How geo-data workflow experts are transforming nickel mining in Indonesia

Emerging technologies in the transition towards a decarbonised future are re-wiring the global energy map. Ranked number one in the world for both nickel reserves (22%) and production (over 40% for 2023) this puts Indonesia firmly in the mining spotlight.

How can the industry best leverage this critical electric vehicle battery mineral, to help drive Indonesia’s economy more sustainably? Mining Geologist and Engineer, Keith Whitchurch, shares how Seequent’s MX Deposit and Imago, together with Leapfrog Geo and Edge, is bringing crucial geological insights to help.

Nickel is an integral part of our everyday lives, used in stainless steel, mobile phones, and electric vehicle (EV) batteries. As we move towards decarbonising transportation, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts a 65% surge in demand for nickel by 2030.

“Being the world’s largest nickel producer, Indonesia is expected to meet a significant portion of the future requirements for this critical metal,” says Keith Whitchurch, President Director at SMGC.

SMGC is a world-leading Jakarta-based geological and mine planning consultancy, serving the global mining market and helping develop and improve the workflows for PT Stargate, a nickel laterite mine in Sulawesi, Indonesia.

PT Stargate was an early adopter of Seequent’s cloud-based data management solution, MX Deposit, and high-quality core image capture and storage technology, Imago. The connected, geo-data workflow solution allows the team to easily understand the ore body and work more efficiently across teams.

“We are seeing a significant increase in nickel production in Indonesia, positioning the country as a global mining powerhouse for the metal. Notably, because the country has coherent policies that allow the production of raw materials through to the EV battery space,” says Whitchurch.

The Indonesian Government’s 2014 nickel policy frameworks aim to keep nickel production local and help boost the economy with the more lucrative metal-processing and battery-making markets.

“Indonesia is fast developing their electric vehicle and battery ecosystem, leveraging its nickel-rich reserves used in the steel industry. In one example, 11 motorcycle manufacturers are already producing up to 1.4 million EV-operated units a year,” says Whitchurch.

Seequent’s innovative data workflow solution, MX Deposit and Imago, together with 3D modelling and estimation in Leapfrog Geo and Edge, enables Whitchurch and the team to better interpret, visualise and understand Indonesia’s crucial nickel resources at this pivotal time.

Seequent’s innovative data workflow solution, MX Deposit and Imago, together with 3D modelling and estimation in Leapfrog Geo and Edge, help the SMGC team explore what nickel is in the ground, and where (Image: SMGC).

A single source of truth for rig and sample data with MX Deposit

The Indonesian climate equates to a richness in nickel in part because of intensive rainfall. Wet tropical weather continuously washes over the near-surface ophiolite rock, creating abundant laterite-nickel mineral deposits.

Valued for strength, ductility, and resistance to heat and corrosion, nickel delivers high energy density with greater storage capacity, at a lower cost than other metals and is vital for the clean energy transition.

“Exploring what nickel is in the ground, and where, is a core part of our work and the better we can understand subsurface complexity the more we can optimise opportunities to bring value to Indonesia,” says Whitchurch.

“Before we adopted Seequent solutions we were juggling a mess of spreadsheets. With MX Deposit we now have a single repository and a single source of truth for all our rig and lab data with validation rules – essential for any modern project,”
he says.

Designed for the entire mining value chain, MX Deposit is an innovative data management platform that allows teams to collect, manage, and share all their drilling and sample data.

“Our teams quickly realised the benefits of being able to capture multiple data sets in MX Deposit and then simply push that information over into Leapfrog to create their 3D models,” says Whitchurch.

“We can process 60-80 metres per rig, per day, which is double our previous capacity and with a 24-hour turnaround on geochemistry results. Enterprise-grade security built into the MX Deposit product, platform and processes assure our PT Stargate team that our data is kept safe and secure,” he adds.

MX Deposit is an innovative data management platform that allows teams to collect, manage, and share all their drilling and sample data (Image: SMGC).

Adjusting drilling programmes faster and validating insights with Imago

SMGC’s innovation expertise spans five decades from its founding in 1966, with transformative projects including finite element analysis for the Sydney Opera House, airborne surveys over the Persian Gulf, and the radio positioning of New York Harbour ships.

“At SMGC we just like solving problems and adding value. Our aim in Indonesia is to reimagine the mining of nickel laterite and apply the process to other clients throughout the country,” says Whitchurch.

The team at PT Stargate use the cloud-based exploration photo consolidation tool, Imago, to capture, collect, and store their geoscientific images.

“Imago’s consistent, controlled, high-resolution lighting photography needs to become the industry standard. It’s such a far cry from the days of hand-held cameras producing blurry, unusable pictures,” says Whitchurch.

Imago has the search convenience of drillhole ID, seamless integration with other 3D geological modelling software and instant access to imagery full of rich information, to better support modelling and interpretation.

“It’s critical to help explain problem areas in drilling, accurately validate the geochemistry or pinpoint the ore versus waste boundary. And it’s the sheer number of times you rely on those photos – if the chemistry seems out, we’ll simply go back and look at the photos,”
says Whitchurch.

“It also gives us good short-interval control over the drilling programmes. For a 24-hour turnaround on assay, if anything from yesterday’s drill looks odd, we simply consult our core photography to keep the project moving at pace,” he adds.

Leapfrog Geo and Edge workflow-based 3D geological modelling solutions allow rapid integration, communication, and interpretation of geological data (Image: Seequent).

Exposing opportunity in geological complexity with Leapfrog

One thing that frustrates Whitchurch and the SMGC team is when they see geological complexities modelled as a simple layer cake.

“I’ve never seen bedrock uniformly layered like that in nature, has any geoscientist? When you get the domaining right you avoid mixed populations. And we want to embrace these kinds of geological complexities because in complexity, there’s opportunity,” says Whitchurch.

And exactly why the team chose to use Seequent’s Leapfrog Geo and Edge workflow-based 3D geological modelling solution that allows rapid integration, communication, and interpretation of geological data.

“Leapfrog is mature, safe and delivers great geological domains to feed through to our resource team. Before importing to Leapfrog, we perform alteration zone classification using unsupervised machine learning to label a data set, then supervised machine learning to create our decision tree,” says Whitchurch.

SMGC use in-house tools to perform cluster analysis on drilling results, to improve their domaining for nickel laterite deposits. Pairing this with Leapfrog’s powerful implicit modelling engine, allows the team to build geological models rapidly. Enhancing the domaining has resulted in improved variography and resource estimation.

“I’ve never seen variography this good in laterite nickel. We can see the underlying structure and tectonics emerging and trends not noticed before – that tells us we’re getting the domains much better with a more accurate local estimation of grade,”
says Whitchurch.

Combining Leapfrog Geo for geological modelling with Leapfrog Edge for resource estimation in one software allows geologists to seamlessly integrate their resource estimation workflow with geological modelling.

This integration enables the team at SMGC to refine or add data as mining progresses, ensuring accuracy and consistency throughout the process. And provides highly visual tools for domain-based estimation and reporting, leading to confident resource estimations with an enhanced understanding of underlying structures and trends in nickel laterite deposits.

“Importantly we’re also getting real-world validation from our teams working at the mines. When they see our 3D geological models they say, ‘That’s correct. That’s exactly what the geology looks like.”