Exploration Radio

On this episode, we are joined by Sonia Scarselli, VP of BHP Xplor, a programme initiated by BHP that is dedicated to accelerating innovative, early-stage mineral exploration start-ups to find the critical resources necessary to drive the energy transition. The BHP Explor Program is searching around the globe for the next generation of explorers that are ready to think about the earth's minerals systems differently to unlock copper, nickel, and other critical mineral deposits. Let's explore.

On this episode, we are joined again by Scott Briscoe, for part 2 of our discussion where we try to understand what constitutes a discovery in mineral exploration. Join us and let's explore.

How is something so fundamental to mineral exploration like the nature of what constitutes a discovery can have such a poorly accepted industry-wide definition? Maybe it is like the old adage, if you do not know which port you are sailing to, then no wind is favourable. If everyone can define discovery, then does that mean no one can define discovery? On this episode, we are joined by Scott Briscoe, and we try to understand what constitutes a discovery in mineral exploration Let's explore.

At the end of our interviews, Steve and Ahmad always ask the guests two questions: what is something they think needs to live or be maintained in the mining industry at all costs; and what is something that needs to die or be jettisoned out of our industry? We thought it would be interesting to put together some of the responses we have received to those questions over the past year. So on this episode of Ideas that Must Die and Live in Mining, we are joined by, Mike Porter, Evren Pakyuz-Charrier, Tim Foden and Shaun Usmar. Join us and let's explore.

At the end of our interviews, Steve and Ahmad always ask the guests two questions: what is something they think needs to live or be maintained in the mining industry at all costs; and what is something that needs to die or be jettisoned out of our industry? We thought it would be interesting to put together some of the responses we have received to those questions over the past year. So on this episode of Ideas that Must Die and Live in Mining, we are joined by, Dave Lawie, Francois Robert, Rob Krcmarov, Rick Rule, Paul Roos, Professor Andy Koronios, Angel Abbud-Madrid, Matthew Pearson and Dr Gerrit Olivier Join us and let's explore.

At the end of our interviews, Steve and Ahmad always ask the guests two questions: what is something they think needs to live or be maintained in the mining industry at all costs; and what is something that needs to die or be jettisoned out of our industry? We thought it would be interesting to put together some of the responses we have received to those questions over the past year. So on this episode of Ideas that Must Die and Live in Mining, we are joined by, Eira Thomas, Chuck Fipke, Tony Reda, Aaron Schutt, Peter Betts, Kyle Prentice, Justin Osborne, Mark Jessell and Nicolas Thebaud. Join us and let's explore.

The last decade has seen an explosion of a new type of company in the mining space: royalty companies. Royalties are nothing new to mining, they have been around for a long time. Recently, royalty companies have been innovating by getting into streaming - just like everyone else, I guess. For a deeper understanding of royalties and streaming, our guest on this episode is Shaun Usmar, who in 2016 started Triple Flag Precious Metals, a royalty and streaming company. We talked to him about why royalties and streaming are becoming commonplace in the industry. Come join us and let's explore.

When we consider mining projects in arbitration, we often consider jurisdictions in Africa and Central and South America. But increasingly, projects in developed countries are following a similar path for other reasons - like community objection, or environmental concerns, or permitting delays. Sometimes you just need a lawyer in your corner to help you through these situations. You better hope it is not too late… Our guest on this episode is Tim Foden, a partner at Boise Schiller Flexner, specialising in International Dispute Resolution, particularly in the mining sector. Come join us and let's explore.

Our guest today is Evren Pakyuz-Charrier, Lead Geologist at Oslandia, a company specialising in developing open-source GIS software. Evren is looking to create bespoke open-source GIS solutions for the exploration and mining industry through QGIS, the most prominent open-source GIS software platform. If you are a user of QGIS, you might want to listen to what Evren and Oslandia can do for you. Let's explore.

