About the author Christopher Duku

Mongolian Mining Week 2024 – MinePro 2024, Quarrying and Mining Exhibition in Ulaanbaatar

 

Dr. Peter Zawada, IGS Managing Director, attended the Mongolian Mining Week 2024 – MinePro 2024, quarrying and mining exhibition in Ulaanbaatar from 2nd to 5th  October 2024.

Peter gave a presentation on ‘Modern government-held geoscience data – a prerequisite for exploration investment decisions’ and was also part of a panel discussion on ‘Consulting services for the mining sector – UK capabilities’.

The UK Department for Business & Trade featured prominently at the exhibition and with the British Embassy in Ulaanbaatar provided excellent support for the trip, arranging the talk/panel discussion and meetings with various stakeholders.

Dr Peter Zawada with Minister Tuvaan of the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resource

Dr. Peter Zawada with Mr Munkhtur, Director of the National Geological Survey of Mongolia (third from right) and Mr. Benjamin Aldred, UK Deputy Trade Commissioner for Eastern Europe & Central Asia (far right)

By Dr. Peter Zawada – Managing Director

(For more information please contact us at enquiries@igsint.com)

 

The 6th Uzbekistan International Mining and Metals Forum in Tashkent

 

Dr. Ash Johnson, IGS Director, recently attended the 6th Uzbekistan International Mining and Metals Forum in Tashkent.  As part of the ‘Critical minerals: sources of innovative transition’ panel, he spoke about  ‘Modern government geoscience data in the search for critical minerals’, highlighting the role modern data plays in attracting exploration investment into a country.

The highlights of the presentation included examples from the ongoing Regional Geoscience Programme of the Saudi Geological Survey, for which IGS is serving as the Technical Partner in collaboration with GTK, as well as examples from World Bank-funded projects in Nigeria and Uganda in which IGS is also participating.

For more information on how we can help with your regional geoscience projects and the search for critical minerals, please contact us at enquiries@igsint.com).

Dr Ash Johnson (far right) with panelists on the ‘Critical minerals: sources of innovative transition’ session of UIMF24, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

 

Geological Mapping of the Arabian Shield, Saudi Arabia

 

IGS (International Geoscience Services) Ltd contributes to the largest geological mapping project as leader of the Technical Partner consortium (IGS, GTK, PGW, Geotech Arabia) to the Saudi Geological Survey. One element of support are field inspections during which the quality of the field work is assessed and the quality of the submitted field data is reviewed.

Geologists of the Technical Partner accompany the field activities continuously. The geologists spend part of their time with the field geologists to evaluate their work with a focus on how support and output can be optimized and to make sure that occupational safety is a top priority. Independently, they visit sites to verify geological data collected earlier by field geologists.

The second field season of project Detailed Geological Mapping of the Arabian Shield (GMAS) started in the first days of September 2024. In October 2024, activities focus on the easternmost part of the Arabian Shield between the cities of Al Quwajja, Ad Dawadimi and Bijadiya. GMAS is one of the many initiatives of the Saudi Vision 2030 plan for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

IGS geologist and Team Leader for the GMAS project Christoph Dobmeier (4th from left) with field geologists Tao Bai, Shengwei Wang, Mobarak Al Nadi, and Chao Sun (from left) at the end of a hot field day on map sheet Mughayrā’ (4524-3) and checking field data on sheet Jabal al ‘Ard (4424-2).

By Dr. Christoph J. Dobmeier (EurGeol)– Principal Geologist (for more information please contact us at enquiries@igsint.com)

Xplore Mineral Prospectivity – A Planetary AI and IGS Partnership

Planetary-AI is delighted to announce its partnership with IGS (International Geoscience Services), a leading provider of earth-based intelligence to governments worldwide.

The partnership agreement will see both companies collaborating to deliver cutting- edge target generation for the mineral exploration and mining industry via the Xplore Mineral Prospectivity Platform. Our partnership provides huge opportunities for both companies to expand our mineral targeting capabilities. The partnership agreement will see Planetary-AI  expand its services into using Xplore for exploration planning and field-based data acquisition through various geological, geochemical and geophysical surveys. Our new partner, IGS, maintains a high reputation and wealth of experience in the early stages of mineral exploration with governments around the world, and we look forward to working closely with them as we further develop our Xplore software platform.

The Xplore Platform, first developed by IGS, is software that enables geographic targeting of mineral resources based on a plethora of information both geological and topographical. The software’s intelligence is based on over fifty (50) mineral deposit types that are found all around the world, which are dependent on factors such as geology, structure, age, mineralogy and specific spatial geological relationships. Xplore has been significantly enhanced through a major re-development project over the last 18 months. It is unique in comparison to other types of mineral targeting software as it is underpinned by proven geological mineral deposit intelligence from experts combined with an array of artificial intelligence technologies, to enable the machine to ‘Think like a Geologist’.

Planetary AI is pleased to announce that it will soon start a major project for Botswana Diamonds, using the Xplore platform to analyse the companies’ vast datasets with the goal of yielding fresh insights and to identify new drillable targets. The Chairman of Botswana Diamonds, John Teeling, commented:

Our mineral database in Botswana is simply vast. Too big for timely analysis by humans. Think of it, over 375,000 kms of geophysical data, and 32,000 drill holes logs. Massive databases are suited to analysis by computer-based large Data Models and Artificial Intelligence techniques which can analyse substantial amounts of data in a short time. An added exciting bonus for BOD and for Botswana is that the technique will analyse a number of different minerals. We have always believed that there are more diamond deposits to be found under the sand. Now there is the possibility of other deposits being identified”.

