TECHNOLOGY: Kinross, acQuire join forces to upgrade app for blasthole sampling

NEVADA - Kinross Gold has joined forces with acQuire, a geoscience data management software provider, to update its geoscientific information management (GIM) suite and add a new mobile data capture solution for blasthole sampling. A team from Kinross's Round Mountain open-pit grade control operations in Nevada told acQuire about the data challenges experienced in mining on a daily basis and asked for a solution geared towards the industry’s needs. Among those challenges was the fact that the team still logged data on paper and wanted a solution that would allow them to speed up the time that it takes for data logged in the pit to become available to downstream grade control processes like modelling and ore blocking. A digital solution to the logging issue had to function offline because connectivity in the pit is unreliable. Kinross also asked for the application to minimize errors caused by transcribing handwritten data logs and to reduce the lag between users logging data in the pit and capturing the data in the GIM Suite. In a press release, the companies said the collaboration resulted in a mobile app - Arena - being enhanced for blasthole sampling for open-pit grade control, which met all the requirements above. “The project team, consisting of key stakeholders who are involved in the site’s data systems, not only provided input into requirements but also engaged in the beta testing phase of GIM Suite 4.2 and the Arena mobile app to ensure the solution worked for grade control requirements,” the media brief states.