

To the core shed (optimisation software and in-field geo solutions):

  • LOGRx – The market-leading core logging solution, providing accurate structural measurements; and
  • pXRF – Delivers quality, reliable XRF data by ensuring optimised and auditable workflows, QA/QC protocols and data integrity, while providing a seamless and user-friendly software interface. The REFLEX XRF™ solution is available in a configurable deployment package; from stand-alone REFLEX CONNECT™ software for an existing device, to a complete XRF hardware

To the office (data management and analytics and orebody analytics):

  • HUB-IQ™ – Provides secure access to validated field data, which is seamlessly transmitted from a range of sub-surface instrumentation, analytical instruments and mobile form data inputs;
  • aiSIRIS™ – The leader in automated spectral mineralogy from hand held infrared spectrometers. Complemented by aiSWYFT, which builds on the several million, expertly labelled spectra in the database behind the aiSIRIS cloud-based AI spectral mineralogy solution. Allows standardised and repeatable results within minutes of uploading spectra; and
  • ioGAS™ – Leading exploratory data analysis software application developed specifically for the resources industry.

To the bench and underground working face (surface and underground mining solutions):

  • BHS™ – a multifunctional product formulated specifically for air drilling applications, particularly drill and blast applications. It helps prevent a wide range of down-hole problems including poor collaring, hole decay or sidewall instability, provides a degree of lubrication to the hole and will improve the lifting capacity of the air stream for cuttings transportation;
  • BLAST DOG™ – Semi-autonomous system for multi-parameter measurement of blast holes, which allows automated spatial domaining of material characteristics and fracturing in ore and waste; and
  • OMNIx™ and BOLT (underground) – Production hole survey tools for underground applications measuring blast hole deviation using a north seeking gyro.

IMDEX lines up three new product launches for PDAC 2022

IMDEX plans to arrive at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto, Canada, next week with a suite of products targeting quality, accuracy, and precision.

The company will use the first in-person PDAC conference in more than two years to showcase new and improved tools and technologies that build on its reputation as market leaders in enabling clients to find, define and mine orebodies with precision and at speed, it said.

The in-person event will be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) from June 13-15.

IMDEX General Manager – Rock Knowledge, Mark Gabbitus, said the re-engineering, design upgrades and product evolution inherent in each of the products reflected IMDEX’s approach of constantly reassessing its products to ensure they are the best in market.

REFLEX GYRO SPRINT-IQ™

Responding to customer requirements, IMDEX has re-engineered and improved its REFLEX GYRO SPRINT-IQ running gear, reducing the weight of the total kit by around half, from 90 kg to about 45 kg.

“These improvements really address user requirements,” Gabbitus said. “We have taken a tool that has been in the market for a long time and made improvements around the size and the workflow.

“We’ve made it lighter, shorter, easier to handle and therefore safer. The running gear for overshot applications made the tool around 3.3-m long that came in three cases weighing 90 kg and took two people to handle. Now it’s around 2.7 m and is light enough for one person to manage easily.

“We’ve done a lot of work to improve it, making it smaller and lighter, easier to carry and to operate. This is particularly important in the confines of an underground environment.”

REFLEX OMNI-IQ™

IMDEX will demo its new gyro tool, the REFLEX OMNI-IQ which, it says, maintains its position as the leader in survey accuracy.

“OMNI addresses quality and accuracy of delivered data,” Gabbitus said.

“Sprint has been the most accurate gyro on the market to date, but gyro technology has evolved and now OMNI is the most accurate; it’s the natural evolution of the technology that we have developed and pioneered.

“We’re testing commercial prototype tools in Australia and Canada and the workflow and data results have been excellent.”

REFLEX IQ-LOGGER™

IMDEX will also present the next generation of its IQ-LOGGER, the core logging solution that provides fast, accurate structural measurements.

Gabbitus said the improvements were, again, in response to customer feedback.

“We’ve taken what is a very popular product and revamped it, making the workflow more efficient, and the tool more robust, easier to handle, and better from an ergonomic perspective.

“We launched IQ-LOGGER at PDAC in 2015, so it’s fitting to be able to unveil the new-look, next generation of the tool this year.”

PDAC 2022 Convention returns to Toronto in person and online

The international mineral exploration and mining industry is once again gearing up for the annual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) Convention in Toronto, following its first virtual convention in 2021.

This year signifies the return of the in person event from June 13-15, as well as an online portion from June 28-29. This is the first time in the PDAC Convention’s 90 years that it will be offered as a hybrid event, and a fitting way to honour the milestone, event organisers say.

