All Episodes
Fresh Thinking by Snowden Optiro — 165 episodes
EP 166 | What Consultants See That Mine Sites Miss: Lessons in Mine-to-Mill Reconciliation
EP 164 | Critical vs Strategic Minerals: Which Commodities Matter Most?
EP 163 | Critical vs Strategic Minerals: What's the Difference?
EP 162 | AI in Mining: Tool or Threat to Geologists?
EP 161 | Private vs Public Mining Companies: CRIRSCO Compliance Explained
EP 157 | Part 4 of 7: Localised Conditional Simulation
EP 156 | Part 3 of 7: Conditional Simulation
EP 159 | Part 6 of 7: How Simulation Influences Mine Planning Decisions
EP 158 | Part 5 of 7: Understanding Uncertainty in Mineral Resource Estimation
EP 160 | Part 7 of 7: Case Study - Applying Localised Conditional Simulation at Bullabulling
EP 165 | Where Geology Meets Engineering: The Role of Geotechnical Core Logging
EP 155 | Part 2 of 7: Recoverable Resource Methods
EP 154 | Part 1 of 7: Foundations of Modern Resource Estimation
EP 153: The Genesis of Australia's Nickel Industry
Ep 152: If You Sign It, You Own It: The Reality of Reserve Sign-Off
Ep 151: When Bigger Isn't Better: Rethinking Resource Model Size
Ep150: Mineral Resource Estimation: What Really Is "Industry Standard"?
Ep 149: Building Resource Estimation Logic in Excel
EP 148: Simulation Is Not Estimation - rethinking uncertainty in mining
Ep 138: From Scoping to Feasibility: How to nail cost estimation at every stage
Ep 134: The Interface Challenge - bridging the gap between geologists and mining engineers
EP 136: Why Smart Geologists Script Their Way to Better Estimates
EP 133: Cleaner, Quieter, Safer: Why Underground Mining Is Going Electric
Ep 132: Grade Control - the key to reliable reconciliation
Ep 146: How Machine Learning Can Close the Gap Between Grade Control and Resources. Part 2
Ep 147: Raising the Bar: AI-Driven Innovation in Mine Planning
Ep 145: Convolution is not what happens to your cables in the field truck! Part 2
Ep 144: When Resource Models Get It Wrong: Can CNNs Help? Part 1
Ep 143 Convolution Without the Maths: a practical guide for Mine Geologists
Ep 142: Mining's Blind Spot - when Geology and Metallurgy don't talk
Ep 140: Sandwich Conveyors Explained: high-angle haulage up to 90 degrees
Ep 137: From Tea Bags to Ore Bodies: Ian Glacken's Mentoring Journey
Ep 141: Mineable Shape Optimisation (MSO) - where geology, cost, and design intersect
Ep 139: IPCC or Strategic Conveying – what are we really talking about?
EP 135: Fast-Tracking IPCC Feasibility: A Smarter Way to Evaluate In-Pit Crushing and Conveying
Ep 131: Grade Control - at the heart of every successful mine
Ep 130: Comminution Circuits Explained: Maximise Throughput, Minimise Costs
Ep 129: Streamlining Mineral Resource Workflows: Smarter, Faster, Better
Ep 128: Sampling mistakes that could cost millions
Ep 127: AI in Mining: Hype, Reality, and What's Next
Ep 126: The Hidden World of Silica Sands
Ep 125: Inside the Black Box: essential guide to plant sampling
Ep 124: Stochastic Mine Planning - Evolving approaches to manage uncertainty
Ep:123. Why Sampling Can Make or Break a Mine - Part 1 of 3
Ep 122: Mining the Margins - What makes nickel laterites so complex
Ep 121: Power Shift: Why the Mining Industry Is Going Electric
Ep 120: How Final is Your Final Pit?
Ep 119: The Dangerous Comfort of One Mine Plan
Ep 118: Resurrecting Gold Projects - The Data Dilemma
Ep 117: The Hidden Number That Changes Your Mine Plan. Fresh Thinking by Snowden Optiro
Ep 116: From Models to Money: Getting Resource Estimates Right
Ep 115: What Resource Geologists Need to Know About Mine Planning. Fresh Thinking by Snowden Optiro
Ep 114: The Cutoff Grade Strategy That Can Boost Your NPV by 20%
Ep 113: Measured? Not so fast! Fresh Thinking by Snowden Optiro
Episode 112: Financing Mines: The Investment Bank Role. Part 2
Ep 111: Reading Between the Lines. Fresh Thinking by Snowden Optiro
Ep 110: Financing Mines - what banks really look for
Ep 109: Part 2 - Resource Classification in Practice
108: Processing the Risk: Metallurgy in Mining Due Diligence
107: Unlocking Gold - tackling refractory ores
106: Practical Realities of Resource Classification
105: The Hidden Lever in Mine Planning
104: Cut-Off Grades - Small Number Big Impact
103: Tin, Copper and Cornish Ingenuity
102: Cleaner - Quieter - Safer
101: Machine Learning - Case Study
100: A thorny and divisive topic!
