Geological Information Management Systems – the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Presenter: Richard Addo, Ok Tedi Mining Limited

Resource/reserve estimates, production plans, etc., are only as dependable as the database upon which they are built. A good quality database simply means the data has been generated with proper procedures, been accurately transcribed from the original source and is suitable for its intended purpose. These are facts known and well understood by most top management teams in the resource industry.

The willingness to spend millions of dollars each month to drill holes and collect geoscience data is excellent. On the other hand, there are almost always little or no funds for data management functions (usually in an attempt to save money) and/or inadequate planning towards the implementation of robust database management systems.

Issues have mostly been the lack of will power to spend, make decisions and carry out the execution of comprehensive steps to guarantee decent quality database systems are in place.

This presentation shares some firsthand experience with data management systems from six different mining/exploration setups around the world with emphasis on best practice.