Expedio offers Seequent’s MX Deposit as part of its streamlined suite of data capture and management workflow solutions for mining. We asked their talented team of geo-scientific and IT professionals to share common customer challenges and how MX Deposit can help.
Expedio Consultancy, based in Perth, Australia, identifies seven key qualities of good data: relevance, existence, validity, consistency, timeliness, completeness, and accuracy. Expedio is a leading provider of intelligent geological data management solutions. Since 1999, they have helped customers better manage valuable data assets to make informed, confident mining decisions.
“When our customers first approach us seeking data management solutions, they are facing multiple challenges,” says the Expedio team. “From inconsistent data formats and complex data entry processes to a lack of dataset consistency and confidence essential for effective budget tracking and compliance management.”
Additional issues can include incompatible geology coding processes or how to best preserve knowledge continuity during employee transitions. While exploration companies, particularly in the junior sector, often lack the budget, expertise, and infrastructure to manage project data effectively.
“Better managing your geological data with a robust data management solution, creates a valuable asset for the future – and we have the expertise to help,” says the Expedio team.
A Q&A with the Expedio team – How MX Deposit can help futureproof your data:
What steps can customers take to make the most of their data now and in the future?
When you create clear and organised data today, it’s possible to do more with it tomorrow. This is because data collection is standardised and stored in a consistent manner, making it easy to recall, compare, and use for future analysis and decision-making.
Investing in strong data management solutions, such as MX Deposit, can yield benefits within a year. For example, field samples can be assessed for quality and resampled if necessary. And data has full metadata for government reporting – saving time and money – and meets the requirements for ASX, JORC and NI43101 reporting.
Long term, having complete metadata helps prevent data loss, avoid wasted time and cost, and enables replication of previous results. Plus, a clear and concise data asset stands the test of time and is less likely to be misinterpreted
What advantages do customers gain by implementing a data management solution?
Bringing all your data into one single location means you won’t need to flip between emails, text messages, files, or other sources to keep projects on track.
MX Deposit enables teams to collect, manage, share, and access drillhole and sample data in the Cloud. Data updates, changes, and decisions can be viewed in real time from one location, allowing for team collaboration via comments or questions.
Centralised data storage, ongoing support, standardised logging templates and codes, and legacy data management help streamline planning, modelling, and interpretations.
“Our favourite features of MX Deposit include map views, visual data browsers, QC charts, dashboard project summaries, easy build strip logs, online workspaces, and activity feeds.” – the Expedio team.
What are the advantages of SaaS-based cloud technologies vs on-premises?
SaaS cloud-based technologies with open APIs for data sharing are more convenient than relying on on-premises databases. Having a central and accessible data store becomes essential when teams are spread across different locations, as it helps reduce costs and allows for easy project expansion.
Additionally, SaaS technologies simplify the setup of systems at remote sites by eliminating the need for expensive hardware and network infrastructure typically associated with on-premises software. It also leverages the security of a significant cloud network with ISO27001 accreditation and teams can start work faster, with minimal training and onboarding time.
Increasingly, with more accessible high-speed internet connectivity in remote areas through services such as Starlink, our junior sector clients are now opting for cloud-based technologies that both minimise data transfer and prioritise interoperable solutions.
“MX Deposit helps us shift to cloud hosting, reduce reliance on on-premises hardware and software, collaborate with vendors, and integrate data from various cloud technologies for improved business services.”
How will AI and machine learning impact geological data management in the future?
To create valuable and commercially relevant services, it’s crucial to integrate and share geological data. This brings a clear need to address disparate data and ensure it is clean, consistent, and compatible with AI and ML technologies.
Machine learning is becoming an essential tool that complements almost all current people-led geological workflows, such as targeting, wireframing, and resource estimation. The management of geological data must pivot to embrace not only the demands of current human-led workflows but also future machine learning requirements.
This involves rethinking what data is currently discarded or not recorded, how it is stored, and what formats are available for export. Traditionally, domain experts have guided human geological workflows, leading to compartmentalised data management and less importance placed on seemingly irrelevant data.
“AI and ML have the ability to identify patterns without any bias and without being limited to specific areas, so the future of geological data acquisition and management should take this into account. If geological data management continues to be biased, it will limit the potential of AI and ML and perpetuate the same biases, which will hinder the discovery of new findings and interpretations.”
The current capabilities of AI in generating text and images from prompts can easily be extended to data manipulation, tasks, and workflows. To ensure smooth integration, geological data management must be compatible with AI-initiated tasks and workflows. It is crucial to maintain clear audit records and have strong control over change rollback and recovery.
What sets MX Deposit apart from other platforms in the market?
MX Deposit is disrupting the way people now manage and interact with data. Where Leapfrog was a new paradigm that shifted the industry towards implicit geological modelling, MX Deposit has added a fresh perspective on data management – transforming the way data is handled, managed, stored, and used by geoscientists and organisations.
It also enables organisations to prepare their data for advanced analysis through Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. These technologies will not work with disparate data sources, it needs to be organised and stored in a consistent format – MX Deposit can help with this for both new and historic data.
“MX Deposit is an advanced geo-data management solution that surpasses conventional desktop applications and SQL-based products. It is user-friendly, cost-effective, and versatile. We appreciate the ease of data sharing between field users and the cloud host, the constant evolution of the technology, and the excellent product development team at Seequent!”