More answers to mining’s major, looming economic questions can be found in the rocks, says a respected geoscientist. The industry just needs to dig a bit deeper. “There will not be a world where we do less geoscience,” the AusIMM Iron Ore 2023 conference heard.
BHP global practice lead – resource characterisation, Kerry Turnock pointed to the shifting energy, market, regulatory and technological ground threatening to swallow up the capital and profits of the world’s miners.
While a range of external factors are at play Turnock said geological fundamentals had always been a vital determinant of miners’ fortunes and now, more than ever, “geoscience underpins a range of key business decisions across the entire value chain”.
“The tolerance in which most business decisions are made cannot exceed the tolerance of our geoscientific knowledge,” she said.
