Connecting remote teams with MX Deposit (Remote Roundup 2021)

This session will describe how a distributed team can all work together, on a single version of the truth.

Overview

Video Transcript

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(gentle upbeat music)

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<v Anna>Hi, everybody.</v>

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Welcome to our demo of MX Deposit,

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my name is Anna Kutkiewicz

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and I’m a Senior Project Geologist at Seequent,

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and I’m here to introduce MX Deposit.

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I am of course, joined by our presenter David Kerr,

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who is Head of Product at MX Deposit at Minalytix.

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So we’re getting a demo straight from the expert here.

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Hi Dave, take it away.

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<v David>Awesome.</v>

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Thank you very much.

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And thank you everybody for taking the time out of your day

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and hope everybody’s staying safe out there,

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and hope everybody is enjoying this year’s Remote Roundup.

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So happy to spend a bit of time with you here today

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to chat with you about MX Deposit, and talk through

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some of these kind of unique, specific scenarios

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and how we can really help you to facilitate

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this connection of teams these days.

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And we’ll talk about kind of what all that means,

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and really what I’m hoping to do here today is give you

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just have a discussion around how MX Deposit

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facilitates these scenarios.

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Not really going to go into too many functional details here.

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That’s kind of a follow-up session if anybody’s interested.

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So really what I’m hoping to do here

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is just spark a conversation that we can either have later

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through a Q and A session or through a follow-up

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conversation or a dump.

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What I’m really trying to achieve here today

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is to demonstrate a practical approach on how we can connect

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teams and engage teams, specifically using MX Deposit.

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At the end of the day I’m a service provider,

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I have a product, and I’m really going to focus

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the conversation around how my product

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can facilitate this process.

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And why are we even interested in this conversation?

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Or I should say,

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why are you interested in this conversation?

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I think one of the most obvious ones

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is just the nature of the industry.

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I mean, we don’t get to choose where deposits are located

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around the world.

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So we have to just work within this global culture.

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So we know that deposits are going to be where they lay

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and we just need to work within that.

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But then we’ve got corporate offices and corporate teams,

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and we’ve got project teams.

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And then we’ve got people who are at site, in the field,

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and as well as all the contractors, consultants

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and other service providers as well.

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So for me these are all part of the team.

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It’s not just people who work for the same company,

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but it’s basically everybody who’s involved

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in your projects.

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And something that I think has come up a lot more

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in the last year specifically,

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is this working from home scenario.

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I think what once was a bit of a luxury for some people,

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this ability to work from home here and there,

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has now become more of a requirement for a lot of us.

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And that changes things, this changes how we engage

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with each other.

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This changes how a company and how a business operates.

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And so we need to be able to adapt and adjust,

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and make use of some new tools that can help us

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in that process.

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And that’s really kind of what I’m here

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to talk to you about today.

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So, now we’ll talk through a couple of specifics, right?

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So knowing kind of why we’re here, why we’re even interested

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in this, how can we do this, okay?

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So now we’ll talk through a few scenarios,

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and again I’ll try to do as much of this split screen

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as I can.

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So let me just grab my browser here.

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So I’m going to be showing us the Deposit web app,

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as well as the Deposit mobile app

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for some other scenarios here as well.

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So just bear with me as I kina go back between the two,

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hopefully it’s not too distracting for anybody.

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So I would say step one,

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when we’re thinking about this team scenario,

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and thinking about getting people connected

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is to really get organized, okay?

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And what does this mean?

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Well, it means identifying who are the stakeholders, right?

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So who are the corporate players?

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Who are the project teams?

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Who are the field teams and the field members,

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and what role does everybody have to play, right?

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And why that’s important for a system like Deposit

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is because that’s going to kind of determine

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how we get things set up, right?

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We’re going to have various team members

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that we need to just now designate who’s doing what,

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who has access to what, and ultimately just controlling

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that environment.

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When we’re going through a setup of the project

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we need to just pay attention to where are we operating?

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What are any local considerations in terms of boundaries

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and tenements that we need to adhere to?

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What is it that we’re doing within this area?

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So setting up all the requirements around that, right?

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So what I mean by this is what’s the regional geology

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look like?

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This is going to drive what kind of logging parameters

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we’re going to use.