“The pandemic has had us on a rollercoaster over the past couple of years and the feedback we are consistently hearing from our stakeholders is that they want to get back to doing business in person, and for anyone connected to the mineral exploration and mining industry, that means getting together face to face for the PDAC 2022 Convention,” Alex Christopher (pictured), PDAC President, said. “While the pandemic created challenges, it also demonstrated the resilience of the sector as it navigated health and safety, accessibility and supply chain obstacles, while conversations turned to the security of precious metals and the industry’s role in the transition to a low carbon future.

“We have watched precious metals and gold prices soar to record highs, applaud conversations recognising the industry’s critical role in the clean energy transition and, throughout the pandemic, have watched companies offer support to Indigenous and remote communities where it may otherwise have not existed.”

He added: “This is just a small glimpse into the importance of the minerals industry and, as the world reopens, professionals – including analysts, executives, geologists, prospectors, investors, students and government officials – need timely and relevant programming and short courses that can be tailored to their needs, and the PDAC 2022 Convention offers exactly that.”

The PDAC Convention provides a platform for experts to connect and talk, learn and collaborate about the opportunities and challenges faced by the industry, event organisers say.

Topics such as Capital Markets, Indigenous, Student & Early Career, Sustainability and Technical will return to in-person and online programming, along with Short Courses, the seventh annual International Mines Ministers’ Summit, Events & Networking, and a newly expanded Keynote Program for experts to present on commodities, the mineral outlook, innovation and new discoveries.

More than 800 exhibitors will display their expertise and latest core samples in Core Shack, Investors Exchange, Prospectors Tent and Trade Show, they said.

It is not limited to the in-person only event though, with a line-up of programming scheduled for the online portion.

“It is important that we can offer the online portion of PDAC 2022 for a very important group of stakeholders across the world who want access to information directly from their home or office, and we are excited to be able to give them that,” Lisa McDonald, PDAC Executive Director, said. “But it is the in-person element that is being craved this year and we can’t wait to welcome the world’s mineral exploration and mining industry to PDAC 2022 after all this time, we’ve certainly missed everyone.”

For the latest information on #PDAC2022 head to www.pdac.ca/convention

International Mining is a media sponsor of the PDAC 2022 Convention

Titeline mining its underground diamond drilling niche

In looking to retain the mantle of Australia’s safest drilling company while expanding into the underground mining sector, Titeline Drilling has found support from some of the biggest miners in the world.

The company has long been viewed as a leading surface mineral exploration drilling contractor but, as David D’Astoli, CEO of Titeline, explained, this type of work is subject to cyclical exploration budgets.

“The rationale for moving into the underground market was to try to get some ‘lumpiness’ out of our income stream,” he told IM. “As you know, with exploration, it can be pretty up and down. With the underground side, our work is a lot closer to the production side of the business; we’re doing grade control and resource development work in long dated (four to five years) contracts.”

Titeline was looking for consistency and resilience even in market downturns.

To enact this change, the company employed a new General Manager of Underground, Greg Wythes.

Wythes, who had a background in underground drilling in Australia having worked at the likes of Newcrest Mining’s Cadia and Rio Tinto’s (now CMOC’s) majority-owned Northparkes mine, was aware of the pain points the industry was feeling and sought about creating a unique value proposition for the new underground contracting division.

The contract the company bid on – and consequently won – for MMG’s Rosebery mine in Tasmania, Australia, provided just that.

MMG, in a blog post, explained that brief.

“When Rosebery was looking to award the contract for underground drilling services in 2017, all tendering companies were asked to supply a hands-free solution for drill rod handling, in-line with our vision for an injury-free workplace,” the company said.

“The successful company, Titeline, was the only tender that presented a viable solution to hands-free drill rod loading and unloading.”

Titeline – having fitted Boart Longyear rod handlers to their drills that “present the rod in an ergonomic position so the drill assistant can get it and stack it away”, D’Astoli says – knew such a solution could be developed, in theory, but had to search for the right suppliers and solutions to prove it could work in a real-world underground environment.

The Boart Longyear rod handler, along with a rig able to move and set up quickly, drill from +90 to -90 degrees and to depths of 1,500 m, immediately proved productive at Rosebery.

“The brief was to ensure the drills on site were performing before starting their hand-free proposal, and, within six months of commencing their contract, Titeline’s in-house designed drill rigs outperformed the previous contractor,” MMG said.

