Geological consulting and exploration management company RSC Global has developed a new system for managing the quality of public reporting on exploration projects, which is making inroads into the South African and Canadian reporting jurisdictions.

The RSC Mineral Intelligence (RSC-MI) system aids the open peer review of public reporting of exploration results, mineral resources and reserves.

“Mining professionals are hailing the RSC-MI as a game changer for improving the overall standard of public code-compliant reporting in the global mining industry,” says RSC Global director and principal consultant Rene Sterk.

The RSC-MI is a free online interactive system that is updated daily and includes public reports on drilling updates, resource estimates, scoping studies, feasibility studies and optimisations.

Sterk says the system will be expanded in the near future to include all public reporting and valuation reports, with information boxes for each mineral deposit featuring a summary of report details and including a download link to full reports.

He says the RSC-MI is a valuable resource for activities such as target acquisition, market research and resource comparison.

Sterk points out that a distinctive new key feature is the integrated online review system of public reporting of exploration results, mineral resources and reserves.

“Using a five-star rating system, each report is assessed by qualified and experienced reviewers for transparency, materiality, competence, competent person statement compliance and overall compliance,” he explains.

Customised outputs are made publicly available to all users and include overall rankings of report quality – based on review averages – with options to filter for location, name of consultant, commodities, dates and various quality designators.

The system makes it possible to see who the top-quality reporters are and, con- versely, which reporters have compliance and/or quality problems.

Additionally, reviewers can launch a complaints form that draws all the relevant information from the RSC-MI database and email it along with the reviewer’s comments on points of noncompliance to the relevant recipients.

“Naturally, early engagement with competent/qualified persons of reviewed reports will be encouraged to focus on improvements rather than on convictions,” says Sterk.

Through the reviewing of reports, professional development points for accreditation may be earned by reviewers from their respective organisations.

Reviewers with less extensive reporting experience can register as junior reviewers, test their skills against professionals and learn from the process, says Sterk.

A reviewers forum will facilitate discussion between professionals on noncompliance issues and can give younger reviewers support in this field.

Because reviewing is based on contributions from volunteers, there is no minimum commitment required.

Reviewers can register with a short biography that displays general experience in the industry, experience in public reporting, the commodity, geological setting, estimation techniques and specialities.