Golder and Mirarco paint beautiful pictures together

There’s no doubt that new technologies have made the discovery and development of mineral deposits a rewarding but more complex business. 

Deposits are still discovered and developmental feasibility is still assessed using the tried and true methods of prospecting, mapping, sampling and drilling. However, increasingly, new development prospects are found using a wider array of technologies that generate vast amounts of geological, geophysical, geochemical and spatial data.

The key to success lies not only in the correct interpretation and integration of gigabytes of data, but also in the effective presentation and communication of the interpretation so that scientists, managers, executives, directors and company investors can understand the big picture and collaboratively make informed development decisions.

Golder Associates and partner Mining Innovation Rehabilitation and Applied Research Corp. (Mirarco) have developed a facility in the heart of Toronto’s mining and financial districts to help mining companies achieve these ends. Called the Collaborative 3D (C3D) Centre, this facility offers users seamless three-dimensional stereographic images and provides next-generation tools for combining multiple datasets into a single, comprehensive  “True 3D” viewing environment.

Mirarco is a not-for-profit research institution established and operated by Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont., with an independent board of directors primarily comprised of industry representatives.

Mirarco originally developed software plug-ins to Gocad, a visualization platform developed for the oil and gas sector to input standard mining datasets. Later, Mirarco adapted the open-source ParaView visualization application for a wider audience. Mirarco then began looking for ways to increase its exposure to the mining industry. 

 “It’s about developing solutions that are adopted by others for the benefit of the industry,” says Sean Maloney, Mirarco’s interim president.

Mirarco chose global consulting firm Golder as an industry partner because, Maloney explains, they are a “natural choice for hosting such a facility and ensuring wide industrial exposure.” 

For Golder, it was a good fit as well, and there had always been a good working relationship with Mirarco. When the idea of taking the technology beyond Sudbury to other mining centres was proposed by Mirarco, Golder agreed to share in the implementation.

The C3D Centre lets companies combine multiple datasets into a single comprehensive viewing environment. By doing so, companies can complete efficient property and technical assessment, and improved evaluation of exploration programs, development-stage or advanced mining projects. 

The centre allows up to 30 people to collaborate and interact in high-resolution, 3D visualizations of their project’s data, offering the potential for highlighting new relationships between displayed elements, and enabling informed and cost-effective technical and investment decision-making. This approach allows more intuitive communication of findings to non-technical decision-makers, in comparison to conventional reporting. 

A number of companies have used the centre since its inception in 2009, particularly those focused on gold and diamond deposit exploration.

In 2008, after Golder completed a comprehensive resource estimate for Stornoway Diamond’s (SWY-T) Renard diamond project in Quebec’s Otish Mountains, the centre’s technology was leveraged to assist the diamond and exploration company’s communication efforts.

“Effective presentation of data in such an impressively graphical format is just as important as the simple communication of headline results,” says Matt Manson, Stornoway’s president and CEO.

The Renard project included drill core data, reverse-circulation drilling and sampling, trenching and underground bulk sampling.

“There were three levels of sampling, from micro diamonds through macro diamonds in small mini-bulk samples, to macro diamonds from large-scale bulk sampling,” Manson says. “We had underground mapping and geotechnical datasets from our bulk sample decline. Indicated and inferred mineral resources and non-resource potential mineral deposits were estimated on five separate orebodies with close spatial relationships.”

There are also centre users interested in mineral planning and design applications, and there are applications in geotechnical engineering, waste management, groundwater hydrogeology, property development and urban planning.   

Personally, I would love to see another C3D Centre in our Vancouver office — but the logical step would be purchasing a portable solution, so we can take the technology to the project, or to the client, who isn’t in Toronto or Vancouver.

— Based in Toronto, the author is an associate with Golder Associates with over 20 years of experience in the integrated use of geomatics technologies addressing international and national projects, which include mineral exploration solutions. He manages the day-to-day operation of the CD Centre and has worked with clients to create immersive 3-D presentations for project evaluations and investor relations. See www.golder.ca for more information.