About us
The data Miners team is composed of Antoine Caté, Vincent Dubé-Bourgeois, William Oswald, Fabien Rabayrol, Nathalie Schnitzler and Sarane Sterckx.
The contest began mid-September 2015 with the publication of the data. Our team worked on the existing bibliography and compiled the data on the geological 3D modeling software Leapfrog Geo. A method involving machine learning (a component of artificial intelligence) was designed and used to establish the "prospectivity" for a gold deposit in the study area. Several targets were defined and a report was delivered on December 1st to Integra Gold. A consulting firm (WSP) narrowed down the hundred proposals to the top 20 and a panel of high-level specialists in economic geology selected the 5 best reports. These teams were due for a "live" finale on March 6th at the Carlu, in Toronto, outside the PDAC convention happening at the same time. We came well prepared to face the jury of major figures from the mining industry in Canada during a seven-minute presentation, followed by a series of questions.
We won second place behind a Montreal-based consulting compagny (SGS Geostats) and ahead of two Australian teams of consultants (Gold Crushers and Paul Pearson) and a team of researchers from Mineral Deposits Research unit of the University of British Columbia (GoldRX).​
Our vision
We are part of the next generation of explorers and bring a fresh look on mineral exploration.
All Ph.D. and M.Sc. candidates, we have diverse and complementary professional backgrounds.
From the very start we kept a strong focus on time and workload-distribution management and made sure to achieve all objectives well within deadlines. Personal work relations were excellent throughout the project and the process of sharing knowledge and expertise strengthened our motivation.
The Integra Gold Rush Challenge was the perfect opportunity for us to apply all our skills and knowledge to a real-world challenge. We worked hard to come up with an innovative exploration targeting workflow and prospective targets at Sigma-Lamaque., and definitely liked this enriching experience!