Yet, the company needed to automate the rod handling process further to fulfil the brief.

This is where the potential of robots came into view.

“These robots were already in the manufacturing industry – which aren’t exactly pristine environments – and were able to operate without an issue,” D’Astoli said. “They were also being employed on sea walls where they were constantly doused with sea water and continued to operate.”

Robot technicians were happy to provide conservative estimates of only having to service these robots every six months in the underground environment, according to D’Astoli. This provided the peace of mind that maintenance issues were not going to knock productivity off-line.

It cemented a relationship with a robotics company in Melbourne, Victoria, not too far away from its Ballarat base, and gave the company the robot drilling brief.

Boart Longyear provided access to the drill rig interface, the DCI control panel.

This year-and-a-half long process led to the development of a world first for underground diamond drilling: a drill and ancillary rod buggy carrier able to drill unattended and perform an autonomous rod trip (pulling the drill string out of the drill holes and then running it back in).

Able to work in confined environments, and drill 360° on azimuth and from -90 degrees to + 90 degrees in dip, the solution was presented to a global audience at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s annual exploration event earlier this year.

Meanwhile, MMG and Titeline had started commissioning the first rig at Rosebery, and one of the world’s biggest gold miners was putting the rigs through their paces.

Titeline, which already has an existing grade control and resource definition contract at Newmont’s Tanami gold mine, in the Northern Territory, has provided six rigs to the miner, two of which are equipped with the new drill and ancillary rod buggy carrier. More of these robotic rigs will be arriving at the operation by the end of the year.

Modifications to these rigs continue to take place, but the three currently in place at Rosebery and Tanami are very much “producing”, D’Astoli explained.

“We have been making some changes to the programming, to the safety circuit, the laser circuit, etc, but they’ve been performing well,” he said. “We’ve even drilled a few hundred metre shifts with one of the robot rigs.”

He provided some colour to this performance: “The rod pulling process is at least as quick as it is with the Boart Longyear rod handler and is a lot more consistent as you are taking the human element out of it.

“The existing rigs across the underground industry, whether they have total manual handling or are using the Boart Longyear rod handler, still need a drill assistant or driller in there plucking the rod out of the rod handler and putting it away. That can get tiring.”

Accidents can happen when this tiredness occurs.

“The robot will, in the end, always be that bit quicker, as it is consistent over a longer period of time and never gets tired,” D’Astoli added.

Shift change opportunities

The automation elements on these drill rigs are not only removing personnel from the danger zones, they are also providing a productivity boost.

D’Astoli feels the value driver comes with being able to drill throughout shift changes and other times where manual drilling would normally have stopped.

“One of the biggest impediments to production in the underground environment is how many hours you can drill in a 12-hour day,” he said. “Quite often it is a lot less than you think. That can be due to ventilation issues, water issues, dewatering issues, heat, etc.

“The biggest improvement from a productivity point of view available to us is being able to drill and pull rods between shift changes, crib breaks and those types of things. Or, if the ventilation system goes down, personnel will move away from the area, and allow the drill to drill autonomously. That is where the productivity gains are going to come from.

“All of this leads to being able to drill more hours over a shift.”

The company is not finished automating, though, with D’Astoli saying it intends to further leverage this robotised drilling and rod pulling ability.

“With Wi-Fi in the mines, it is at the point where you could be able to take that to the next level and have someone sitting on the surface controlling the rig,” D’Astoli said.

“Or, you might have a similar application to the way semi-autonomous underground boggers (LHDs) work in a block cave mine, where the operators are in a controlled environment and one operator might be operating three boggers at a time.”

That is some way ahead.

For the time being, the company is focused on switching out all of the manual rigs it has delivered to Rosebery and Tanami with the semi-autonomous ones.

Each new rig is a large undertaking for the company, with the learnings from Rosebery to Tanami – and vice versa – reflected in every build.

This is where being aligned with major companies such as Newmont and MMG comes in handy.

“MMG have been very understanding of the process we are going through,” D’Astoli said. “They came and visited us in Ballarat, pre-COVID-19, to see how we were getting along. Newmont have been exactly the same; very supportive giving us the time and space to deliver.”

Major attraction

While the PDAC debut excited lots of attention, D’Astoli is keen to foster the relationship with these two companies further, in addition to aligning with other major companies – and major mines – in the future.

“They’re the ones that probably own the bigger, lower-cost mines, which is where we want to be,” he said. “It is those orebodies that demand the amount of drilling where it makes sense to automate as much of the process as possible,” D’Astoli said.

