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MInInG seRVIces Guiding the flow of the avalanche
MINING SERVICES

Q & A
Q A of incoming data
&

After a successful career with Olympus, Marcus Lake
MSALABS, a global geochemical analysis laboratory company, has
has branched out and launched Phoenix Mining
recently been awarded its largest ever contract with global miner Barrick
Technologies. Paydirt caught up with Lake recently to
at their Bulyanhulu Gold Mine in Tanzania. Paydirt caught up with CEO
find out which trends he sees as shaping and changing
Stuart Thomson.
the mining sector in the next decade.

Pure Storage’s FlashBlade technology
PD: What is the significance of the new network, where we have labs located Robins with Geostats, PTP-MAL, and offers companies an efficient, effective
Marcus Lake is managing director of
Phoenix Mining Technologies
contract for MSALABS? in Europe, Canada and South America Rocklabs. Since COVID however, way of capturing, collating and storing
PD: How have mining PD: What is Phoenix distributing ith hundreds and thousands of sen- the data, collecting it and then collating it data ready for use
providing access to all the key mining
technologies changed in the last at the moment? it has been difficult to undertake Wsors on even a standard mine, data and there is also the cost of actually stor-
ST: The contract with Barrick is a
laboratory audits so we have started
regions of the world.
long-term five-year contract to deliver capture, processing and storage is loom- ing that data using public cloud.”
10 years? PD: Has there been a favourite ing as a critical component in resources To counter those limitations, Pure Stor- are working with a large miner who uses
using new technologies to combat the
on-site laboratory management ML: Our main client is Geotek [UK]. They operations in the coming decade. age has developed its FlashBlade tech- Pure Storage’s flash-based technology to
PD: Turn-around-time is important for
challenges of the travel restrictions it
ML: In my view innovation over the last
and analysis services. We are have been very successful in the soft rock mining story that you have The mining sector has undergone rapid nology which can handle tens of billions run everything from automated haulage
exploration decisions, how do you meet
has imposed. We have implemented
10 years has been slow. Yes, the current [petroleum and academia] markets and are followed? digitisation in the last five years with infor- of files and objects. to process control systems.
using the existing facilities initially
these requirements?
available technologies have become faster now pivoting into the mining industry. We RealWear technology, a head-mounted mation being captured at every level of an “We have been working with a Perth- “This is where the simplicity of the
while a custom-designed lab is
wearable computer, to ensure auditing
ST: That’s right, turn-around-time
and more accurate, but we haven’t really have signed a global exclusive agreement for ML: I would have to say that the most operation, from underground jumbos, to based group which collects a lot of in- technology becomes more important be-
constructed – engineering drawings
can continue and our high standards
seen anything new in the market; something the sales and marketing within the mining beneficial project that I have worked on haul truck brake pads and canteen sup- dependent seismic data,” Jobbins said. cause it has lower power requirements
is absolutely critical and is directly
are now all complete for the new lab
maintained. The technology has also
that the entire mining industry looks at vertical for their analytical equipment. Their was with Gold Fields Ltd. If there was one plies. Mining companies are producing “By leveraging FlashBlade technology and very few moving parts. Being able
related to capacity. During 2020, we
and the contractor is commencing
been used to continue our expert
and says “wow we need that”. We do now new product is the BoxScan – a multi- company that pioneered the application billions of data points every day, but many to process data at incredible speed, that to replace parts with a remote worker on
increased our throughput by over
construction imminently. The lab will sensor device combining Olympus pXRF, one of those sites becomes important.
have multiple scanning technologies and 70%, with this growth driven across and use of pXRF, it would have to be Gold are still grappling to how to take advan- group has found problems around ingest-
training programs as well.
be a notable addition to the region, ASD Terra Spec, magnetic susceptibility and tage of much of this data. ing data were taken away, and they were The miner has better logistics to get com-
automation technologies and in addition to our entire global network. This was Fields. Gold Fields’ geoscientists at the
with state-of-the-art facilities and high-resolution line scan photography. We “Many organisations in the resources able to do it at 17 GB/second, 30 times ponents to these sites better than any IT
PT: How is 2021 shaping up for MSALABS?
this, over the past few years we have seen achieved through a combination time understood the limitations of pXRF company could.”
using the industry’s latest technologies have also been engaged by Mining Plus to sector struggle to hold onto data and put faster than other technologies.”
a strong move towards data science; thus of investment into new equipment, regarding actual gold analysis. Thus, it to use. They capture and store it but FlashBlade also allows users to simpli- Jobbins said Pure Storage’s mantra of
ST: We are very optimistic that our
including the breakthrough Chrysos assist with the development of an innovation they worked around these for analytical are not too sure how to process,” Mark fy the cleansing and preparation of data, reducing complexity meant it could pro-
innovative software packages that can
strong growth will continue this year,
reconfiguration of existing laboratory
provide customers with a useful derivative
PhotonAssay system. The scale of and technology strategy. solutions required for gold exploration. It Jobbins, vice president and field chief meaning the process of data sharing is vide a high level of technology innovation
albeit without further significant
systems and the commencement of
information from the current data sources Later this year we will be the global partner was this company which really provided technology officer for Pure Storage Asia sped up. while keeping it incredibly simple to use,
this contract exceeds all previous
new labs. We anticipate further strong
interruptions caused by the COVID-19
