Longford Explorations | Surveying and Sampling Process

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Sustainability Through Efficient Operations

Longford Exploration Services is a Vancouver, Canada-based mineral exploration consultancy that works with clients over the world to provide pre-field, targeting & research as well as project acquisition, project development, and field exploration services.

Longford Exploration At A Glance

• 30 Geologists
• Over 50% projects located in Canada
• 8+ sampling programs in 8 months over 6 clients
• Revenue: $7.5M
• Regular time sheets and DPRs with more than 5000+ records

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Timeline

How did Grid & Longford Exploration collaboration come about?

Longford Exploration Services started working with Grid to digitize their Timesheet and Daily Reporting processes. However, within a few months, Grid was powering their entire sampling and surveying processes as well!

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Snapshot

Who's using Grid @ Longford Exploration?

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Before Grid

Longford Exploration Services used to rely on a number of independent software solutions that had to be patched together to achieve a somewhat workable solution. Grid combines and makes available all those separate functionalities in a single powerful and flexible tool:

MS Excel / Google Sheets

Usage: Used for a variety of data collection efforts, especially timesheets and the digitization of paper logs created during sampling exercises.
Issues: Version control is difficult (with multiple versions of a spreadsheet file available, determining a single source of truth is difficult), spreadsheets are time consuming to create and update, needs Internet to work (in the case of Google Sheets).

Since MS Excel is not a collaborative tool, version control and synchronization of data was also a concern.

WhatsApp

Usage: Longford Exploration Services used to conduct their Daily Progress Reports (DPRs) and Timesheet management using WhatsApp to receive individual employee reports which would then be collated by hand into spreadsheets.
Issues: WhatsApp chats need to be manually processed into a DPR format, are prone to errors, and don’t preserve a permanent record of all chats.

Using Grid’s companion mobile app, this process is now complete in a fraction of the time, and there’s no need for any manual collation!

Paper Logs

Usage: Longford Exploration Services used paper logs to record the results of their sampling surveys, prior to Grid.
Issues: Paper logs take time to digitize into spreadsheets, handwriting and other factors can cause further delays. Paper is an impermanent record and usually the original submitted sample report is not filed, which means there is the possibility of loss of data if it was improperly / incorrectly transcribed.

Grid’s mobile app and its linked worksheets do away with the need for any paper logging, allowing users to enter data directly into the database via Grid’s mobile app, which works even in areas with low / no internet access.

Operations @ Longford Exploration Services Powered By Grid

Daily Project Reports & Time Tracking

Managing timesheets and Daily Project Reports (DPRs) is a key need for Longford Exploration Services, since they provide turnkey services to their clients for everything from surveying to drilling and tenement + mine management. This is the initial use case upon which Longford and Grid started their partnership.

Key Benefits

Real time view into what areas and processes are occupying the most staff time, allowing process changes to be more efficient.

Building Geological Libraries

Technical Libraries based on various international standards are maintained and referenced from Grid for all programs. This ensures that any fields or values used are standard across the company, completely eliminating the need to sanitize the data that’s uploaded into the Grid application.

Key Benefits

The ability to create, upload and edit a master sheet of reference terms and terminology which can be imported into any end user application created for Longford Explorations, thus saving time and effort,

Surveying and Mapping

Geologists use the Grid mobile application to collect and manage data on rocks, vegetation, outcrops, archeology etc. as a part of field work.

Key Benefits

The Grid mobile application works completely offline, on any mobile device, enabling geologists to quickly add data en masse from the field, without expensive hardware, thus saving costs.

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How Longford Exploration Services uses Grid

Admin: Timesheets & DPRs

Since Longford Exploration Services does a lot of work on behalf of clients who engage their services to run turnkey mapping, surveying and even drilling operations, coordinating the record-keeping of all time that is spent on these projects is critical. Since Grid comes with inbuilt time-tracking options, this is the function that Longford Exploration Services initially started using with Grid.

• Step 01: Every team member uses Grid’s mobile app (which works offline, in remote areas) to log their times in and out.
• Step 02: As soon as the data is uploaded to the Grid server from the mobile app, supervisory members of the team can see detailed dashboards showing time usage, filtered down by team members and tasks. This also helps when billing the client.
• Step 03: Daily Progress Reports (DPRs) are essential in managing the health of a project and gaining visibility into whether it is on track or not. Team members fill these in on Grid, enabling managers and supervisors to get a real time snapshot of the project’s progress
• Step 04: Detailed dashboard visualizations allow managers and supervisors to take decisions based on DPRs and tweak the operational processes to allow for more efficiency and cost savings.

The data from this process was instrumental in Longford Exploration Services’ decision to expand their usage of Grid, since the time tracking process revealed that a bulk of the geologists’ time was spent filling out paper forms and sanitizing data, which could be eliminated via Grid

Over 45% time saved in projects executed on Grid

Regular time sheets and DPRs with more than 5000+ records

20+ worksheets for various activities

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Mapping: Surveying & Sampling (Soil, Rock, etc)

Sampling is performed to ascertain the likely composition of mineral deposits underground, based on evidence on and beneath the surface of the Earth. Here’s how Grid helps Longford Exploration Services perform their various sampling processes:

• Step 01: When Longford Exploration Services’ geologists conduct a sampling exercise, data on each sample from the area being surveyed is entered into Grid using the companion mobile app.
• Step 02: The data entry process takes place at the very moment the sample is collected. Also, the terms and values used to describe each sample are pre-defined in Longford Exploration Services’ geological libraries, so geologists can only use standardized language, thus making sure the data is uniform and there is no data sanitization needed.
• Step 03: The app works offline, so all sample data is entered en masse and, when network coverage is available, the data is automatically uploaded.
• Step 04: Grid’s dashboards display the data as it is uploaded, in real time, using a variety of visualizations to show the composition of the minerals in the area being surveyed. This enables geologists and other Longford Explorations staff to locate where mineral deposits might be present.

Total Samples collected In Grid: 2000+

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Drilling: Tailings

The tailings process at Longford Exploration Services involves drilling into areas where mineral extraction has already taken place, and evaluating the remaining material (called tailings) for any secondary uses, or any ore or mineral content that might have been left behind. Core samples are extracted from much shallower drill holes and then analyzed for content. Grid speeds up this process immensely:

• Step 01: Tailings samples are drilled and examined by experienced geologists. The data from the samples are entered into Grid’s companion mobile application in the order that the samples are examined.
• Step 02: Thanks to a predetermined data structure that senior staff at Longford Exploration Services have built into Grid, the data accurately reflects the various depths at which minerals are found, as well as the composition of the intervening materials. This not only helps in planning where to drill to extract any remaining minerals, but also shows any secondary uses (for example, a large area of dense rock that might have surrounded a gold seam might yield stone chips or rock chips for ancillary industrial uses).
• Step 03: Grid’s dashboard displays this data in a number of useful ways using visualizations like Strip Logs, which indicate the composition of each core sample and its structure and makeup.
• Step 04: Planning and provisioning for mineral extraction and secondary uses becomes incredibly easy thanks to the wealth of data available that’s easily understood, on a real-time basis.

Tailings project with 700+ samples

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What’s Next For Longford Exploration Services & Grid?

1. Increase the number of processes being powered by Grid.

2. Use the power of no code to develop custom worksheets that staff at Longford Explorations will use to manage and monitor all operations.

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The Grid Effect

How has Grid changed work @ Longford Explorations?

Grid’s biggest impact on Longford Exploration Services is the realization that they could save an enormous amount of time and gain a huge visibility into their operations, by using Grid to track and manage their operations.