This junior exploration company holds the largest land package staked in a single day in British Columbia (BC) history. The massive landscape scattered their team but, thanks to technology, not their sample data.
The plan was created in April — geologists were in the field by May 5. Talisker Resources set aggressive greenfield exploration goals to uncover initial targets.
23 professional and student geologists worked from stream basin to basin over the 192,716 hectare Spences Bridge Gold Project. They collected over 3,900 data points, mainly stream sediment samples.
“If we didn’t have the ease of building the template collection forms in MX Deposit, there’s probably no way we would have gotten into the field that fast with a high degree of confidence in uniform data collection across all teams,” says Andrew Ganton, project geologist at Talisker Resources.
They were essentially panning for gold but, using today’s modern data collection and analysis, they’ve already discovered 17 promising gold anomalies.
Andrew’s team used MX Deposit, a cloud-based sample and data management solution, to collect stream sediment, soil, rock, geologic, and environmental point data along with historic geochemistry, photography, and spatial data on their tablets.
Time for what matters
During early exploration, Talisker Resources’ managers had to make quick, informed business decisions. The less time spent on data input, compilation, and quality control, the more time they had to run a successful project.
“It’s all about time management, especially in this industry where we’re trying to build our prospect pipeline as rapidly as we can with proper science and diligence,” explains Andrew.
“The ease in which I can do QC validation checks and have all my geologists get their data into the database rapidly, frees up more time for me to do target generation, budgeting, or permitting.”
Keeping data accurate
For phase one, the company sent 22 geologists, fresh out of school, to collect samples. Minimising errors and ensuring consistency in data entry was pivotal. With less than an hour of training, their whole team could log sample information in MX Deposit.
“The ability to create and modify fields, put systematic pick lists and data validation checks into the program really helps when we have such a large team,” says Andrew.
“When they’re in the field identifying the parameters for not only geology but stream sediment samples, the ability to get that data instantaneously into a digital format, have it validated, and backed up into a cloud-based system on the fly is almost imperative.”
Connecting people over distances
Talisker Resources’ Vice President of Exploration is based in Arizona, they have a corporate office in Toronto, and their geologists on the ground could be anywhere within six sites in southern BC, Canada. Having their real-time sample data shared in the cloud allowed everyone to work from the same information.
“With us being spread out all over the place, and not having a traditional centralised office, having MX Deposit on a cloud-based server definitely helps transfer data and analysis back and forth with us in the field,” says Andrew.
Data management for geos
Talisker Resources’ lean team wears many hats to push the project forward. Yet, with MX Deposit’s intuitive interface, they didn’t need to be tech experts to get the information they needed.
“I’m a geologist, I’m not a database administrator,” Andrew explains.
“But, if I can set up all the data fields and the way that the data is organised in the back end from a 20 minute tutorial — That’s pretty impressive.”
Logging on and off the grid
Taking handwritten notes in the field for 10 hours and then typing it out back at camp not only takes time but increases errors and exhaustion. In MX Deposit, geologists can log data offline in the field and upload it to the cloud when they reach WiFi.
“If I’m saving each one of my geologists hours of data entry, I’m not only improving their quality of life at work, I’m giving them opportunity to rest,” says Andrew. “And that can trickle down into preventing simple things like slips, trips, and falls in the field.”
30 second QC checks
As lab results for thousands of geochemical samples flooded in, they had to be matched and QC tested to the company’s standards. Using spreadsheets had taken hours, but now Andrew runs checks in 30 seconds:
“My favorite thing about MX Deposit is the speed in which I can do QC reports on all my geochemistry data. When we’re getting assay certificates back of hundreds of samples at a time, I can just simply import it with the click a few buttons.”
Greenfield to phase 2
As their project shifts to drilling, Talisker Resources will integrate MX Deposit with Leapfrog Geo to add drill hole and surficial data to their 3D geological models.
The team will continue moving fast, no matter the distance between them, by always having sample and drill data close by in the cloud.