they have. Phoenix Mining Technologies for the new low-level gold technology out of this technology with the foothold it now Pacific told Paydirt. “It may take 12-18 “Using advanced analytics to do that creating greater operational efficiency
contracts since MSALABS was
growth in 2021 and will be continuing
pandemic. As well as the ramp up of
established, which together with s, Perth, Portable Parts per Billion (PPPB). enjoys. We are pleased to still be working months to do something useful with that can give companies a glimpse into data and effectiveness even in core business
is taking the most innovative product
the Bulyanhulu laboratory, we’ll be
housing them under our agency an
the new facilities, means it is a d allowing to upscale our capacity at all stages of with some of these people on Phoenix’s data and that is staggeringly long. Many almost in real time, instead of waiting 6-12 applications.
commissioning a new laboratory for
the process right across our business,
customers to choose their digitisation PD: What has been the most new suite of technologies. companies are looking to put the data to months to make what could be business- He said the company’s DataHub tech-
transformational addition to our
strategy. popular piece of equipment you PD: What will the mining sector greater use and use it almost in real time. critical decisions.” nology could also allow companies to
from sample reception space to our
Thor at Segilola in Nigeria and will be
break down the silos which form over-use
portfolio and revenue base.
The amount of data will continue to grow
This speeding up of data interpretation
analytical equipment. We are also
adding new labs to our network across
PD: Is there enough being invested have promoted to industry during look like in the next few years? exponentially and those who can harness becomes particularly important in remote of information.
continuing to invest in our MSALIMS
PD: Is the African region an increasing
all the regions. Our planned capacity
“With those large datasets, it becomes
locations. Jobbins said the FlashBlade in-
the power of that data will be the compa-
by mining companies in R&D? your career? upgrades and improvements will nies which will thrive.” frastructure also gave miners benefits in more important to share information ef-
focus for the company?
system – our online sample tracking
and reporting system – to continue
continue to improve our turn-around-
ST: Since 2019, we have been ML: This is my 13th year within the mining ML: I believe that the we are at a major The constraint usually comes in captur- this regard. fectively through the different stages of
ML: Mining companies for a long time have to improve response times and turning point for the entire industry. There ing and correctly storing the data. Jobbins “The resources industry offers unique the use,” Jobbins said. “Silos are usu-
times further for our clients, and
expanding our African presence technology business, for most of this time has been a lot of chat about the digitisation said public cloud technology had limita- environmental challenges, but companies ally driven by applications or storage; it is
had R&D departments and I believe that the
our new labs in West Africa will also
functionality.
significantly. We have a well-
dollars spent has been on [automating] the I was involved with Olympus and their and automation of this business. This tions when dealing with massive data have taken advantage and are putting our probably the same underlying data being
analytical equipment, pXRF and pXRD. So
expand their breadth and geographical
trucks and shovels side of the business. Not PD: How do you maintain vital high-quality talk is warranted as we are one of the sets. technology into remote mines in the most used across different applications.
established laboratory in Nigeria and
service areas.
enough money has been spent on extraction naturally I am going to say that the pXRF has last industries to modernise. With new “There are constraints about ingesting demanding of conditions,” he said. “We “Through our DataHub, companies are
early in 2020 opened a new laboratory
standards?
technologies. The orebody in the ground become the ultimate technological success technologies, in addition to the future able to hold the same information on the
in Nouakchott in Mauritania. Most
same technology and allows for different
ST: Nothing is more critical to ensuring
recently we acquired the ELAM his is
is a company’s asset and I believe t story during my time. In all seriousness, technologies, we will see people’s roles groups to share the information between
our clients get quality data for their
where more R&D money should be spent. since starting my career in the business changing. Geoscientists will be able to the different applications and stages.
laboratory in Yamoussoukro, also in
we have seen pXRF go from a tool that was
R&D and innovation within the technology discounted by a fair number of industry be scientists again, instead of project Simplifying how that data is shared be-
decision making than providing
Côte d’Ivoire, so we are well placed
space is being funded and developed by high-quality sample preparation and managers and there will be many more comes important. It means companies
to service the high-growth region of professionals to a must-have analytical
the companies that make this equipment analysis results. We maintain stringent new jobs created in data science and can focus teams onto higher value work
West Africa. We also have a site- instrument that is now used within all
and software. They are then delivering new quality standards, with both ISO 17025 technology. My point of view, from the rather than working out how to export,
based laboratory at Kinross’s Tasiast sectors of our business. It is somewhat of a
products, releasing them into the market (Testing and Calibration Laboratories) technology side, is that the future is bright copy, re-import and protect this data.
Gold Mine in Mauritania and now the natural fit for us to be working with Geotek They can get into using it much quicker,
and measuring the uptake. and ISO 9001 (Quality Management and believe this augers well for the entire
new on-site lab at the Bulyanhulu site and PPPB. We have an ongoing commercial minerals extraction business. instead of securing it.”
Systems) accreditation. We regularly
in Tanzania. The expanded African relationship with Olympus, as both of these MSALABS opened a new laboratory in – Dominic Piper
technologies require a Vanta pXRF. Nouakchott, Mauritania during 2020.
participate in industry Quality Round
presence complements our global Technology such as seismic is generating billions of data points
for companies in oil and gas and now hard rock mining
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