Réjean Girard, CEO and General Manager, IOS SERVICES GÉOSCIENTIFIQUES
Can you present the work you are currently doing with majors and juniors?
Lots of things have happened since last year. We keep putting efforts into offering specialty services to global exploration companies. But, in parallel, we ride the frenzy for lithium exploration, so we have been contracted by many Australian firms in Canada. We act as an entry door and a one-stop shop for the province for them, providing target generation, drilling programs, and permitting services.
What innovations are you bringing to market to accelerate the speed of exploration projects?
Assay laboratories are slow this year, which is bringing drawbacks to many projects in Québec. The causes are multiple and not easy to solve, and putting pressure on the labs is not the solution. So we are currently implementing a technical solution to circumvent the bottleneck. This will not be sufficient for press releases or a resource estimate, but will be accurate enough to get the decisional process going while keeping drilling. This is key, as firms without assay results cannot plan subsequent holes, and when this takes months, they are in trouble.
Can you expand on IOS’ unique approach to mineralogy and geochemistry?
Mines do not produce metals but mineral concentrates, so your “geochemical” approaches shall be driven by the presence of minerals, not metals. We commercialized techniques to detect those 4500 different minerals exclusive to mineral deposits, and this has great advantages compared with geochemistry, particularly the signal-to-noise ratio. We can detect deposits from much dimmer signals and much further away than geochemistry, meaning you can reduce the cost and improve the reliability of the surveys. This technique still needs to gain acceptance by juniors, but majors did understand right away the advantages.
What does the shift in focus toward critical minerals mean for geoscientific firms?
All these metals occur in a wide spectrum of deposit types that have diverse signatures that require a bunch of new techniques: if you look for lithium, there are no geophysics techniques to detect it, so you need geochemistry to detect it, and satellite images. It is a total change in modus operandi here, and this is a whole learning curve for the industry.
Gabriel McCrory, Co-Owner, GÉOPHYSIQUE TMC
Are there any geographical areas that are driving more demand than others these days?
We are seeing significant demand from Northern Québec due to the current focus on critical minerals. We are experiencing low demand from the gold sector, which is surprising as the gold price is still high and there are plenty of territories that still need to be explored.
Can you expand on Géophysique TMC’s latest work in Abitibi?
Géophysique TMC completed a magnetotellurics survey, located northwest of Val d'Or, Québec. In 2022, we completed surveys in Eastern Ontario and Newfoundland, and this year, we wanted to push for the Abitibi region. We now have results from the surface down to 2,000 m identifying resistivity sections. We have also done a test survey on another project in Northern Abitibi and got the same great results, helping the client to better understand the geological system they are working with.
What differentiates Québec as a mining jurisdiction?
Québec has a great mineral endowment and there is still significant opportunity for exploration which will require geophysical services. There is also great collaboration between mining service providers in the province.
How has Géophysique TMC’s goal to become a one-stop shop for geophysical surveys unfolded over the past months?
Both Simon and I like to be hands-on and involved in each project and therefore we have decided to continue our specialized approach in ground geophysics rather than being a one-stop shop at this stage. We have more ground geophysical services to our list with the acquisition of MT, gravity and GPS instruments.
What will be Géophysique TMC’s main priorities in 2023 and beyond?
Géophysique TMC is rooted in Québec and Mexico but has a global footprint servicing our clients, on request, on projects across Northern America, and for example, Eritrea in Africa, as well as in Greenland. Géophysique TMC aims to stay on top of technological trends which would allow us to offer the best services to our clients, especially within the critical mineral sectors.