For decades, Mike Porter ran a business where he took people worldwide to various mine sites and deposits. These tours were open to anyone; somehow, Mike managed to navigate the red tape and get onto every mine site. That was the magic of the Porter Geo International Study Tours. Let's explore.

In this episode, Ahmad and Steve give a talk at SEG 2022. Let's explore. 

In this episode, our guests are Matthew Pearson and Dr Gerrit Olivier from Fleet Space. We have always had a desire to explore our planet. Our history is rich with explorers that did just that. The next chapter in the Exploration of Earth might involve doing it from space. Fleet Space is trying to create technology to do just that. Let's explore.

In this episode, our guest is Angel Abbud-Madrid. Angel is the Director of the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines, where he leads a research program focused on the human and robotic exploration of space and the utilisation of its resources.  He is also the Director of the Space Resources Graduate Program, aimed to educate scientists, engineers, economists, entrepreneurs, and policymakers in the field of extraterrestrial resources. Angel has more than 30 years of experience conducting experiments in NASA's low-gravity facilities, such as drop towers, parabolic-flight aircraft, the Space Shuttle, and the International Space Station. He received the NASA Astronauts' Personal Achievement Award for his contributions to the success of human space flight. Let's explore. 

In this episode, our guest is Professor Andy Koronios. Andy is CEO & Managing Director of the SmartSat CRC. Andy is a professor of information systems and previously held the positions of Dean: Industry & Enterprise and Head of the School of Information Technology & Mathematical Sciences, at the University of South Australia. Andy has recently led a bid to establish a space industry-focused Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) aimed at catapulting Australia into the global space industry through collaborative research and development with the support of over 100 participants from industry, government and academia. The SmartSat CRC is the biggest space industry-research collaboration in Australia's history. Let's explore.

In this episode, our guest is Paul Roos. Paul is an AFL or Australian Rules Football icon. He played for 17 years for the Fitzroy and Sydney Football clubs. In his prime, Paul was rated as the best footballer in Australia and has been inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. After finishing his playing career, Paul became a successful coach. He first became the head coach of the Sydney Swans and then the Melbourne Football Club. His consulting company, Performance by Design, has a nice quote as part of its marketing pitch: don't leave culture to chance. I like that. Let's explore.

In this episode, our guest is Arthur Richards “Rick” Rule IV, better known as Rick Rule. He needs no introduction. If you don't know who Rick is, Google him. There's a good chance Google was invented purely for searching for Rick Rule and his many achievements. Furthermore, if you want to know what Amalgamated Aardvarks are, you won't find that through Google. You will just have to listen to the episode. Let's explore.

In early 2002, Barrick Gold decides to merge with another company, Homestake Mining, to create one of the largest Gold companies in the world. A young French Canadian geologist (do not hold that against him) working for Barrick in Nevada is asked to pack his bags and move to Australia, to take up a vacant Chief Geologist position for this combined company. At the same time, a young Australian geologist from Adelaide South Australia (do not hold that against him) was working for Homestake and is asked to take over the Australian Exploration Manager role for the new company. Both men were taking on new management roles, a huge step up for both of them. That's how Francois Robert and Rob Krcmarov first meet. This episode is about 2 people with different skillsets who decided to work together by creating a relationship of mutual respect and trust. Let's explore.

This is Part 2 of our conversation with Dave Lawie, who is the Chief Geoscientist and Technologist at IMDEX limited. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did. Let's explore.

On this week's episode, Steve and Ahmad got the chance to sit down with Dave Lawie, who is the Chief Geoscientist and Technologist at IMDEX limited. Dave was one of the first people we wanted to talk to on this show, so it seems fitting that he joins us for the 50th episode. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did. Let's explore.

In 2006, researchers from the Institute de Recherche pour le Developpment or the Institute of Research for Development in Toulouse, founded a research project in West Africa called the West African Exploration Initiative or WAXI. In this episode, we are joined by Mark Jessell and Nicolas Thebaud, who have been involved in the WAXI project from nearly the beginning and are now two of the people behind the Agate Project. Let's explore.