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Are we doing a detailed diamond core logging?

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Are we doing exploratory RC logging?

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And these are all going to get broken out

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into these different activities that then drive

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this logging exercise, and drive the full process

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of getting data in getting data out.

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And what are all the different points along that.

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The operating procedures are important process here as well,

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just defining who’s responsible for what,

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what happens when this happens?

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How does somebody start a new drill hole?

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How does somebody go from planning a hole

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all the way through to building a 3D model with it, right?

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So just what are all the steps involved there?

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And then how does the software facilitate that?

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And Deposit’s got a lot of mechanisms to be able

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to really support that conversation.

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Getting connected now, right?

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So MX Deposit is a completely hosted

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and web based offering, which means you’re accessing it

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from anywhere in the world, right?

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So anywhere that you’ve got internet,

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you can launch a web browser and access

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your Deposit account.

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There’s no desktop software to install,

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there’s no license keys to carry with you.

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And it really gets you connected again,

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thinking about those stakeholders,

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the corporate players in Downtown Toronto

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or Downtown Vancouver can now have a real-time access

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to the data that’s being collected in the field

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anywhere around the world,

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and all the different stakeholders in between

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also have their relevant access as well.

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With offline data capture tools as well,

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so we recognize again in the industry a lot of times

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we might be out in the field or in a core shack

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with no internet.

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So we’ve got these tools to be able to get those users

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still using the system.

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We don’t want them capturing things on paper,

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or in an Excel file.

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We want them to capture things within the MX Deposit

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framework, and that’s where our mobile apps come in, right?

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So letting users be able to capture this information

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through the standardized legends, and tables,

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and configurations, and validations,

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and then get all that information

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up to that centralized repository.

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So these are just kind of features of the software.

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Integration is a big piece here too,

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where we can start having the conversation

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with your other data providers.

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These could be down hole survey vendors.

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These could be other software vendors.

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These could be geochem labs, right?

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So we can speak with them.

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We can learn about integration scenarios,

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and how do we get that data into MX Deposit as well.

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So we’ve got some of these, we’re having more conversations

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with more of these data providers.

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So we are well positioned to be able

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to really kind of facilitate that integration

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across data in and data coming out.

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So when we’re talking about data coming into the system,

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we’ve got a lot of different tools available

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to work with that.

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So when we’re talking manual data entry,

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this is where we can set up

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the different logging interfaces,

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where users are capturing things based off of predefined

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legends, and capturing them into tables that have been built

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and validation rules that have been established, right?

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We’re able to leverage device hardware

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in terms of using a GPS to capture a position.

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So this could be a field surface sampling program

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where we’re capturing accurate position data.

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It could also be getting into taking pictures

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and associating an image, whether it’s with a drill hole,

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whether it’s with a soil sample or a particular interval

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of interest, right?

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So using our tools you’re able to provide this interface

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where these users can capture the required information

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in a way that’s consistent and it’s usable, right?

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It’s that time to kind of action and time to use

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that gets reduced because you’ve got that data integrity

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right at the point of capture.

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All the way through to capturing sample numbers

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off of a barcode scanner as another kind of example, right?

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So whether that’s a QR code,

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or just a pre-generated barcode.

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So I don’t have one here, but I’ll skip that, okay?

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Even using a voice to text feature on these tablets as well,

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you could even get into a bit of almost a dictation scenario

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here as well, right?

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Thinking then through other data management functions.

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So, this distributed team, the mobile app, that data entry,

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that’s going to be our end users getting data in, right?

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But that’s not the only way to get data in,

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these can be imports from files, right?

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So whether that’s coming from a down hole survey vendor,

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or an XRF instrument,

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or whether this is just another project

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that’s coming online that now you want to bring

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into the system.

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So import tools around that.

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Filtering and exporting your data.

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So when we get into now managing a list of drill holes,

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we can come in and we can start to filter this data out

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on specific drill targets, for example.

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Or filtering it based off of show me all the drill holes

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created in the last seven days, that sort of thing, right?

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So narrowing our view and then being able to export the data

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in various formats.

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So whether that’s dumping it into another software package,

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or just creating different versions of these exports

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that serve different purposes.

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Maybe it’s a quick log type of export

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just with generic data, or it’s a detailed as a QA QC type

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expert for monthly reporting, right?

