Peak Iron gains faster decision-making and data confidence with GIM Essentials

GIM Essentials helps Peak Iron make more confident exploration decisions in the field

Peak Iron Mines Pty Ltd (Peak Iron) is a privately-owned iron ore development, mining and exploration company operating in the North Gawler Region of South Australia, committed to unlocking the region’s rich magnetite potential.

Extensive field exploration and metallurgical test work are underway at Peak Iron’s Hawks Nest Iron Ore magnetite project in preparation for developing the highest-grade magnetite mining operation in South Australia.

To support this, Peak Iron’s geology team manages a wide range of critical data, including geological logs, downhole petrophysics, magnetic susceptibility readings and assay results from advanced techniques like X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Davis Tube Recovery (DTR) to evaluate magnetite potential.

For years, prior to Peak Iron’s acquisition of the tenements, this field data was collected using paper-based logging methods and managed through spreadsheets – a time consuming and error prone approach. Recognising the need for a more efficient, scalable and reliable solution to handle their geological and drilling information, Mineral Resource Manager Dwayne Povey led the successful transition to acQuire’s new geological data management solution, GIM Essentials, for their next drilling program.

They haven’t looked back since.

From Spreadsheets to Smarter Workflows: Why Peak Iron Upgraded Their Data Management

Historically, managing geological data used to mean juggling countless spreadsheets and relying heavily on manual processes.

“Paper logging in the field was the fail-safe,” explained Dwayne Povey, Mineral Resource Manager at Peak Iron. “Each geologist was creating a spreadsheet for every drill hole. Then you’d have separate tabs for geology, collar data and more, – before long, you’re buried in 15 spreadsheet tabs with no way to collate them. There was no single file to go to.”

Data validation on entry was also limited. “If there was a mistype, there were basic Lookups in the spreadsheet but no real safeguards on surveys, collars, assays or geology entries,” said Dwayne.

Adding to the challenge was the integration of government-issued tenement data with many government departments still releasing data in older formats, including scanned PDFs, flat tables, and digital files. This made it difficult and time-consuming to digitise and transform data into a format suitable for a database.

Sample tracking posed another hurdle. Each week, the team dispatched as many as 1,500 samples to the lab, relying on memory and spreadsheets to keep track of individual drill holes.

“We only prepare lab dispatches once a week. By the end of the week, we might have 1,500 samples, and the team often can’t remember the specifics of the first few holes. Some laboratories receive those 1,500 samples, but they don’t always send back a detailed sample receipt or confirmation. Then, some weeks later, when we finally get the assay results, we discover we’re missing samples from a particular hole and have to resample,” Dwayne shared.

These challenges made it clear: Peak Iron needed a smarter, modern solution to bring all their data together, simplify workflows and support faster, more confident decision-making in the field.

Hitting the ground running with GIM Essentials

Once Dwayne and the Peak Iron team decided on GIM Essentials, they moved quickly to get up and running in time for their next drill program.

“We quickly validated and migrated our data across for that program. The first week came with a steep learning curve as the team upskilled, but we haven’t looked back since,” said Dwayne Povey.

From the beginning, the Peak Iron team had a clear vision of what they needed in a geological data management solution and GIM Essentials allowed them to get there very quickly.

Validated and standardised data right from the point of capture

“You need a hole ID, a from-to, and a sample ID. They’re the key fields of your data model,” said Dwayne.

GIM Essentials allows Peak Iron’s geologists to log and validate data directly in the field, reducing errors from manual transcription and ensuring consistency from the start of each drilling program – improving confidence in the data and accelerating exploration workflows.

Full ownership and control of their data

“For Peak Iron, we wanted to own our data and have the ability to use it as we need, not pay to export our data out of someone else’s software,” shared Dwayne.

With GIM Essentials, Peak Iron get exactly that. As a cloud-hosted and web-based solution, it provides Peak Iron with the flexibility and security to manage their data independently, without relying on external providers for access or data exports.

The result? Greater flexibility, reduced costs, and complete confidence in how their data is stored, accessed, and shared.

Improved sample tracking and confidence in data

Previously, the team dispatched up to 1,500 samples per week and struggled to keep track of individual sample details.

With GIM Essentials that’s changed. The platform provides a single, reliable source of truth where every sample is tracked and accounted for in real time. Nothing gets lost, overlooked or forgotten.

The result is greater transparency, streamlined workflows, and full confidence in the integrity of their sampling data – from field dispatch to assay.

Faster, confident decisions in the field

With GIM Essentials, Peak Iron has completely transformed how geological data is captured, managed, and used, setting them up for faster, more informed exploration decisions.

Instead of waiting days for data to be digitised and shared, and interpreted, the Peak Iron team now works to make decisions in near real-time:

“Previously, I was updating spreadsheets while on the drill rig. I’d get all the logs digitised, email my boss that night, he would email me back the next morning with a drill cross section. Using GIM Essentials just surpassed that aspect. I can export data straight away and start plotting within five minutes. It’s a game changer.”

One of the biggest wins for the team has been the simplicity and speed of the system.

“It’s the simplicity you get. You have your hole ID, your sample ID, you get your assays and it’s as simple as hitting ‘import.’ You do your QA/QC checks and it’s linking your assay sample straight to the hole, and I can just press ‘export.’”

GIM Essentials has also helped reduce the guesswork in the field:

“We usually know where to drill but deciding how deep to go needs experience. The younger geologists aren’t as familiar with interpreting geology and sections yet, so it’s being able to lead them. With GIM Essentials we can make more informed, data-driven decisions instead of relying purely on gut instinct.”

Improving data integrity and visibility, has also helped Peak avoid costly mistakes such as unnecessary DTR tests:

“DTR tests are quite expensive, so we want to be sure we’re making the right decision before running them,” Dwayne added.

“GIM Essentials has revolutionised our field exploration drilling programs. With GIM Essentials we now have a fully integrated end to end data collection, validation and management system. In the field we place a Starlink system at each remote drill rig and directly enter the drill logs and detail into the database in real time. A simple one stop shop and a huge increase in our field exploration productivity,” Dwayne said.

Behind the scenes, Peak Iron continues the significant task of standardising geology codes and importing the previous forty years of historical data from spreadsheets, paper logs and flat files. GIM Essentials equips the team with the tools to validate and clean legacy data efficiently, helping avoid delays from manual processes.

GIM Essentials provided Peak Iron with a simple, centralised platform to seamlessly manage exploration data and empower the team to make exploration decisions with confidence today and well into the future.

The groundwork for success starts here

Managing your geological data should be simple, reliable and accessible, even if you don’t have the resources for an enterprise-level solution, yet.

That doesn’t mean you should settle for clunky tools or messy spreadsheets that slow you down and compromise your data integrity.

If you’d like to learn more about how GIM Essentials can help you get the groundwork right with your geological data, get in touch with acQuire.

In short

Company: Peak Iron Mines Pty Ltd

Industry: Mineral exploration and Mining

Exploration and Mining Operations:

• Peculiar Knob DSO Hematite Mine
• Buzzard DSO Hematite Mine
• Hawks Nest Iron Ore Project (Magnetite), South Australia

Solution: GIM Essentials

The Challenge:

• Lack of data validation at the point of capture using paper-based logging
• Delayed results from drilling campaigns from delayed data consolidation and export processes
• Lack of visibility across lab sample tracking

The Results:

• A single validated and complete source of truth for all geological data
• Digital logging and direct data entry reducing the risk of errors and gaps in data
• Improved data visibility and accuracy of decision-making in the field
• Rapid and efficient delivery of results for visualisation