News

Frik Hartzer of IGS recently visited the African Minerals and Geosciences Centre (AMGC) in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. The centre was established in 1977 as a regional (South and East African) centre of minerals knowledge (SEAMIC). In recent years it has expanded its mandate and is now an information and training centre for all aspects of African geology and geosciences. It was recently evaluated as a potential centre of geoscience excellence, as part of the implementation of the African Minerals and Geosciences Initiative (AMGI) strategy for the African Mining Vision (AMV). The centre is well situated at Kunduchi Beach away from the hustle and bustle of central Dar Es Salaam and has excellent conference and training facilities. Frik was hosted by Ibrahim Shaddad (Director General) and Mesfin Wubeshet Gebremichael (Geoinformation Service Manager).

IGS is pleased to announce the appointment of Paul Turner as a GIS specialist who also has expertise in geological cartography. Paul previously worked at the British Geological Survey for 37 years and has extensive experience in Africa having worked in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa, as well as Papua New Guinea.

Paul will be helping our IGS Xplore team develop and refine our products using his knowledge of map production and GIS, as well as working on overseas projects when appropriate.

On his appointment at IGS, Paul said “I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues at IGS and applying my experience to new challenges”.

Dr Peter Zawada, Managing Director of IGS, said “I am pleased to welcome Paul to our team and I am confident that Paul’s skills will add considerable value to not just IGS Xplore products, but also to our other international projects”.

Frik Hartzer of the IGS recently attended a contract meeting in Yaoundé, Cameroon regarding the current World Bank-funded project titled “La supervision d’un programme de cartographie géologique et géochimique et la mise en place d’un Système d’Informations Géologiques et Minières au Cameroun”. IGS formed a consortium with the Council for Geoscience (CGS) of South Africa to supervise the project, while the geological mapping, geochemical surveying and the establishment of a GIS-based database will be conducted by the French Geological Survey (BRGM). During this meeting a final agreement was reached with BRGM regarding the specifics of the program during the following 36 months.

IGS and Nottingham Trent University (NTU) are proud to have been awarded the highest grade of ‘Outstanding’ by the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).

This award recognises the excellent work undertaken by IGS and NTU from 2013 to 2016 in helping to develop the technical specifications for our IGS Xplore system.

The official KTP project brief was ‘To design, implement and provide on-going development of a commercial, web-enabled geodata delivery system (database) to support the international mineral exploration sector’.

The aim of the KTP is to strengthen the competitiveness, wealth creation and economic performance of the UK by the enhancement of knowledge and skills and the simulation of innovation through collaborative projects between business and the knowledge base.

A “kick-off” workshop was held in Vientiane Lao PDR on the 17th May to mark the start of a World Bank Project named; the Acquisition and Development of Geo-data infrastructure within selected areas in Lao PDR. A consortium of IGS, GTK (Finnish Geological Survey) and PGW (Patterson, Grant & Watson) was awarded the tender for this project which will last until the end of 2017. The project involves the acquisition of high-density geophysical data followed by geological mapping of the same area of about 2000 km² in the north-central part of Lao PDR. The role of IGS will be primarily to conduct the geological mapping and training, and to assess of the mineral resources of the area, as well as assisting in the management of the project.

The May workshop held in Vientiane was attended by representatives of the various consultants (IGS, PGW, GTK), sub-contractors (SGL), the Ministries of Energy and Mines, Natural Resources, and Defence, as well as from the Prime Minister’s Office and the National Geographic Department. IGS was represented by Frik Hartzer. At the meeting the basic program and scheduling was discussed with the emphasis on the geophysical survey which is to start as soon as the necessary permits are obtained. Geological mapping will start as soon as the results of the geophysical survey becomes available. This project marks the beginning of a new chapter in the development of the Lao geological infra-structure, as well as the involvement of IGS in Asia.

Congratulations to Aoife Brady who completed the London Marathon 2016 recently! Aoife was raising money for boNGO, a non-governmental non-profit organisation which works in Malawi educating local children.

Further congratulations go to Kathy Kavanagh who was recently awarded a distinction in studying online for a Certificate in Natural Resources for Sustainable Development through the Colombia Centre in New York.

Congratulations are also due for Sławomir Wójcik (Sławek) who recently presented a paper titled ‘Semantic Approach for Prospectivity Analysis of Mineral Deposits’ at the 2nd International Conference on Geographical Information Systems Theory, Applications and Management – GISTAM 2016 – in Rome, Italy.

IGS was pleased to be invited as an expert speaker to the recent MINEX Asia 2016 event held in Astana, Kazakhstan. This forum, which is one of the largest events in central Asia, is a platform to promote mineral exploration and mining in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, and attracts key representatives from national governments and industry, amongst others.

Antony Benham on behalf of IGS presented on ‘The role of geodata in encouraging investment in exploration and mining’, as well as contributing on a panel roundtable discussion on the UK-Kazakh Business Council with other industry leaders. Photo courtesy of MINEX Asia 2016.

IGS, together with our partner SRK Exploration, recently presented a week long geochemistry training course at the National Minerals Agency (NMA) in Sierra Leone. The course was designed to familiarise NMA staff with all aspects of geochemistry, especially in relation to mineral exploration and understanding how results can be recorded and interpreted.

IGS is pleased to be in partnership with SRK Exploration for this work and we look forward to continue to develop our relationship with new ventures over the coming months.

IGS had a strong presence at this years PDAC in Toronto with three IGS staff manning a stand, and a further IGS staff member assisting on the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum stand. This was the first year that IGS exhibited at PDAC, and due to the success of the event we will be renewing our stand next year.

In addition to attending meetings with existing clients, this was another opportunity to promote the launch of our new prospectivity service, IGS Xplore, and we were pleased with the reception this received from everyone we met.

IGS is pleased to announce the awarding of a new contract in India. This work will assist the Geological Survey of India (GSI) manage and compile the Terms of Reference for a forthcoming tender to undertake a multi-sensor airborne geophysical surveying consultancy over India, as well as assisting in the process to identify the winning bidder for this work. The project is funded by the Government of India and is due to start in April 2016.