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So we can really now filter out and refine these export

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templates and profiles to match what we need

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to get out of the system.

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With these distributed teams what’s really important

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is getting everybody coordinated and collaborating

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on the data.

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So we’ve got these tools to let people

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have these conversations, right?

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So we’ve got this feed where people can see what’s going on,

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see who’s working on what, who’s importing assay results.

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And we can even get into the case of people asking questions

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to other members of the team,

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or just promoting and engaging others.

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So using our feeds and our kind of networking components

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there, we can do it all while keeping the conversation

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relevant and keeping it in context, right?

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So this is secure, it’s transparent, it’s reproducible.

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And it’s now part of the data.

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It’s part of the story of these drill holes

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and these sampling programs.

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We can send messages to administrators

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and ask for a new codes and project access,

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that sort of thing.

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Something that’s really important too that as we’re working

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through these drilling programs and sampling programs

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is the ability to collect team feedback

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and be able to adjust and course correct, right?

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Whether that’s just adding new list elements,

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or changing list codes, or adding new kind of logging inputs

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that we want people to start capturing new alteration

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minerals or something like that, right?

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So this ability to kind of work as a team,

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define some changes we want to make,

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be able to quickly and easily go in and make those changes.

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And that now everybody on the team is working off

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of that changed dataset.

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With a distributed system, whether it’s an MX Deposit type

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system or even something that you’ve got in-house,

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what’s really important to think about is the protection

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and the security of this data.

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I mean, we fully recognize and appreciate

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the money that goes in to these drilling

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and sampling programs.

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So it’s critical that these are secure,

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that only authorized users ever have access.

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That we know who’s interacted with the data,

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and who’s changed it, and who’s made what changes.

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And making sure that it’s always available when we need it.

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So whether this is people getting data in,

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somebody importing an assay certificate,

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or a modeler trying to pull the data out

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to start adjusting their model.

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All of these different stakeholders and users

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throughout the team need to have that access,

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in a secure way that’s always available

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and always high performing.

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And another component to this

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is this kind of continuity aspects.

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So let’s say that one of our members of this team

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happens to leave, then what happens?

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By using a commercial system like MX Deposit

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with all of the support networks

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and kind of material around it, we can offer that continuity

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so that we can swap out resources and somebody else

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can come in and learn the system.

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And it’s not all this knowledge that’s lost

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when a resource might leave.

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So that’s it, this is short and sweet.

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But really it’s just, I wanted to really kind of talk through

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that scenario, right?

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Identifying kind of what I mean by teams,

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which is the just distributed nature of the industry

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and deposits around the world.

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This new working from home world

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that we’re all in right now.

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And just, what are some of the tools that we can offer you

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to be able to just get these people working together,

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get everybody working off the same data,

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get everybody capturing data the same way,

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telling the same story.

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And then letting people have conversations around that,

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and as required be able to pivot,

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be able to course correct and adjust.

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And then ultimately just having

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all the different stakeholders identified,

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all the inputs, all the outputs,

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and hopefully I’ve been able to give you a bit of an idea

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of how Deposit can facilitate that.

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Obviously in within the time,

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I can’t dive too deep into any of those things,

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but really if I’ve been able to spark any questions

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or ideas here then not where now we could kind of work

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into a question scenario now.

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And ultimately, if anybody has any further questions

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or wants to explore any of these scenarios further,

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happy to have that conversation and deep dive if we want to.

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<v Anna>Okay, great.</v>

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Thanks Dave.

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So as David said, we’ve got some time for questions.

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I’m going to just give everybody a moment

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to type anything in there.

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You should see that questions panel

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in your little go-to webinar dialogue.

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So it looks like we’ve got…

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I’ll just ask this first one.

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How does MX Deposit integrate with other software?

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<v David>Yeah, it’s a great question.</v>

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And it’s really something

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that we’re always working on, right?

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So as of today, we’ve got some integrations in place

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with our Seequent partner.

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So we’ve got an integration with Target,

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and Target for our GIS.

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We’re actually actively working through an integration

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with the CQL central platform,

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which will facilitate the Leapfrog integration

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and enable all the notifications that kind of come with that.

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We’re working on an integration with the MDX hub

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to be able to pull in that instrument, down hole survey

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XRF gamma type data.

