MINERAL EXPLORATION
Thanks to ArcGIS Online, Alamos ' geoscientists are now able to view all of the different types of exploration data together in one place
“ Alamos Gold realised quite early on that ongoing exploration was essential to its longterm survival because its gold mines have a tentative lifespan of just 7-10 years. Its exploration department deploys teams of geoscientists to discover new mine sites and extend the life of existing mines by locating new gold reserves nearby. These groups produce very large datasets that will almost inevitably be needed by other team members. With offices and sites scattered around the world, some in remote areas, Alamos has had more than its fair share of data availability challenges.”
“ Whenever someone wanted a dataset, they had to contact the geologist who created it,” explained Fernando Lopez, Manager of Data and GIS at Alamos Gold.“ If the file was very large or the geologist was in a remote location, the data would have to be burned onto a DVD and driven to the nearest company office. It was very inefficient – especially if the wrong data got sent.”
In 2014, the company embarked on a global data management program built around an enterprise GIS. It formed the Geo-Information group and set up its first Geo-Information Hub in Hermosillo, Mexico in 2015.“ Using Esri tools such as File Geodatabases to maintain local data repositories( field work), ArcGIS Server to store spatial datasets managed in MS SQL, ArcGIS
Online to publish and share information company-wide and web apps to optimise communication with external users, Alamos Gold was able to provide reliable information to its team, standardise its processes for increased automation of operations and create a culture of collaboration – which in turn has led to its phenomenal growth in the mining markets.”
“ Our technicians, geologists and consultants, located on three continents, can now simply log into their ArcGIS Online accounts and immediately locate all pertinent exploration data for their projects,” Lopez said.“ Information is not only readily available, but it’ s also known to be reliable because it comes from a single, qualitycontrolled source.”
The application of hyperspectral remote sensing
Hyperspectral Remote Sensing( HRS) has followed a long history of development and has proven its value in the measured acceptance by the scientific community. HRS technology was initially driven by scientists who gained knowledge about the Earth’ s surface mineralogy through comprehensive work with laboratory spectrometers. This was followed by a physical explanation of the spectral response of minerals in rocks and soil, which consists of significant and unique spectral fingerprints across the Shortwave-Infrared( SWIR) and Longwave-