Goldcorp to integrate IBM tech to enhance gold mining predictions

Canadian-based gold mining company Goldcorp has partnered with IBM to develop an AI-powered product, IBM Exploration, with the intention to improve gold mineralization predictability.

According to Goldcorp, it is an “innovative first-of-a-kind technology product” and will leverage IBM’s Watson technology to incorporate its machine learning, spatial analytics and predictive models to enhance exploration of datasets.

Goldcorp stated that it will help “explorers locate key information and develop geological extrapolations in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods”.

The new product was developed from datasets derived from Goldcorps’s Red Lake Gold Mines, where IBM’s Watson capabilities is used to support drill targets.

Goldcorp’s Exploration Manager at Red Lake Gold Mines Maura Kolb said that the company has started to see positive results that the technology has had on predictive drilling and has hopes for its gold mineralization predictions.

“The potential to radically accelerate exploration target identification combined with significantly improved hit rates on economic mineralization has the potential to drive a step-change in the pace of value growth in the industry,” Todd White, executive VP and COO of Goldcorp.

Goldcorp said that the new IBM Exploration tool would be put to work in 2019.