IGS wins project in Lao PDR
IGS is pleased to announce the awarding of a new contract in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. This work, funded by the World Bank, is titled “Acquisition and Development of Geodata Infrastructure (Geological Mapping) within selected areas of Lao PDR”. IGS is part of a consortium which includes the Finnish Geological Survey (GTK) and Paterson, Grant and Watson (PGW), a Canadian-based geophysics company. IGS is assisting in the managing of this project and undertaking geological mapping whilst the airborne geophysical data collection component is anticipated to start in April.
Dr Peter Zawada, Managing Director of IGS, stated “IGS is very pleased to have won this contract against stiff competition, which demonstrates our technological expertise and value for money credentials in winning this type of work”.
IGS to exhibit at PDAC 2016
IGS is pleased to announce that we will be exhibiting a stand at PDAC in Toronto from 6-9th March. PDAC is the world’s largest mining event, attracting around 30,000 visitors over its four days.
IGS will exhibit on stand 6730N in the PDAC Trade Show North of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
IGS successfully launches Xplore at Indaba
IGS successfully launched its new software service, IGS Xplore, at the recent Mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa. Significant interest came from junior exploration companies, governmental bodies, and other geoscience consultancies, with other discussions occurring between IGS and the World Bank, DFID and other geological surveys.
IGS attends Mining Expo in Oman
Antony Benham from IGS presented a talk on the ‘The role of geodata in encouraging investment in exploration and mining’ at a recent conference on Oman’s mining industry held in Muscat, Oman. The talk was well received and was mentioned in an article in The Times of Oman. As well as this invited talk, IGS also attended meetings with the Public Authority for Mining, UKTI and other local companies.
IGS is happy to be associated with the Oman Mining Expo as Oman seeks to diversify from the petroleum sector into the mining sector, and we look forward to working with the Omani Government in the future to help promote Oman’s mining sector.
The news article in full can also be found here: Times of Oman news article 02-12-15
Visit of Afghan Minister of Mines and Petroleum
His Excellency the Minister of Mines and Petroleum in Afghanistan, Dr. Daud Saba, together with the Deputy Minister of Mines and Petroleum, Javid Sadaat, visited the British Geological Survey’s main offices in Keyworth on Thursday 3rd December for discussions with IGS and BGS and a tour of the site’s laboratories, core store and other facilities.
Both BGS and IGS have a long and successful history of working in Afghanistan, with BGS working there from 2004-2008, and more recently (2014) with IGS starting a new three year project designed to improve capacity and training at the Afghan Geological Survey and Ministry of Mines and Petroleum.
Dr Peter Zawada, Managing Director of IGS Ltd, said “I am really pleased that IGS is involved in working in Afghanistan and that our project there is helping to make a real difference to the Afghan people by training specialists and installing new laboratory capacity. IGS is committed to continuing our relationship with the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum and we are most grateful to BGS for agreeing that the Minister and Deputy Minister can see the world class laboratory and storage facilities available on the BGS site”.
Introducing IGS Xplore….
IGS Xplore is an innovative new mineral prospectivity tool designed to de-risk early-stage mineral exploration. This tool, developed by IGS Ltd, is unique as it is a semantically-driven analytical tool, rather than a purely GIS-based methodology. IGS Xplore uses expert knowledge to identify potentially prospective areas based on non-statistical geological rules governing up to 50 known mineralisation models. It generates prospectivity maps for regions or countries using base geodata quickly and efficiently. IGS Xplore will be formally launched in early 2016.
Afghan project progresses
Our three DFID-funded projects at the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum and Afghan Geological Survey (AGS) continue to make progress and several new associates have recently been recruited to the team. These have been employed to deliver specialist elements of our training programme agreed with the Ministry and to ensure continuity of our presence in Kabul whenever possible.
Several of our counterparts will be attending the 5th International Hindu Kush Geological Conference in Kabul from 29th-30th September where some will be delivering presentations at their first conference.
New I.T. equipment has also been provided for the AGS, and laboratory equipment will soon be ordered to equip a new construction materials testing laboratory. This will enable AGS staff to undertake routine tests on a variety of materials such as marble, brick, and other building materials. In the meantime, counterparts continue to be trained at commercial laboratories in Kabul to gain familiarity with procedures and equipment.
IGS welcomes new starter
IGS is pleased to welcome Dr Aoife Brady to the team. Aoife has been appointed as the new Product and Commercialisation Manager at IGS and will help to develop new markets for the geodata side of our business. Aoife has a strong background in mineral exploration, having worked in Greenland and more recently in Malawi as a Principal Geologist helping to develop and market a rare-earth minerals prospect for a Canadian-based junior exploration company.
Aoife obtained a 1st Class Degree in Earth Sciences from the National University of Ireland in Galway, and then continued her studies here to obtain her PhD on ‘The role of carbonate in diatreme-related magmatism’.
On joining IGS Aoife said “I’m very pleased to join IGS and I look forward to the challenge of managing and developing geodata opportunities”.
Dr Peter Zawada, Managing Director of IGS said “I would like to welcome Aoife to IGS and I am confident that with her strong background Aoife will be able to significantly help develop our growing geodata business”.
Geodata specialist joins IGS
IGS is pleased to announce the full-time appointment of Alex Fuentes to the team. Alex is a Geologist and obtained his MGeol from the University of Leicester in 2013. He has been already been working with IGS as an Associate since May 2014, but was recently been appointed to IGS to complement our full-time staff. Alex has been working to develop our geodata and GIS activities, but he has also travelled to Malawi earlier this year to work on another IGS project.
Alex said “I look forward to future work with IGS in both familiar and innovative projects whatever and wherever they may be.”
Afghan project receives A+ rating from DFID
As work on our Afghan project continues, we were pleased to be informed that the Extractive Sector Support Programme (ESSP), the DFID-funded programme where our work resides, has recently been graded A+ following a review of the programme. Details of this assessment will be published on the DFID Development Tracker website in due course.
Training in commercial laboratories in Kabul is continuing as planned prior to the arrival of new laboratory equipment, and several meetings are ongoing with the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum to agree revisions to our work plan to meet the needs of the MoMP.
Our work aims to build capacity at the MoMP and the Afghan Geological Survey (AGS) through the training and mentoring of staff in using specific equipment at the AGS and working with local staff to develop skills relating to mineral promotion at the MoMP.
Whilst working in Afghanistan does still have challenges, we are confident that our work will add real value to the Afghan government by improving some of the essential skills necessary for the sustainable development of Afghanistan’s mineral resources.
