TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – A team of 12 geologists from Quebec has won C$500 000 in TSX-V-listed Integra Gold’s $1-million Gold Rush Challenge.
The company’s innovative exploration challenge drew to a dramatic close on Monday night, when team SGS Geostat beat four other finalists and emerged as the winner with their submission that used a combination of machine learning and traditional geological methods to produce targets across the Integra’s Lamaque project, in Val-d'Or, Quebec.
Integra had invited the world to analyse a huge amount of digitised historic information (6 TB) from its previously producing mines in Val-D’Or and to devise the best way to locate the next gold discovery there. Integra sought to generate innovation in an industry that was undergoing change and challenging times.
SGS Geostat applied sophisticated geostatistical methods to drive data into an expansive and unbiased block model. A prospectivity scoring system harnessed both geological knowledge and machine learning, a subfield of artificial intelligence, to identify high-value targets, which were then vetted through virtual reality with Oculus Rift technology. The proposal impressed both the technical judges and the ‘industry titans’ that evaluated their presentation in a ‘shark tank-like’ live finale.
"The Gold Rush Challenge has given Integra a platform to call on governments, mining companies and mining financiers to get off the sidelines and get into the game. We are challenging traditional thinking and breaking new ground, embracing disruptive technology that is critical to the mining sector," commented executive chairperson George Salamis.
CEO Stephen de Jong added that the challenge exceeded the company’s expectations on every front. “A number of the exploration drill targets identified through the challenge are like nothing we've ever seen before. We have decided to expedite the drill programme and start testing a number of these targets in the immediate future,” he said.
Prizes for the remaining finalists included C$150 000 for second place, which was awarded to The Data Miners; C80 000 for third place, which the Goldcrushers won; and C$50 000 to Paul Pearson in fourth place and another C$50 000 for Gold RX in fifth place.
C$250 000 in finale-event proceeds were also donated to local charities in Val-d'Or.