MINING SOFTWARE
is looking to build on recent investments in drill optimisation( Minnovare) and teleremote operations( through HARD-LINE) by leveraging the“ real-world test environment” it now has access to through its partnership with Montana Technological University.
The university’ s Underground Mine Education Center, which Hexagon has access to through this partnership, is a full-scale mine environment that enables rigorous testing of sensors, algorithms and operator-machine interactions. Hexagon intends to use the site for simulation, validation, training and demonstrations, helping bridge the gap between laboratory development and operational deployment while strengthening industry-academic collaboration.
Dampney added:“ This builds on Hexagon’ s broader commitment to fieldbased validation. For surface mining, we have partnered with KGHM’ s Carlota Copper Mine in Arizona, which serves as our Field Readiness proving ground for surface technologies. There, solutions are tested and refined in live operational conditions before broader deployment.
“ Together, these environments ensure our technologies are not only developed in theory, but proven in practice – enhancing reliability, accelerating innovation cycles and ensuring solutions are ready for the realities of modern mining operations.”
Committed to technological excellence
Datamine CEO John Bailey says the company’ s commitment to customers, focused on listening, innovating and delivering, has been on show during a busy 12-month period in 2025.
Among its developments was the signing of two landmark global partnerships that, Datamine says, demonstrate its ongoing commitment to smart mining solutions.
With Verbrec, Datamine now offers StacksOn™, a digital twin platform that transforms stockyard management by improving visibility, operational efficiency and sustainability. The partnership integrates Verbrec’ s engineering expertise with Datamine’ s mining technology to empower over 1,500 clients globally with advanced stockpile optimisation tools.
A collaboration with IntelliSense. io, meanwhile, allows Datamine to expand its capabilities deeper into the ore processing segment. This partnership combines Datamine’ s mining expertise with IntelliSense. io’ s AI-powered process optimisation tools, offering clients a one-stop platform that spans exploration through production, it says.
Global information management software company, acQuire Technology Solutions says it is simplifying and streamlining the way geologists capture, manage and scale their data across mining operations with the release of GIM Suite 5.5.
With version 5.5, acQuire says it has focused on strengthening data integrity and reliability, workflow consistency and system performance within its enterprise geological data management solution, GIM Suite. The result, it argues, is more intuitive and flexible geological data management.
The latest release introduces new pre-configured data capture tasks that are purpose built for a range of drilling and sampling methods, from RC and diamond drilling to face sampling and surface sampling.
“ With GIM Suite 5.5, our aim is to make data capture work the way geologists do in the field,” Geoff Forbes, Product Group Manager for the Mining Portfolio at acQuire, said.“ By tailoring tasks to specific logging and sampling methods, field teams can collect accurate data faster and with greater confidence.”
Each task includes tailored templates that reduce administrator setup time while helping geologists and field workers log and sample drill holes more quickly and accurately.
“ For a geologist conducting underground face mapping and sampling, you can now select the pre-configured template in GIM Suite 5.5 that features a horizontal graphical log scaled to provide clear visibility of your logging and sampling details,” Forbes added.
Administrators can deploy these templates quickly, ensuring consistency and reliability in geological data across the organisation.
The company concluded:“ GIM Suite 5.5 isn’ t just smarter on the surface, it’ s also faster and more secure behind the scenes. Under the hood, architectural upgrades in GIM Suite deliver faster performance, improved stability and greater data security. These improvements ensure mining company’ s geological data remains protected and accessible, even under the most demanding conditions.”
GIM Suite 5.5 introduces new pre-configured data capture tasks that are purpose built for a range of drilling and sampling methods, from RC and diamond drilling to face sampling and surface sampling, acQuire says
68 International Mining | FEBRUARY 2026