By Maria Nicolaidis
The global stakes
The world’s transition to electrification, renewable energy, and advanced manufacturing is accelerating demand for critical minerals at an unprecedented pace. From copper and lithium to nickel and rare earth minerals, these materials are essential to modern economies and the energy systems of the future.
But here’s the paradox; as demand continues to rise, the ‘easy’ discoveries are behind us. Ore bodies are deeper, more complex, and harder to find than ever before and as a result, exploration programmes are more data-intensive, more expensive, and under greater pressure to deliver results faster and sustainably.
So, what does this new reality mean?
The race to discover more minerals will not be won by companies who simply drill more holes in the ground. The winners will be those who spot the opportunity of emerging technologies and adopt them at pace – enabling integrated workflows, cloud-based data collaboration, and AI-driven efficiencies. These capabilities will give geoscientists the subsurface understanding that is so critical for making better decisions, and faster.
Modern exploration is not just a tools conversation; it’s an ecosystem and data-collaboration conversation.
The challenge we face; complexity and data overload
There’s a consistent theme that emerges time and time again during my conversations with industry professionals. While there is a widespread desire for discovering new mineral resources, the day-to-day experience of chasing this goal is often dominated by complexity. Data continues to grow in both volume and type while workflows remain fragmented, and data siloed.
The result is uncertainty in data quality, uncertainty in interpretation, and ultimately uncertainty in decision-making. Seequent’s recently published 7th edition Geoprofessionals Data Management Report, revealed that almost one in three geoprofessionals still lack the information needed to make data-driven decisions.
Exploration success depends on two things: the ability to build a credible data-backed analysis of what lies beneath the surface, and the ability to communicate with clarity and confidence to stakeholders. The right technology underpins both. It is how we can accelerate discovery, reduce risk, and make smarter, more sustainable decisions to meet the world’s fast-growing need for these subsurface treasures.
A new era of digital transformation
It is true that mining has historically been slower to adopt new technologies compared to other industries, but there is undoubtedly a shift to embrace new capabilities. There is clear recognition that a fundamental shift in how we work is essential, and that technology will help close the gap between insight and action.
Anglo American embarked on a project to digitise its geotechnical risk-management processes and rid the operation of its traditional and disconnected methods. Through the adoption of an integrated technology solution, they’ve seen a 75% reduction in the time required to update 3D geomechanical models resulting in increased medium-to-long term project recovery by 120% to 140%.
Dr Janina Elliott, Seequent Segment Director, Mining, puts it perfectly ‘to drive digital productivity today, the industry needs to turn to, even demand, digital standardisation and openness that drives connected workflows across multi-disciplinary streams, partnerships, and the kind of future innovations that investors want to see,’ and I couldn’t agree more.
This is the challenge we are tackling head-on at Seequent. It is why we are so focused on advancing our end-to-end solutions – the tools you already know like Leapfrog Geo and Oasis montaj, alongside Imago, MX Deposit and our geoscience cloud platform Seequent Evo and its native applications Driver and BlockSync. It’s about creating a connected ecosystem which redefines how we all work with our data.
Segment Director Mining Dr Janina Elliott tells how Seequent Evo helped a customer reduce risk on a project by 60 per cent.
Credit: Seequent
Innovation in action: the tools that excite me
It’s one thing to talk about transformation; it’s another to see it in action. What does digital innovation actually look like on the ground? Let’s get into some of the specifics that I’m personally excited about.
We all know that early decisions have the greatest impact. That’s why with the new Oasis montaj radiometrics extension, developed in partnership with Medusa, geoscientists can extract deeper insight from their radiometric data, allowing teams to zero in on the most promising targets with confidence before a single drill rig is mobilised. Think of the risk, cost, and unnecessary drilling that can be avoided.
Radiometric ternary map (K–U–Th) in Oasis montaj 2025.2
Core contains a wealth of geological information, but its analysis can be time-consuming and subjective to interpret. With Imago, machine learning-powered capabilities change this. With auto-crop and Image Analysis, what has traditionally taken hours to log core, can be done in minutes. Analyses can be run on new or historic core tray images, making it more consistent and repeatable. By reducing manual effort and variability, geoscientists can do what they do best; interpret the data and turn it into actionable insights faster.
AI, modelling, and analytics all depend on data quality. Garbage in, garbage out, right? MX Deposit’s enhanced data validations strengthen drillhole data integrity at the point of capture, improving consistency across teams and projects. This is critical, particularly when unmanaged historical data remains the single biggest data challenge.
57% of geoprofessionals find unmanaged historical data a key challenge for their organisation
Source: Seequent 7th edition Geoprofessionals Data Management Report
As datasets grow, so does the opportunity to uncover subtle geological signals, but much like finding a needle in a haystack, this can be hard. Driver uses integrated machine learning to rapidly identify features and patterns in drilling data that may otherwise be difficult or time-consuming to detect.
Planar continuities of high-grade samples automatically segmented into spatially consistent clusters representing individual veins.
Understanding and quantifying uncertainty is critical to building a reliable resource model and making subsurface-informed decisions. Continued improvements to Leapfrog Edge, workflow-based conditional simulation and advanced geostatistical analysis and modelling with Seequent Evo supports more connected, transparent, and robust estimation.
Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation. Seequent’s collaboration with Orica exemplifies the value of an open ecosystem. The integration of Leapfrog with Orica Digital Solutions’ Axis Connect via Seequent Evo, bridges the gap between geologists and drillers by streamlining data transfer and fostering better decisions across exploration campaigns.
Unlocking the full potential of geoscience data with Seequent Evo
These tools are powerful on their own, but the real magic happens when they are connected. This is where Seequent Evo comes in. It is the thread that ties everything together.
I think of Evo much like the dining room table. Where the table is a central place that brings together your favorite food and people; Evo is a single, secure platform that unites data, teams, and applications seamlessly.
Evo simplifies collaboration, enables continuous innovation, and reduces friction between workflows to support data-driven decisions and helps teams stay agile and productive.
Seequent Chief Executive Officer Graham Grant said: ‘Breaking down silos unlocks the full potential of underutilised data and empowers organisations to make faster, better-informed decisions that drive their success. Evo delivers new, bespoke mining applications that work seamlessly with the applications our users are already using’. Evo isn’t just a platform, ‘it’s about sparking fresh ideas and transforming how geoscientists work’.
Looking ahead
According to the 7th edition Geoprofessionals Data Management Report, 51% of respondents reported that they are now using or considering using AI, and readiness to leverage the cloud overall is on the rise.
As exploration challenges intensify, the path forward is clear. The organisations that succeed will be those that embrace technology to enable smarter ways of working.
The mining landscape is at a pivotal moment and by adopting modern geoscience solutions organisations position themselves to overcome data challenges, improve collaboration, and unlock new opportunities. Those who move swiftly will not only stay ahead in a competitive landscape but also redefine what’s possible in geoscience and exploration.
Maria Nicolaidis is Seequent’s Segment Marketing Manager, Mining.