Improving ESG reporting in drilling and exploration

Technology that safeguards Aboriginal heritage and environmental sites will be installed in a fleet of drilling rigs at a large exploration drilling company.

Kalgoorlie-based Topdrill’s wholly-owned subsidiary JBC Contracting will roll out GeoMoby’s Protect technology to 30 drilling rigs across its Australian operations.

The technology uses location services including GPS, fusion sensors and patented live tracking algorithms to geofence sites and trigger an alert if users enter or come within close proximity of a heritage site. This also works in remote areas with no connectivity.

GeoMoby director Mathieu Paul says the company is delighted to be collaborating with one of Australia’s largest and most professional drilling contractors.

“We look forward to working together with Tim Topham and the team, using GeoMoby location intelligence technology, to improve the protection of Aboriginal cultural heritage and environmental sites in Australia and around the globe,” he said.

Topdrill Drilling founder and managing director Tim Topham says the company is known for challenging the industry with innovative solutions and thinking outside the ‘drill bit’.

“We have carefully researched GeoMoby’s extensive suite of Protect applications and believe it is top of its class,” he said.

“Its automatic reporting capability will immediately improve our ESG reporting for Topdrill’s mining clients.”

GeoMoby founder and chief executive Chris Baudia says GeoMoby’s Protect is a key offering in the GeoMoby product line-up which includes three main geolocation solutions for underground mining, surface mining and cultural heritage protection.

“After years in development and testing, it is great to see Protect having a concrete start in the exploration industry in WA,” he said.

“We believe our easy-to-use technology will soon become industry standard.”

In 2023, GeoMoby announced an official collaboration with US-based Cisco Systems over technology to improve safety and operations in underground mining through digitalisation and automation, as the mines of the future become smarter.

Mr Paul says the company’s “innovative technology has been rigorously tested by Cisco and has been proven to vastly improve underground mining visibility, the ability to locate assets and people in real-time, [as well as] protect people.”

“With the support of Cisco, GeoMoby is looking forward to rolling out our technology to many of the world’s largest underground mines over the coming years,” he said.