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We’re starting to have conversations

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with some of the commercial labs out there.

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So the ones that actually have APIs available.

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As I mentioned, we’re very well positioned

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to be able to really explore these and get you connected

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to those other service providers in a way

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that you don’t have to revert to expert in importing files.

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So you can basically either click a button to go out

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and fetch your data, or just get a notification

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within the app that a new data sets available

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for your review, right?

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So.

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<v Anna>Cool.</v>

[00:18:35.636]
Yeah, I’m especially excited for the central

[00:18:37.500]
interoperability with Leapfrog.

[00:18:41.049]
How does your data get into MX Deposit?

[00:18:45.330]
<v David>Yeah, so few different ways.</v>

[00:18:49.050]
There’s that manual logging scenario

[00:18:51.720]
that we’ve got mobile apps to facilitate,

[00:18:54.740]
we’ve got web apps where users can kind of log directly

[00:18:58.040]
into the system.

[00:19:00.120]
We’ve got import tools as well,

[00:19:02.000]
that can serve a few different purposes.

[00:19:04.450]
So whether that’s just dealing with a distinct data set,

[00:19:08.010]
whether it’s downhill survey data, assay results, XRF,

[00:19:11.650]
whatever that case is, import tools to enable that.

[00:19:15.350]
And can also be a kind of a bulk data migration scenario

[00:19:18.720]
as well, right?

[00:19:19.553]
So as a brand new customer comes online to MX Deposit,

[00:19:23.640]
or if a customer acquires another project,

[00:19:28.070]
a lot of times we need to kind of work through that data

[00:19:31.680]
and figure out how to get it into the system.

[00:19:35.310]
And that step typically comes with a cleaning process,

[00:19:40.070]
an external validation.

[00:19:41.460]
So at the end of the day you get a validated dataset

[00:19:46.830]
into MX Deposit that’s now described the same way

[00:19:51.130]
that all of your other data is.

[00:19:52.650]
So then when you start to pull that data out

[00:19:55.120]
you’ve got consistency, you’ve got integrity,

[00:19:57.890]
and you can just start using it right away with confidence.

[00:20:03.800]
<v Anna>Okay, great.</v>

[00:20:05.260]
I guess last question here is,

[00:20:08.212]
is MX Deposit limited to exploration?

[00:20:12.470]
<v David>No, it isn’t.</v>

[00:20:14.870]
So there are these core logging tools that work very well

[00:20:19.950]
in exploration scenarios, and even into kind of more early

[00:20:26.120]
field sampling, outcrop mapping type scenarios as well.

[00:20:29.900]
So all that works, but we also have customers

[00:20:33.700]
that are using this in a full production capacity as well.

[00:20:38.194]
So grade control, blast hole, sampling and logging,

[00:20:42.830]
or even bringing tablets underground and logging rounds

[00:20:47.730]
and face samples and stuff like that.

[00:20:50.707]
So at the end of the day we’ve built a platform

[00:20:53.130]
that really can be applied to any drilling

[00:20:55.930]
or sampling scenario because that we’ve build it

[00:21:00.300]
to your requirements, so it works.

[00:21:03.650]
That’s a nice opportunity then as an organization

[00:21:07.500]
to get all operations in the system,

[00:21:13.730]
and then start carving things out

[00:21:15.370]
by these different activities, started carving out

[00:21:17.800]
access mine geos can only ever see,

[00:21:20.780]
production data, exploration geos can only work

[00:21:24.730]
with an exploration data.

[00:21:25.950]
So you’re able to really get the entire team

[00:21:28.950]
and that entire workflow fully enabled,

[00:21:31.440]
fully supported, fully secure.

[00:21:33.740]
And then again, how do we get that data out

[00:21:36.880]
to all the other downstream systems?

[00:21:40.010]
<v Anna>Yeah, awesome.</v>

[00:21:40.843]
Really good points there.

[00:21:44.410]
Okay, so it looks like we’re out of questions.

[00:21:49.020]
That wraps up our demo.

[00:21:50.750]
Thanks so much for your time

[00:21:52.350]
everyone that attended.

[00:21:53.210]
And of course, David thank you for your presentation.

[00:21:56.063]
(gentle music).