Chapter 24 MINERAL INFORMATION SYSTEM Information is an important requirement in any decision-making. In fact, in the complete decision-making situation of today, it will not be an exaggeration to say that the most vital input ingredient is the right information; and the decisions involving minerals and mineral economics are no exception. Be it a decision of mineral export-import policy, be it a decision to enact a new legislation for mines and minerals, be it a decision to invest in a new mineral based industry, be it a decision to grant or terminate a mining lease, the right information is a must for the right decision, and a wrong information may lead to a wrong decision. Information, today, is looked upon as a commodity just like any other commodity, viz., limestone, iron ore etc. Just as limestone and iron ore are raw materials for making steel, the precise information regarding the location, quality, quantity, etc., of those minerals is the raw material for making the decision of where to set up a steel plant. Just like other commodities, information-has a cost, and it has a quality. That quality again, can be improved by processing and upgrading at increased costs, just as a mineral commodity can be. There are organisations which specialise in supply of information. Such organisations, spend money for collection of information, and then supply those information to those, who need them, either directly, or by publishing them in the form of priced literature. Even for deciding which train to board, a passenger needs information like, the scheduled arrival time of the train, availability of seat, whether the train is running late or not, and he needs the information before the train leaves. In such a situation, the passenger may, of course, walk to the railway enquiry or dial his telephone and obtain the information at the right time. However, in the national context of a large country like India, where there is a vast and complex network of mining and exploration activity, it is not always so simple for anybody and everybody to get hold of the right information at the right time, and hence arises the question of an efficient mineral information system. Presently, considerable research is carried out to give practical shape to the concept of an ideal mineral information system- This trend has received an added boost with the tremendous scope © improvement in communication technology provided by the advances in space research. _Mineral Information System 321 DATA-INFORMATION-INFORMATICS-DATA BASE e common parlance, distinction is often not made between “data” and information”. But, strictly considered, there is a distinction between th two terms. In simple terms, “data” are the raw facts and figures sthich do not convey any meaning, and “information” is the data which have been processed in order to make them meaningful. Data may be in the form of numbers, letters or words. For example, let us consider the words and numbers: “million”, “tonnes”, “production”, “iron ore”, "10", “Goa”, “is”. Individually these words and numbers do not make any sense. These are the raw data. Now, let us arrange these data in a meaningful form, like, “production of iron ore in Goa is 10 million tonnes”. This conveys a meaning and this is, therefore, an information. It is obvious that for transforming the above data into information, knowledge of English grammar is necessary, and greater this knowledge, more meaningful will be the information. In other words, as in the case of any other raw commodity, improved processing of data may result in improvement in the quality of the finished product (i.e., the information). Several parameters, which determine the quality of information, have been conceived. These are: + Timeliness + Precision + Accuracy = Quantifiability + Accessibility + Freedom from bias + Comprehensiveness + Appropriateness + Clarity It is obvious that utility. In mineral eco someone needed the in! 1987; if this information or utility. Accuracy and quality of the raw dat unless the information is timely, it does not have much nomics, for example, let us assume that in 1988, formation about the production of iron ore during is given in 1997, it may no longer bear any relevance freedom from bias, toa great extent, depend on the a, of which the information is made. Precision, comprehensiveness, appropriateness and clarity ae the aquatics : te information brought about by its processing. Aceessibi it bh i ponents the efficiency of the information system aS a whole, the i re the one in which all the needy persons and ora A e ts pase information at the right time. Quantifiability of the eee Se so as to facilitate storage, processing ant scti computers. d seles‘An Introduction to Mineral Economics 322 - 0 in the ‘i “Informatics” is a relatively new concept ae ue on H ike dia, It signifies the totality of disciplir echnologies countries like India. It's t of data, It is now recognised that information atic treatmen . It en st r {or ie Seven discipline is of little practical utility 10 the society at confined to a sing in taking decisions. Let es not help much in B “et us large, and such information do Seat lease for a mineral ocurtng i consider that oe ee like reserve, grade, mode of occurrence, etc, an area, The informatio ey not be enough forthe Zovernmen pertaining to the discipline of geology. | flora, f 8 as 4 infrastructure, forest, flora, fauna, local to arrive at a decision. Information on 1 ure, an 5 ssary. Thus, in this case, for arriving at a population, etc. may also be necessary. a ntti decision, the government may require information pertaining to a number of disciplines like geology, zoology, botany, forestry, ee ete. Its in the context of this approach that a new discipline dealing with the interrelationship of information pertaining to different disciplines has emerged, and this new complex discipline is called the “informatics”, It is obvious that study and application of informatics involve collection and processing of huge volumes of data with the minimum spending of time, This, in turn requires sophisticated technologies. In fact, computers and communication satellites are practically inseparable from the science of informatics. In India, there is a full-fledged organisation called National Informatics Centre (N.I.C.). There is another related term, i.e. “Data Base”. This is rather a new concept, introduced only in late seventies. It is nothing but a collection of Pt ly in late s 1g inter-related data items with minimum redundancy, stored and maintained by computer operated softwares as per requirement of different users. Depending on the needs of management at various levels, computers can handle the data base and can gather, store, manipulate, display and merge data to generate output in desired form. MINERAL INFORMATION SYSTEM IN INDIA Nature of information TH Asiatic Society was estab ished at Calcutta in the late eighteenth century. is society became, inter alia, a forum for systematic recording of Lomaa activities carried out in India, However, the real impetus for the OSL ie tga {eit fecording was provided with the establishment of a sine ‘ nae 1 the beginning, the objective was limited to the study this organisation multitiog eee cOUNY. Gradually, the activities of eG a Ne u a manifold. Other organisations like the IBM, the of different sine ey the directorates of geology and mining generation of geoscientific data in India Stated contributing tothe The data broadly relate to : ae eter geology, maps, lith : i > Maps, lithol misty. drilling, pitting, trenching, exploratory taining, ae si hciMineral Information System 323 reserves, production, trade, beneficiati science. The different types of date thee ee oe geoscientists and mining industry, the following 20 data bases: 1, National Mineral Inventory Data Base 2. Mining Lease Data Base 3. Mines and Mineral Production Data Base 4, Mineral and Metal Consumption Data Base 5. Mineral Beneficiation Data Base 6. 7. 8. in the field of earth » can be broadly organised in the form of World Mineral Intelligence Data Base External Trade Data Base . Drilling and Other Types of Exploratory Opening Data Base 9. Coal Resources Data Base 10. Geological Mapping and Cartography Data Base 11. Geochemical Data Base 12. Geophysical Data Base 13. Geothermal Data Base 14. Geotechnical Data Base 15. Ground Water Data Base 16. Oil and Natural Gas Data Base 17, Atomic Minerals Data Base 18. Environmental Data Base 19. Marine Geology Data Base 20. Remotely Sensed Data Base Prima facie, the four data bases relating to the coal resources, the ground water, the oil and natural gas and the atomic minerals appear to be parts of the National Mineral Inventory Data Base. However, in faa ibrar specialised organisations, namely, err eee i aspects relating . 2 * ecb ie these data bases merely as parts orane eee Mineral Inventory Data Base, which figures in the Charter of Funct LBM. Status of intradepartmental information system oy . i stem of data nisations have their own sys' ioral which, til late seventies, have been mostly ® A i information manual in the form of published literature, Pee and nate and laboratory data. The methodology has a re has been a thinking that these have been time consuming, Current, Trt dara for their own the individual organisations should a oe tiger agencies and individuals use, s on the same to ‘ il curacy. This in menace jails time and with the highest possible accuracy. The various geoscientific acquisition, storage and retri324 ‘An Introduction to Mineral Economics | data processing to be replaced by a more has necessitated the conventional like computer-based management of ear, accurate and quicker technique science data. . . In many of the organisations dealing with earth science and mineral development, some beginning has been made in computerised information system. