We are thrilled to be part of Québec Mining 2024!
Discover what Scott Napier, our Global Director of Consulting, shared with Global Business Reports during his interview in May 2024, which has been partially featured in the Québec Mining 2024 report.
Scott shared key insights on Mira Geoscience’s contributions and commitment to the advancement of technology in the mining and mineral exploration industry, not only in Quebec but across the geoscience community worldwide.
Introducing Scott Napier, M.Sc. P.Geo.
Scott Napier has been a key member of our Consulting team since 2012, although he had worked with us on and off on multiple projects since 2007. Scott holds a M.Sc. in Geophysics from The University of British Columbia and, before joining our team, he worked in Canada and internationally on oil and gas, uranium, and base metal exploration teams, with a track record of proven discovery.
In January 2024, Scott was appointed as the Global Director of Consulting at Mira Geoscience, bringing more than 20 years of experience in geophysical modelling and inversion, along with extensive borehole, ground, marine, and airborne EM interpretation and processing experience. He is now leading our team of experts to provide the best-in-class consulting services that empower our customers to make the best geoscience-based business decisions.
Q: Can you give us an overview of Mira Geoscience’s recent highlights and updates, including the innovation award for GEOH5?
Scott: Business has been thriving lately, with significant activity in the market. One of our recent highlights was winning the 2023 AME Innovation Award for leading the development of GEOH5. This open-source data structure is designed to facilitate interoperability between different software tools, fostering a collaborative environment for geoscientists across all disciplines, revolutionizing the way geological models, data, and metadata are shared, stored, and visualized.
Additionally, our presence at PDAC and other conferences over the past few months has been quite strong, and we are experiencing increased activity in our Canadian and Australian offices due to our long-term commitment to technological advancement and innovation, and accentuated by the favorable market conditions.
Q: With Mira Geoscience celebrating its 25th anniversary and expanding globally, how are you managing this growth?
Scott: This year, we are definitely thrilled to be celebrating our 25 years of ‘modelling the earth’ (which is our company tagline) with our customers and industry peers. Since 1999, we have pioneered the application of advanced geological and geophysical modelling, 3D-GIS technology, integrated interpretation and visualization, open-source technology, and 4D multi-disciplinary data management in the mining and mineral exploration industries.
Our commitment to technological innovation and excellence in the realm of geoscience is clear, but indeed we are also focused on our global expansion. Ultimately, we want to empower our users and customers to make the best geoscience-based business decisions regardless of where they are located.
While Canada and Australia have been a longstanding part of our operations for more than 2 decades, we are already seeing growth opportunities in other regions, accentuated by factors such as high metal prices and increased sector activity. Managing this growth involves ensuring that we maintain our standards of service excellence while scaling our operations to meet the demands of a growing client base.
Q: What services are currently in high demand from mining customers?
Scott: The demand for advanced geophysical interpretation and integrated modeling services is particularly notable at present. This involves integrating geological and geophysical data sets and leveraging modelling efforts to optimize outcomes. Both consulting services, where I am primarily involved, and our software offerings are seeing increased demand in this area. Customers are seeking tools that facilitate seamless integration and analysis of diverse data sets, driving growth across both business lines.
Q: Could you provide an example of how Mira Geoscience adds value to mining projects?
Scott: We are currently collaborating with a gold company in Québec. Our focus lies in modelling their electromagnetic data. While this data does not directly pinpoint gold targets, it offers crucial insights into the area’s structural and deformational history. Through meticulous analysis, we provide our client with a deeper understanding of the region’s geological intricacies, refining their exploration targets and strategies. Essentially, we are reconstructing a structural framework for their exploration efforts, utilizing data collected nearly 15 years ago in a novel way. While it does not entail direct gold detection, this approach significantly enriches their geological comprehension, enhancing the overall value of the exploration endeavor.
Q: Are you observing a shift in mining companies’ willingness to invest in new technologies and innovations?
Scott: There is a noticeable shift in the industry’s attitude towards investing in new technologies and innovations. Over time, there has been a growing recognition of the value that advanced data integration and analysis can bring to exploration and mining activities. Companies are increasingly willing to invest in technologies that enable them to unlock the full potential of their data, leveraging historical information and cutting-edge analytical tools to make the best geoscience-based business decisions.
Q: Are you considering focusing on specific commodities for growth given the current market trends?
Scott: Our projects are very diverse and we don’t need to rely on specific commodities. However, our expertise in integrated interpretation excels in copper exploration, which is currently increasing in demand. While activity in lithium and nickel exploration has slowed down, we also have expertise in those commodities, as well as gold, where integrating geophysics and geological data is crucial. Québec’s gold potential offers significant opportunities.
Q: How do you view the role of artificial intelligence in enhancing your work, and what developments are you focusing on in this area?
Scott: Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a crucial role in enhancing our work by providing advanced analytical capabilities and improving the efficiency of data analysis processes, but we strongly believe that, integrated interpretation is (or should be!) a prerequisite to the employment of these new methods of data and model analysis.
Mira Geoscience has been leveraging the power of AI and machine learning since 2015. Our advanced geological modelling (with GOCAD Mining Suite) and geophysical inversion tools (with Geoscience ANALYST Pro Geophysics, UBC-GIF, and VP Suite) have given us the capability to create a fully integrated interpretation, capturing all the relevant features in a single earth model, as input to machine learning algorithms.
More recently, we have been actively incorporating AI into our operations, with a particular focus on integrating ChatGPT-4 into Geoscience ANALYST and developing machine learning-based targeting workflows. In the consulting side, these developments aim to further streamline our work, enhance data interpretation accuracy, and ultimately provide our clients with more robust and insightful outcomes.
Q: What are Mira Geoscience’s key priorities moving forward?
Scott: Well, as mentioned earlier, after 25 years pushing the boundaries of technology, we remain focused on our company vision, which is to lead through groundbreaking technologies and solutions that seamlessly integrate into geoscientists’ workflows, enabling them to make better decisions for a more sustainable future.
Currently, we are very excited to release the new Geoscience ANALYST Pro Geology module. This software solution leverages the powerful 3D visualization capabilities of Geoscience ANALYST with machine learning algorithms for exploration targeting and data analysis. Geoscience ANALYST Pro Geology is being introduced to the market following the successful consortium model that we used for the well-established Geoscience ANALYST Pro Geophysics.
Continue exploring about…
Geoscience ANALYST, a powerful software solution for visualization, communication, analysis, and integrated interpretation of multi-disciplinary geoscience and mining data and models.
GEOH5, the open format that is taking down interoperability barriers and revolutionizing the way geoscience data and models are shared, stored, and visualized.
Latest news
Q&A with Oleg Brovko, Senior Project Geophysicist at Geofocus
Chasing Innovation from the Ground Up
Archived: New release – Geoscience ANALYST 4.4
Macros
Generating exploration models from a detailed structural interpretation and Artificial Intelligence
Earth model’s themes are renamed
Q&A ERO Copper Corp
Extending workflows with rapid model generation – Virtual Lecture
Scientific colour-maps
Assign geological features