For more information on Planetary AI see (http://planetary-ai.space)

Planetary AI and IGS exhibiting at the Future Minerals Forum, Riyadh, January 2024

By Rory Somerset (Planetary AI)

(For more information please contact us at enquiries@igsint.com)

 

IGS and Partner PGW Perform Geophysical Data QA/QC in Nigeria and India

 

Recently, Dr. Feargal Murphy and IGS partner PGW performed QA/QC on geophysical data in Nigeria. The project for Mindiver (Mineral Sector Support For Economic Diversification) is coming to a close and IGS (with partners PGW) has performed QA/QC of the final acquisition and interpretation products.

The acquisition was completed this week and a total of 1.56 million line km of magnetic gradiometry and radiometric data was acquired by Xcalibur since the project commenced in late 2021.

On another ongoing project, IGS in collaboration with IDPEX partners PGW and Datacode, have begun QA/QC of a magnetic/radiometric fixed wing survey flown by McPhar/Xcalibur for the Geological Survey of India in the state of Gujarat. This latest survey covers block 15 of the GSI’s ongoing national airborne geophysics acquisition program.

By Dr. Feargal Murphy – Principal Geophysicist

(For more information please contact us at enquiries@igsint.com)

IGS Attends PDAC 2024 in Toronto

 

It was great to attend PDAC from the 3rd – 6th March 2024 in Toronto.  The event proved again to be a success for IGS in meeting clients and establishing discussions on some exciting new opportunities for the company.

PDAC (Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada) is the World’s Premier Mineral Exploration & Mining Convention. It is the leading event for people, companies and organizations connected to mineral exploration.

By Dr. Peter Zawada – Managing Director

(For more information please contact us at enquiries@igsint.com)

IGS Providing Technical Support to the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry in Mongolia

 

Ash Johnson and Mark Parker from IGS recently provided assistance to the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry, Mongolia to prepare the technical specifications for a new multi-parameter airborne geophysical survey over a large section of South-Central Mongolia. The aim of the project is to identify areas with the potential to host critical mineral deposits. IGS were kindly supported by the British Embassy, Mongolia under the leadership of HM Ambassador Fiona Blyth. Full details of the tender can be found at https://lnkd.in/ewzUX-dm

From L-R Ulzii Nyamlkhagva, Bayarkhangai Khishig-ochir, Ash Johnson, Uyanga Bold (Deputy Minister), Mark Parker, Sanchigdorj Khurelbaatar.

(For more information please contact us at enquiries@igsint.com)

IGS: TECHNICAL PARTNER TO THE SAUDI GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

IGS (International Geoscience Services) Ltd is a UK based, specialist consultancy supporting and promoting the mineral resource sector by collecting, quality control, defining technical specifications, compilation, value adding, interpreting  and serving of geodata.

 

THE MINERAL PROMOTION SERVICES IGS PROVIDES

1 – National Mapping Programmes

IGS implements large geological, geochemical and geophysical mapping programmes used by governments and industry to support and stimulate mineral exploration.  It supervises, monitors and signs-off on the quality of geological and geochemical mapping and airborne geophysical data.

                                                                                                                         Geological map

2 – Institutional Strengthening

IGS provides a wealth of strategic management knowledge and experience to assist national geological survey organisations to transform and realign their strategic objectives and operations.

3 – Geodata Management

IGS are experts in the collection, interpretation, management, and serving of geodata typically held by geoscience survey organisations e.g., processing and interpreting geophysical data, setting up geoportals, compiling prospectivity maps and integrating geological map data on GIS platforms.

                                                                                                                              Geophysical Map

4 – Training and Capacity Building

IGS is experienced in delivering training and capacity building projects around the world in a variety of geoscientific disciplines.

5 – Target Generation

We help to identify prospective areas for mineralisation using innovative approaches by applying semantically driven technology and AI technologies for regions, countries or discrete geological terranes.

Project experience

IGS is internationally renowned for its supervision and quality control of large geodata acquisition programmes commissioned by governments, worldwide – funded by the World Bank, national governments and other agencies. IGS is the lead party as Technical Partner to the Saudi Geological Survey for the surveying of the Arabian Shield in Saudi Arabia (600 000 km2). This multi-year project provides quality control of contractors for the geological mapping, geochemical sampling programme, airborne geophysical survey, upgrading the National Geodatabase and the National Core Library of contractors.

For more information please contact us at:

Email: Enquiries@igsint.com

Tel: +44 (0) 7535 206474

www.igsint.com

IGS exhibiting in INDABA 5-8 February 2024 in Cape Town , South Africa

 

A very successful exhibition at Indaba 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. It has been great to meet a range of our partners and clients across the Africa region and beyond, and we look forward to engaging in many more successful projects across the region.

Thanks to the UK Department of Business and Trade Africa team for hosting us on the UK pavilion.

By Dr. Peter Zawada – Managing Director

(For more information please contact us at enquiries@igsint.com)

Detailed Geological Mapping of the Arabian Shield

 

Field work under the  (GMAS) project began on 05 February 2024 north-west of Ar Ruwaidhah on map sheet 4423-4 Jabal Damkh. The objective of the project is to generate a seamless and homogeneous geological map on a scale of 1:100 000 for the entire Arabian Shield (c. 650,000 km²).

IGS(International Geoscience Services)limited is involved in this very extensive geological mapping programme as Lead Technical Partner (TP) of the contracting authority, the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS). The most important task is the supervision of the contractor, the China Geological Survey (CGS).A first set of 24 geological maps (out of a total of 271 map sheets) is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

By Dr. Christoph J. Dobmeier (EurGeol)– Principal Geologist

(For more information please contact us at enquiries@igsint.com)