Goldcorp (TSX:G, NYSE:GG) and IBM Canada (NYSE:IBM) just launched IBM Exploration with Watson, a new technology that applies artificial intelligence to predict the potential for gold mineralization and is also capable of using search and query capabilities across a range of exploration datasets.
"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," said Todd White,Goldcorp's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, in a media brief.
The solution was developed using data from Goldcorp's Red Lake Gold Mines in northern Ontario. There, it provided independent support to drill targets planned via traditional methods and proposed new targets after it identified key information that allowed explorers in the area to quickly develop geological extrapolations. The new targets were later verified and drilling at some of them is ongoing, with the first target yielding the predicted mineralization at the expected depth.
"We are using accelerated computing power for complex geospatial queries that can harmonize geological data from an entire site on a single platform. This is the first time this solution has been ever used, which makes this project all the more significant," Mark Fawcett, Partner with IBM Canada, said in the press release.
Seeing these preliminary results, Goldcorp said it will put the new technology to work on additional targets in 2019.