“When you set up these long-term contracts to deploy such technology, you want to make sure the mine has a long life ahead of it and the owner is not going to be chopping and changing the budget from year to year.”

Asked whether the wider industry is willing to pay for such innovation, D’Astoli was resolute in his answer.

“For a company really focused on safety, they are not going to be knocked out by the price of this solution,” he said.

Surface safety

This is not all Titeline is interested in at the moment.

Titeline has to this point in its underground automation journey been helped along the way by Chile-based Exploration Drill Masters (EDM).

EDM, which Titeline owns 50% of, has been fabricating the frames and other components for these new rigs before they head to Australia for final assembly.

But the Santiago-based company is working on a new development of its own.

Its patent-pending EDM rod-feeder system for handling drill pipe has been used across the globe as an add-on to existing fleets, many of them being used on Titeline rigs.

D’Astoli says operators can park this solution up behind any top drive drill rig in Australia and remove 90% of the manual handling risks that come with the handling of diamond drill pipe to and from the drill string.

The EDM Mark I has already achieved this, but Mark II will further improve this solution, providing a bridge between manual handling and full hands-free solutions, he says.

“The national fleet in Australia mainly consists of top drive drill rigs and there is no real hands-free solution on the market that does not currently affect the productivity of these rigs in the majority of applications,” he said.

“The EDM Mark II rod feeder fills the gap while a new, hands-free solution is being developed.”

IMDEX urges miners to explore cloud-based options

IMDEX’s Dr Michelle Carey and Gervais Perron say the mining technology company’s focus on providing companies with the tools to make real-time decisions in the field can offer improvements across the entire mining value chain.

The company is leveraging developments in communications, data storage and cloud technology to provide the mining industry with applications that can fundamentally improve their operations, it says.

Dr Carey, IMDEX General Manager, Product Development, and Perron, Principal Geoscientist – North America, used a workshop at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention, in Toronto, in March, to focus on real-time decision making in exploration.

“Our technologies are based on increasing rock knowledge by providing trusted data in real time, to allow clients to make the right decisions at the lowest cost possible,” Dr Carey said.

“That is achieved by enabling clients to drill faster and smarter, receiving accurate subsurface data, having our tools linked to the cloud, and by using the power of the Internet of Geosensors.

“IMDEX is working across the mining value chain in order to change the equation.

“What if your team test more targets and/or decrease the time it takes to define a resource? “Would that be a game changer?”

IMDEXHUB-IQ is at the centre of the company’s solutions – from navigation to driller operable geophysics – and enables the efficient transfer of data from the field to the office, according to the company. It provides secure access to validated data, seamlessly transmitted from a range of sub-surface instrumentation, analytical instruments and mobile form data inputs, IMDEX says.

IMDEX recently said miners were starting to see the benefits of this cloud connectivity, with, at the end of December, 58 of IMDEX’s top 100 clients “HUB-enabled”, up from 49 clients as at June 30, 2019.

Perron said: “Drilling data is the primary source of information used to inform the major investment decisions made by a resource company.

“In our opinion, this needs to be done right from the beginning. Not doing so, can lead to misunderstandings that can have major repercussions down the road.

“The technology is available. Real-time data enables better, faster and more confident decisions to be made.

“At IMDEX, our vision is that all our geoscience sensors we put out there are connected to the cloud for easy and fast access, anywhere, anytime.”

Zero-emission vehicle incentives coming to Canada’s mining sector

Canada is to extend its existing zero emission vehicle incentive to include off-road vehicles, providing a boost for the country’s mining sector at a time when it is looking to decarbonise operations.

In an announcement at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) annual convention in Toronto, Canada, taking place this week, the government said the move was predicated on helping Canada achieve its climate goals and keep its industries competitive.

This incentive would provide a 100% write-off of the purchase cost of eligible zero-emission vehicles and automotive equipment in the year they are put into use, the government said. It builds on the temporary incentives announced in the 2019 budget for on-road vehicles.

“Canadians expect their government to take ambitious action to protect our environment, while growing our economy and creating new jobs and opportunities for workers and businesses,” the government said. “To do this, we must support measures to accelerate Canada’s clean energy transition and help our businesses adopt the sustainable technologies of the future.”

It added: “This new incentive would encourage businesses, including in sectors like mining, transportation, and agriculture, to take advantage of opportunities to upgrade to newer, cleaner technologies.”

Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, said: “We are supporting businesses that are making investments today to help protect our environment for future generations. By making it more affordable for Canadian businesses to make the switch to zero-emission technologies, we can help accelerate our transition to a low-carbon, clean-growth economy and create good middle-class jobs.”

Under this new incentive, to be eligible for an income tax deduction of 100%, vehicles would need to be available for use before 2024. The deduction allowance would decrease to 75% for 2024 and 2025, and would decrease to 55% for 2026 and 2027. Vehicles not available for use before 2028 would not be eligible for the accelerated deduction allowance, the government said.

IMDEX to showcase COREVIBE, XTRACTA and SURVEY-IQ at PDAC

IMDEX says it intends to showcase innovative new technologies at this year’s Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention in Toronto, Canada, this week.

IMDEX will feature its patent-protected drilling technologies IMDEX COREVIBETM and IMDEX XTRACTATM ay the event, which attracted over 25,000 attendees last year, and will launch the IMDEX SURVEY-IQTM app where users can monitor all IMDEX survey tools from one interface.

IMDEX COREVIBE uses high frequency, energy pulse-assisted drilling for wireline coring, providing a significant improvement in drilling productivity.

Test results validated by international inspection and verification company SGS show the IMDEX COREVIBE has delivered up to 30% improvement in core drilling productivity, according to IMDEX.

IMDEX XTRACTA enables drill bits to be inspected or changed without retrieving the rods, and has undergone extensive testing, with verified results showing safety and productivity gains, IMDEX says.

IMDEX SURVEY-IQ, meanwhile, can boost productivity by up to four times compared with conventional apps, according to the ASX-listed company.

IMDEX Chief Executive, Bernie Ridgeway, said: “The annual four-day convention, held this year from March 1 to 4, has grown in size, stature and influence since it began in 1932. It welcomes mining professionals from all over the world.”

IMDEX personnel including General Manager of Product Development, Dr Michelle Carey, Chief Geoscientist, Dave Lawie, Global Business Development Director, Derek Loughlin, and Principal Geoscientist, Gervais Perron, will be presenting at IMDEX’s seminar series.

With more than 20 years’ experience in the global mining industry working across multiple organisations including BHP and WMC, Dr Carey is an expert in developing products for the mining sector, IMDEX said.

Lawie will discuss the latest in leading exploratory data analysis software application, ioGASTM 7.2, explaining its speed and other benefits over traditional interpretation methods.

Loughlin has more than 30 years’ experience within the mining and drilling industry and will deliver a presentation on A New Wave of Drilling Optimisation, IMDEX said.

He will explain how IMDEX COREVIBE and IMDEX XTRACTA are creating a paradigm shift in drilling optimisation, the company added.

Dr Carey and Perron will discuss Real-time Decision Making in Exploration and explain how new technologies can assist in making better decisions in the field or in the office using survey instruments through to geochemical and petrophysical sensors.

The free workshops will be held on March 3.

Smart Exploration team ready to show off their work to Toronto crowd

The team behind the EU Horizon 2020-backed Smart Exploration project says it is ready to introduce its prototypes and software to the market.

It said project representatives are getting ready for a Canada tour to present the results and innovative solutions they have come up with over the last two years to potential stakeholders and end-users.

The Smart Exploration project develops cost-effective, environmentally friendly tools and methods for geophysical exploration in highly challenging brownfield and greenfield areas to address ever-increasing community and environmental issues, as well as reduce the return time on investments, it says. It officially begun on December 1, 2017, and is due to conclude on December 1, 2020.

Since the inception of the project, the 27 partners comprising the project consortium have worked together to meet the challenging task of developing solutions for deep mineral exploration, the partners said. The solutions have been tested and validated under diverse mining conditions (surface, underground, open pit, brownfield, greenfield) over six test sites in Europe, it says.

Even though these solutions are developed for mineral exploration purposes, they have cross- and multi-disciplinary applications and can be used by other industries, the partners said.

To highlight the project’s advances, project representatives will be present at three events in Toronto, Canada, in February and March. This includes the Toronto MERC-Smart Exploration Workshop on Novel Seismics and Electromagnetic Methods for Mineral Exploration (February 27), the Toronto Special EAGE session at the KEGS 2020 PDAC Symposium (February 29) and the annual PDAC convention on March 1-4.

Smart Exploration has developed six software (methodologies) and five prototypes throughout the project lifetime, resulting in a complete package of solutions for deep mineral exploration, it says.

Its software includes:

  • Three-dimensional frequency and time-domain electromagnetic modelling;
  • Thin-sheet time domain modelling and IP responses;
  • New solutions for near-surface problems and related deeper imaging improvements;
  • Generation of additional data from sparse active-source data with lower environmental impact; and
  • Scattering/diffractivity imaging for improved resolution depth imaging.

Three out of five prototypes have been validated and will launch in Canada, the partners said. This includes a GPS-time synchronisation system for denied environments such as underground mines; an electromagnetic broadband frequency seismic source (E-Vib, pictured); and a deep-probing time-domain electromagnetic helicopter-based system (HTEM).

The other two prototypes in the last phase of development are a slim hole modular system for mining boreholes and a UAV-Mag-EM for quickly obtaining data over difficult terrains.

Several presentations will be given during the events and the three validated prototypes will be showcased during the PDAC convention at the EU booth, the partners said.

McKinsey presents ‘mega project’ blowouts and how to avoid them at PDAC

A study presented by McKinsey’s Matthieu Dussud at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) annual convention has shown one in five “mega projects” completed between 2008-2018 suffered significant cost and schedule overruns.

Out of the 41 projects surveyed – all with a capital expenditure of $500 million or more – 19% suffered a budget overrun of more than 100%. Of these projects, the average schedule delay was 29 months, Dussud said.

Some 44% of the 41 projects were hit by budget overruns of 15-100% – with an average seven-and-a-half month delay – while 17% were “within estimate” coming in less than 15% over the capex budget. Of those projects surveyed, just 20% suffered no cost or time overruns, Dussud said.

The reasons for these problems were multi-faceted, but Dussud, an Associate Partner at McKinsey and Co, said the company’s study had shown a strong correlation between the budget overrun and project size.

For example, 24% of projects with an upfront cost of $500-999 million suffered capex overruns when comparing the feasibility study to the actual cost. At the higher end, 61% of projects with feasibility study capital outlays of more than $2 billion were hit by budget blowouts.

Dussud also said underground mines and higher elevation facilities underperformed against their baselines more consistently in the study, with mining projects built above 3,000 ft (914 m) running overbudget by, on average, 47% and underground mining projects running overbudget by, on average, 55%. Open-pit mines, meanwhile, fared better with 42% of these suffering capital overruns.

McKinsey and Dussud ranked the root causes of mega-capital project cost and schedule overruns in the study, with a difference of opinion seen between owners and contractors.

Both parties agreed that increasing project and site complexities was the biggest problem of eight, but the rankings differed from there on.

From one to eight, mine owners ranked the root causes as follows:

  1. Increasing project and site complexities;
  2. Design processes and investment are inadequate;
  3. Bespoke or sub-optimal owner requirements;
  4. Insufficiently skilled labour at frontline and supervisory level;
  5. Poor project management and execution basics;
  6. Industry underinvests in digitisation, innovation, and capital;
  7. Contractual structures and incentives are misaligned;
  8. Extensive regulation and cyclical nature of public investment.

The contractors, on the other hand, had the ranking as follows:

  1. Increasing project and site complexities;
  2. Poor project management and execution basics;
  3. Contractual structures and incentives are misaligned;
  4. Design processes and investment are inadequate;
  5. Bespoke or sub-optimal owner requirements;
  6. Insufficiently skilled labour at frontline and supervisory level;
  7. Extensive regulation and cyclical nature of public investment;
  8. Industry underinvests in digitisation, innovation, and capital.

Dussud and McKinsey proposed eight key changes for mine owners to increase mining capital project outcome certainty in their feasibility study practices.

This included establishing a prescriptive standard for feasibility studies – part of a broader stage-gate process; building in a systematic and holistic value improvement step to avoid “gold-plating”, and maximising project economics within the owner’s feasibility study approach; leveraging granular benchmarks (including construction productivity metrics) to validate inputs and capex/opex estimates; embedding construction planning, operations readiness and marketing strategy at every step of project study development to de-risk execution and operations; and investing time, effort and management focus on building and optimising an integrated master schedule.

The other three recommendations were:

  • Design an incentive scheme for the feasibility study contractor to enable a “value maximisation, out of the box thinking and transparent mindset” (eg performance bonus based on net present value improvements) and favour “relational contracting”;
  • Setup the foundations of the project’s contracting strategy early during the feasibility study (identify partners, define contract scheme, negotiate terms, etc), and;
  • Build a strong owner’s team with the right capabilities, mindset and behaviours.