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Saskatchewan Geoscience Data Management Project

Overview

The Saskatchewan Geological Survey (SGS) has been collecting, archiving and distributing high-quality public geoscience information since 1949. This information is foundational for non-renewable resource exploration and is extremely valuable in helping explorers reduce investment risk. In recent times, however, ever-larger and more-complex digital datasets have proven difficult for geological surveys to efficiently store and disseminate. To address this, in 2023 the Government of Saskatchewan made the Growth Plan commitment to establish a comprehensive and integrated geoscience data repository to improve service to Saskatchewan explorers and enhance the investment attractiveness of Saskatchewan’s non-renewable resources, including critical minerals. Announced in March 2023 as a component of Securing the Future: Saskatchewan’s Critical Mineral Strategy, the two-year, multimillion-dollar project will host decades of precompetitive geoscience and off-confidential mineral assessment information, will accommodate secure submission of mineral assessment information and will support existing applications such as the Saskatchewan Mining and Petroleum GeoAtlas.

Please return to this page for updates on Saskatchewan’s new geoscience data repository as project development continues.

Project Highlights:

  • Online mineral assessment report submission will become standard.
  • Availability of structured, 3D-ready data and unstructured data from both map and form searches.
  • Access to off-confidential mineral assessment file information currently housed by the Saskatchewan Mineral Assessment Database (SMAD), including structured borehole and geoscience data.
  • Access to mineral exploration locations is currently housed in the Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index (SMDI).
  • Access to original data collected by Saskatchewan Geological Survey geoscientists, including data from exploration drill cores (primarily mineral exploration) cut from across Saskatchewan and data collected during northern mapping programs.
  • Access to off-confidential, structured borehole and geoscience data from licensed drilling in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin hosted in reports generated from the Integrated Resource Information System (IRIS).
  • Interpretive maps and selected geospatial datasets will remain available on the Saskatchewan Mining and Petroleum GeoAtlas.

Project Updates

The Saskatchewan Geoscience Data Management Project’s Proof of Concept (POC) phase has been successfully completed and the Implementation phase of the project has commenced. During POC, the vendor developing the new system and subject matter experts from SGS developed a preliminary database schema and tested the functionality of the future data system.

The Implementation phase of the project will include building the final database, loading data, soliciting feedback from stakeholders, and undertaking internal and external database testing and training. If you are interested in participating in the testing or training part of the Implementation phase of this project please contact the ER Service Desk (contact information at the bottom of this page).

Mineral Assessment Submission and Review

A significant part of the project pertains to modernization of Saskatchewan’s mineral assessment submission and review process to better serve the mineral exploration industry. This will include changing to a secure, online submission interface. SGS also anticipates standardizing information submitted for assessment credit, in a manner similar to that outlined by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Exploration Assessment Digital Data Formats proposal. The Saskatchewan Geoscience Data Management Project (GDMP) will include development of a new submission method for mineral assessment work reports regulated under The Crown Minerals Act.

Stay tuned to this page or watch for e-mail updates about the assessment submission process, stakeholder information and training sessions.

Summary of Proposed Changes

Mineral assessment work information will be submitted using an automated approach. This will help to streamline the review process. Starting in the first half of 2025:

  • Mineral assessment work will no longer be accepted by e-mail or by a manual process, such as physical mail or in person drop off.
  • Mineral assessment work will be submitted through a secure, online user interface into Saskatchewan’s new data management system.
  • Some mineral assessment work items will be submitted in templates or standardized file formats, e.g. data tables or figures, respectively.

The impact this change may have on regulations falling under The Crown Minerals Act is currently under review.

Stakeholder Engagement Survey

What We Heard

SGS conducted a stakeholder engagement survey in spring 2022 and asked respondents to provide feedback about assessment file submission and access options for publicly available geoscience. The survey was distributed to 330 potential users and garnered 137 responses; 89.5% of respondents were active in mineral exploration, 5.3% in the oil and gas industry, and the remaining balance identified as ‘other.’ The respondents were dominantly from junior exploration companies (68.4%); mid-tier and major companies provided 17.9% and 16.7% of the responses, respectively. Most respondents (83.2%) either worked for a company that holds or personally holds dispositions in Saskatchewan. Below are some of the responses that we heard:

  1. Preferred method for public geoscience retrieval:
    A combination of map- and form-based querying was preferred by 73.6% of respondents rather than one or the other individually.

  2. The importance of converting legacy geoscience data to a structured format:
    About 85% of the responses indicated that converting legacy data into structured data was important or very important.

  3. The importance of bulk data downloads:
    Almost 83% of mineral exploration respondents suggested that bulk data downloads were very important or important, with over half indicating the former. One hundred per cent of oil and gas industry respondents considered the downloads very important or important.

  4. Adoption of a national submission standard for assessment files:
    Sixty-five per cent of respondents considered this either very beneficial or beneficial.

  5. Use of templates that support standardization of mineral assessment information:
    Over three-quarters of respondents favoured the use of templates.

Further Information

If you have questions about the project, please contact the Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources Service Desk at 855-219-9373 or er.servicedesk@gov.sk.ca.

Frequently Asked Questions

Read the questions and answers related to the Saskatchewan Geoscience Data Management project. This document may be updated periodically.

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