Introduction: Why We Need to Share More

Wherever I have worked in the world of mining, the people have been friendly, welcoming, and keen to share what they are working on and what they have learned. Most have also been equally keen to find out what I am working on and have learned, aware that what I know may help them too.

But in mining, this kind of knowledge-transfer is not always easy, either with a new member of the team or with someone from another team. Morning stand-up meetings, for example, are a great way to bring everyone directly associated with the site up to speed on its status, but time constraints often mean they are not a place where outside thinking can be put forward or where people can delve into a particular topic for long. In addition, stakeholders not directly associated with the site rarely have the opportunity to participate in stand-ups, even if they have a deep interest in the project and may have valuable insights to add.

Electronic data

Sharing electronic data can be even more problematic.

Many times, I have been to mine sites where finding the latest data has been a battle in itself. Each geologist, engineer, surveyor, or planner knows where their own data is and what it is called, but others who also need to use that data often do not.

The data may be stored only on the specialist’s laptop or external hard drive or, even if it’s more readily available, may be in a proprietary format that requires specialist knowledge to use or filed under a hard-to-identify name. A model, for example, may simply be called “model” (of what?), often with a suffix or two added to distinguish it from other iterations — such as model_final_2022 or model_final_final_2022. Then, even if you are lucky enough to locate the right data, in a format you can use, you may find that it has been sanitised for consumption by another department and that crucial details you need have been lost.

Decision history

Another issue from my perspective is that I will often receive a model from a client site with very little background attached. For example, I may get a description of the methodology used and some justification for the choices made along the way to arrive at this model, but no explanation for why that particular method was selected or what alternatives were looked at and discarded.

Yet this would be valuable information for me in my job: I will understand the model better if I also understand the decisions that went into creating it.

The risks of being misunderstood

More information about how decisions are made would also be valuable information for all of our stakeholders, including other departments in our own workplaces — where lack of communication has taken root — as well as governments, investors, local communities, the general public and young people contemplating careers as geologists, engineers, surveyors, and planners.

Mining as an industry is greatly misunderstood. Many people don’t like us and what we do, mostly because they don’t really know what we do or how we do it.

I believe we have failed to show a whole generation both the value of what we do and how we are actively working to be part of the world-wide green revolution. We need to make clear how the metals we mine are used in green technology, from electric cars to solar panels to wind turbines.

We need more advocates who are ready to stand up and show how mining is at the most exciting, cutting edge of technology in areas like big data, AI, remote operation, and drones, and that we are willing and capable partners in respecting and protecting sensitive areas and being part of the global solution to climate change.

It’s time

I believe it’s time for us to be more transparent and to become much better at sharing our ideas, data, practices, and decisions — both inside and outside our workplaces. This will not only open us up to new ideas and spur the innovation that comes from collaboration, it will also help ensure people truly understand our work and want to support us in it.

Through the next three articles, I will look at:

• how formalising the practice of sharing ideas between a company’s different disciplines and teams (or even outside) boosts innovation
• methods for ensuring successful sharing of all data types — not just a select few — to all stakeholders, and
• the fundamental, but often overlooked, connection between data and decisions.

Each article will come with an interactive challenge I think you might enjoy.

About the Author:

Glenn BARLOW- GEOVIA Industry Process Expert Director

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