To enhance the predictability of gold mineralization, Goldcorp and IBM Canada have co-authored a new and innovative first of a kind technology product.” The IBM Exploration with Watson has incorporated artificial intelligence to prognosticate the potential for gold mineralization and utilizes powerful search and questioning capabilities across a range of exploration datasets which can give the desired results.
According to Goldcorp, the potential to radically speed up exploration target identification combined with significantly improved hit rates on economic mineralization can drive a step-change in the pace of value growth in the industry. Formulated by using data from Goldcorp’s Red Lake Gold Mines in northern Ontario, IBM Exploration with Watson leverages spatial analytics, predictive models and machine learning which in turn assists the explorers to locate key information and evolve geological extrapolations in less than the estimated time and cost of traditional methods which increases its popularity.
According to representatives from IBM Canada, if one applies the power of IBM Watson to these unique pain points, it will differentiate IBM in the natural resources industry. IBM is using accelerated computing power for complex geospatial queries that can harmonize geological data from an entire site on a single platform. It is appropriate to mention that this is the initial time this resolution has been ever used. And, it makes this project all the more important.
Goldcorp’s Red Lake operations and IBM Exploration with Watson offers independent support to drill targets planned by geologists through traditional methods and proposed new targets which were subsequently substantiated. Drilling of some of these latest targets is ongoing, with the first target producing the predicted mineralization at the expected depth. According to representatives of Goldcorp’s Red Lake Gold Mines using this technology has considerably reduced the timelines for mining and exploration. The mine is seeing enhanced improvements that can be made with the data platform and gold mineralization predictions. These tools can help the mine diggers view data in entirely new ways. They have already begun to test the Watson targets from the predictive model through drilling, and results have been awe-inspiring so far.
Adding a feather to the hat, the IBM Watson initiatory recently earned Goldcorp an esteemed Ingenious Award in the broad private sector division from the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC). This ITAC award for Goldcorp’s Cognitive Journey recognizes excellence in the application of information and communications technology by organizations to figure out problems, ameliorate performance, acquaint new services, and grow business.
