The state’s mining department has released a new five-year plan to transform the storage of geoscience data.
The state’s mining department has released a new five-year plan to transform the storage of geoscience data, a strategy tipped to modernise the system and ensure it is capable of keeping up with exploration demands.
The Geoscience Data Transformation Strategy outlines the five-year plan of Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA), which provides free geoscience data to reduce financial risks for resource explorers, attract new investment and guide government policy and land-use decisions; much of which is considered vital to exploration and investment in WA.
The plan consists of 13 direct actions, outlines its priorities and estimated timelines for completion - as well as recognising the need to increase staffing levels and reskill current employees - and is designed to create a more efficient approval process, reinvigorate exploration activity, and slash red tape.
Under the plan, the capability of the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety’s data collection would be expanded to make it simpler for industry to gain approvals and more staff would be recruited to the approval processes system: a move expected to cut approval timeframes by as much as 50 per cent and save industry millions of dollars.
The strategy forms part of the WA Labor's commitment to spend more than $37 million on an overhaul of the state’s mining data and information system, an overhaul called for by a number of mining bodies, including the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies.
According to the document, the primary driver of the strategy has been the advances in the automation of mining and mine management, with many large and medium-tier exploration companies preparing to utilise data analytics involving machine learning.
Geological Survey of Western Australia believes the demand for data will grow exponentially and hopes the strategy will help ensure it is at the forefront of new technology and can provide the data required by industry.
Geological Survey and Resource Strategy executive director Jeff Haworth said the data strategy would help to keep pace with modern, digitally enabled exploration demands.
“We are working hard to stay ahead of the data technology curve to place the department at the forefront of geoscience data delivery,” he said.
“Our strategic priorities will greatly increase the attractiveness of WA for exploration of its vast untapped mineral and petroleum resources.”