In this episode, we are joined by Kyle Prentice and Justin Osborne who take us through their involvement in the discovery of the Gruyere deposit.  Let's explore.

The story of Laurentian university closing is a sad one, and there are many reasons why that happened. But one reason suggested by many is the financial pressure that COVID has caused on universities. In Australia, a number of universities decided to stop their support for geology programs. As a country that relies a lot on mining, this seemed to be a short-sighted decision. COVID has undoubtedly accelerated the closure of many geology departments. Today we are joined by Pete Betts from Monash University, who suggests other reasons why geology programs are struggling to keep their place. Maybe it had more to do with the fact that we find it hard to engage the wider society with regards to why our science is important and what value it actually provides.

“The River ran through the lives of our grandparents; it runs through our lives; it will run through the lives of our grandchildren. A dynamic force masked by a static constancy, the River will speak to those who listen — our land speaks.” The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) became law in 1971 and with that, it conveyed more than 45 million acres of land to village and regional corporations in Alaska. One of these corporations was Doyon Limited, an entity that today is a multi-billion dollar corporation and looks after an area the size of France. Negotiating access to land and navigating the rights that indigenous people have on that land are becoming critical issues for many industries. A lot of the dialogue on improving the dialogue with native title groups is often driven by the industry or government. What about the perspective from the other side? In this episode, we sit down for a chat with Aaron Schutt, President and Chief Executive Officer of Doyon, Limited. We find out why being brave matters. Let's explore.

In this episode, we speak to Tony Reda from Tectonic Metals. Tony is trying to create a company where the non-technical opportunities or risks are just as critical a pillar in the company as identifying the technical opportunities present. They are trying to do the right thing as early as possible. Tony joined us today from his home in British Columbia to talk about what challenges he faces in trying to create such a company.

The early 90s marked one of the biggest staking rushes in Northwest Territories in northern Canada. A hundred years earlier, people had come pouring into the Canadian north looking for gold. This time around, they were looking for something else... diamonds. At the centre of this new rush was Chuck Fipke and Dia Met Minerals. On this episode of Exploration Radio, let's find out more about Chuck Fipke and his lifelong desire to be an explorer.

Eira Thomas started her career as an exploration geologist when she was part of the team that discovered what became the Diavik Diamond mine, Canada's second major diamond discovery and arguably one of the richest diamond mines in the world. In this episode, we continue our discussion with Eira. We find out what she sees as the future of the diamond industry, particularly in a world where sustainability and corporate social responsibility are playing an increasing important part.

In 1991, a then 20-something year old Eira Thomas set off to explore for diamonds in the Canadian North. This led to her being involved in the discovery of what was to become the Diavik Diamond mine - Canada's second major diamond discovery and arguably one of the worlds richest diamond mines. Some 30 years later, Eira is still involved in the industry - nowadays she is the CEO of Lucara Diamond Company. Eira was kind enough to sit down with me and share some of her recollections of the Canadian Diamond rush, her subsequent nearly 30 year involvement in the industry and the often untold story of diamonds. This is part 1 of our 2 part interview with Eira. 

At the end of all of our interviews, Steve and I always ask our guests two questions: what is something they think that needs to live or be maintained in the mining industry at all costs; and what is something that needs to die or be jettisoned out of our industry? We thought it would be interesting to put together some of these responses we have received to those questions over the years. So on this episode of Ideas that Must Die and Live in Mining, we are joined by, Justin Strharsky, Michelle Ash, Saleem Ali, Mary Poulton, Marcus Lake, Michelle Carey and Samantha Copeland. Let's find out what they had to say.

