Intchains Group Ltd V.ICG

Gold Crowdsourcing Is Integra’s Answer to Slumping Price

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-23/gold-crowdsourcing-is-miner-s-answer-to-slumping-price

Gold Crowdsourcing Is Miner’s Answer to Slumping Price

By Gerrit De Vynck

June 23, 2015 — 9:50 AM EDT

When Integra Gold Corp. bought the Sigma-Lamaque mine in Quebec last year, it came with an unexpected treasure trove: 70 years of prospecting data.

Now the Canadian miner plans to start an Internet-based gold rush with the six terabytes of information.

Instead of analyzing the drill-sample reports and geological surveys it found among papers and folders at Sigma-Lamaque, Integra will upload the studies to the Web and let anyone sift through them. Whoever finds the next multimillion-ounce deposit wins a C$1 million ($809,000) prize.

Integra is betting the crowdsourcing initiative can be a cheap alternative to inject some much-needed innovation into an industry that’s struggling with high costs and low commodity prices, said Stephen de Jong, chief executive officer of the Vancouver-based company.

“The price of whatever commodity, in our case gold, has come down quite a bit,” De Jong said. “There’s just not the excess capital. Now are the times when we really need that innovation.”

The end of a decade-long commodity bull market is forcing mining companies to cut back on research and exploration.

Mining companies usually rely on geologists and engineers using traditional methods to find deposits. Opening up the data will let people who aren’t usually involved in exploration bring creative data analysis methods to the table, said George Salamis, Integra’s chairman.

That will help Integra focus on its original property next to Sigma-Lamaque and begin work on the acquired mine as well, De Jong said.
Goldcorp Challenge

Salamis and De Jong modeled the contest after a similar challenge held by Goldcorp Inc. in 2000, which helped it find millions of ounces.

Integra is offering 15,000 times as much data. With the power of social media, it’s expecting to get many more participants than Goldcorp’s 1,400, De Jong said.

Integra is working with Vancouver-based HeroX, a company started by XPrize founder Peter Diamandis to help people crowdsource solutions to complicated social and commercial challenges.

Salamis said he hopes the project will prompt larger miners to think about opening their own data troves.

“We’re prehistoric in how we view data, how we share data, it’s very much an every man for himself industry,” he said. “The rest of the new world of business is heading in a completely different direction, and we have to head in that direction.”