99: Modelling & Managing Resource Depletion
98 - Pre-Feasibility Studies
97 - Recoverable Resources versus Recoverable Reserves PART 2
96 - Geometallurgical Sampling
95 - Recoverable Resources versus Recoverable Reserves PART 1
94 - Inside Large Open Pit Mine Planning
93 - Panel Discussion on Mine Electrification – its impact on strategic mine planning
92 - Detrending
91 - Declustering Techniques
90 - Trolley Assist
89 - Managing mining studies
88 - Underground Mine Electrification
87 - Cut-off Grades - PART 2
86 - The Importance of Pit Phasing in Open Pit Mine Planning
85 - Cut-off Grades
84 - Geometallurgical Modelling. Fresh Thinking Podcast
83 - Key Insights into the Mineral Resource Review Processes - Part 2
82 - Review of Mineral Resources - Overview
81 - The History and origins of Geometallurgy
80 - What Mining Engineers Need to Know About Resource Estimation
79 - Key Considerations for Resource Geologists Delivering Models to Mine Planners
78 - Commodity Series: Hard Rock Lithium
77 - Draft JORC Code Update: Competent Person Changes
76 - Mineral resource & reserve reporting for JSE-listed companies
75 - The real role of a mine geologist
74 - Mining the truth
73 - Reconciliation Insights: Navigating the Draft JORC Code
72 - Open pit mining model preparation
71 - Commodity Series: Nickel Sulfide
70 - Decoding Compliance: JORC vs. SAMREC
69 - Exploring African Mining: Insights from Local Presence
68 - Commodity Series - Gold Deposits
67 - Mining Geology and Ore Control - Part 2
66 - Underground Mine Planning Process
65 - Commodity Series - Gold
64 - Mining Geology and Ore Control
63 - Commodity Podcast Series – Tin
62 - Open Pit Mine Planning Process
60 - Commodity Podcast Series - Copper
59 - Commodity Podcast Series - Tungsten
57 - Top Cutting Strategy for Resource Estimation
58 - Technical Due Diligence for Mining
56 - Electrification of the Mining Process. Fresh Thinking Podcast
55 - Applications of Conditional Simulation - PART 2
54 - Applications of Conditional Simulation - PART 1
53 - Conditional Simulation: What It Is and Why It Is Important.
Technical Due Diligence for Geology and Mineral Resources
51 - MIK Localisation - Gold Deposit
50 - The Closure Problem–greater than the sum of its parts?
49 - User Perspectives on Supervisor and Isatis Software
48 - Data transparency across the mine value chain
47 - DOM: Declared Ore Mined
46 - Reconciliation and Moisture
45 - Reconciliation vs Rescaling
44 - Reconcilor 20 Year Anniversary
43 - IPCC - Inpit Crushing and Conveying - Part 2
42 - IPCC - Inpit Crushing and Conveying
41 - Economics of Project Development
40 - Increasing productivity – a case study
39 - Part 2 of 2 – Multiple Indicator Kriging (MIK)
38 - Categorical Kriging - what is it and when does it work? Part 1 of 2
37 - Classifying mineral resources
36 - ASX Market Releases
35 - Table 1
34 - Metal Equivalents
33 - RPEEE: is all hope lost?
32 - The resource model "sniff test"
31 - From data to resource model
30 - Bulk assaying techniques
29 - Bulk Sampling for Resource Validation
28 - The travels of a geologist (part 4)
27 - The travels of a geologist (part 3)
26 - The travels of a geologist (part 2)
25 - The travels of a geologist (part 1)
24 - Geological interpretation and modelling
23 - Recoverable resources (part two)
22 - Recoverable resources (part 1)
21 - Underground grade control and sampling
20 - Coarse gold sampling and assaying
19 - What is geometallurgy?
18 - Relationships matter
17 - Due Diligence Tips and Traps (part 4 of 4)
16 - Due Diligence Process (part 3 of 4)
15 - Scoping Due Diligence (part 2 of 4)
14 - Due Diligence - What is it? (part 1 of 4)
13 - On the same page with reconciliation dashboards
12 - QAQC - going deeper on accuracy and precision (part 2)
11 - QAQC - going deeper on accuracy and precision (part 1)
10 - Seven rules for report writing
9 - Sampling - the critical decisions
8 - QAQC - quality is everything! (Part 2)
7 - QAQC - quality is everything! (part 1)
6 - Declustering - what is the true grade?
5 - Reconciliation
4 - Politics and Ideology of Resource Estimation (part 2)
3 - Politics and Ideology of Resource Estimation (part 1)
2 - Reasonable Prospects of Eventual Economic Extraction
1 - Top Cuts