With the goal of triggering another gold rush in the Val-D'Or region of Quebec (who's name literally means "valley of gold"), the Integra Gold Corporation has launched the Integra Gold Rush Challenge. With a prize of $1 million CAD, they are looking for innovative and creative ideas on how to crunch 75 years' worth of mining data and locate the untapped gold deposits in the their Lamaque and Sigma mines. And with 24 hours left to go, the competition is certainly ramping up!
This is, without a doubt, an historic challenge. In addition to being the largest incentive-based mining competition in history, it is also a testament to age that we live in. Traditionally, the mining industry has been a very guarded one, characterized by trade secrets and ruthless competition. By making their company data available to the public, Integra is opening the industry to the information age, where open competition and data-sharing is the rule.
The Challenge is also historic in another way. After opening in 1935, the historic Lamaque mine quickly became one of the most profitable in the entire Abitibi Gold Belt - a region stretching from northern Ontario to western Quebec. In fact, over the course of the next five decades, some 24 million tons of ore and 4.5 million ounces of gold were extracted from the mine. Unfortunately, in 1985, faced with labor unrest and a declining international gold standard, the company that owned Lamaque chose to shut it down.
The historic Lamaque mine was one of the most profitable mines in the Abitibi Gold Belt until 1985 when it closed. Credit: integragold.com
After nearly three decades of inactivity, the Integra Gold Corp stepped in and purchased the original land, permits, and infrastructure to the Lamaque and adjacent Sigma mine. Confident that the region still contained vast, untapped deposits of gold, they conducted a series of exploratory drills that showed that there was still deposits in the Sigma mine near the main resource area.
With these results in mind, Integra made all the information it had on the Lamaque and Sigma mines available to the public - a total of 6 terabytes worth of data covering 75 years. And with an incentive of $1 million CAD, they then put out the call to anyone who could help them located the main deposits of gold. Since September 16th, when the competition launched, many skilled professionals have answered that call.
So far, a total of 1324 innovators and 92 teams have joined the competition. Consisting of engineers, geologists, miners, surveyors, and good old fashioned data analysts, these competitors are using various methods to mine the data and shave years off the usual exploration process. And tonight, on Dec. 1st - at exactly 11:59 am PST (2:59am EST) - the Integra Gold Rush Challenge will be closed to submissions.
That means that in less than 24 hours, the biggest incentive prize in the history of mining will be claimed. These are historic times indeed!
Are you a geologist, miner, analyst, or someone who just loves to crunch data? Then come on over to the Integra Gold Rush Challenge to see who triggers the next gold rush!
Top Image Credit: integragold.com