At the end of all of our interviews, Steve and I always ask our guests two questions: what is something they think that needs to live and what is something that needs to die in the mining industry? We thought it would be interesting to put together some of these responses we have received to those questions over the years. So on this episode of Ideas That Must, we are joined by, in order, Mark Bennett, Attila Pentek, Richard Scott, Holly Bridgwater, Mark Bennett (again), Marcus Lake, Michelle Carey, Holly Bridgwater (again), Justin Strharsky and Samantha Copeland. Let's find out what they had to say.

At the end of all of our interviews, Steve and I always ask our guests two questions: what is something they think that needs to live and what is something that needs to die in the mining industry? We thought it would be interesting to put together some of these responses we have received to those questions over the years. So on this episode of Ideas That Must Die in Mining, we are joined by, in order: Jon Goodman, Attila Pentek, Jon Hronsky, Tony Manini, Hedley Widdup and Mary Poulton. Lets find out what they had to say.

Keith Barron is often referred to as the Indiana Jones of Mining. His search for the Lost Cities of Gold could easily be a movie plot line. But there is so much more to this story than that. 

The elephant in the room is that the mining industry has lost the trust of the most serious investors, causing an exodus of capital that will not return quickly. 

A common career fork in the road: to stay and be loyal to a company to earn opportunities? Or to leave and pursue challenges elsewhere? That is the question in the minds of many.

Over the last 4 years, Steve and I have been the interviewers asking all the questions. This time, we are the ones answering the questions. And you the listeners get to find out what you have always wanted to know about Exploration Radio.

Career paths for executives and managers are usually well established. For technical roles, usually not so. What is Kathy Ehrig's secret to surviving as one for nearly 3 decades at BHP? Learning a new language.

UNCOVER was an initiative setup to combat the declining rate of mineral discoveries in Australia. There were many good outcomes from the project; NExUS being one. But perhaps in the end, the project struggled to accomplish its main goal - of changing the exploration industry in Australia.

Over 80 years ago, Walt Disney started teaching his employees how to become better animators. Richard Lilly and NExUS are trying to do the same with geoscientists now.

Everyone says making changes in big companies is like turning around the Titanic. Find out how Sam Walsh did it for one of the biggest companies in the world. 

We are obsessed with technology that gives us data in real time. What we really need is the ability to make better decisions in near real time.

Would early stage exploration be more successful in attracting investment if it was funded by private investors... like how venture capital firms fund startups in other industries. 

Everyone in the industry has an opinion on how major companies should run exploration. Maybe it is time we have an honest conversation about why these companies have to be different.

All innovation programs have a 70/30 rule associated with them. Only 30% of the problem is related to the technology. The other 70% is all about people's behaviours. To be successful, you have to solve both.

Did you know that 3M started off as mining venture in 1902? Over the last 100 years, it has become a materials company. Would mining companies be more sustainable as a business if they were more vertically integrated? Should they do more than just mining?

Social license issues have become commonplace in mining. In OECD countries, where there are more avenues of industrial development, navigating these has its own risks. We perceive these countries to be low risk for mining development. But is that changing?

A lot of the debate around data science in mining focuses on the what and the why: what information do geologists and engineers need to learn and why do they need to learn it. But the real question is: how do we learn from each other?

Mining has always been considered a laggard in adopting real-time analytics when compared to the oil and gas industry. This was not because of a lack of interest. In reality, there were some good reasons why this did not work in mining. Until now.     

Would academic research be more relevant to industry if academics adopted a more entrepreneurial approach? What could the lean startup model teach researchers?

A geologist, an engineer, and a social scientist walk into a bar. They discuss how the value proposition of resource development has changed and how we need to evolve it beyond just the economic benefit it provides.

Bill Joy once said "There are always more smart people outside your company than within it"... So should we be looking at ways to utilise the wisdom of the crowd? Are the many cleverer than the few?

The role of any entrepreneur, or any startup, is to learn... learn as quickly as possible before you go out of business.

Once upon a time, there were Three Princes from Serendip. They had many adventures. One of them involved a camel. This story teaches us a lot about serendipity...and ultimately about scientific discoveries.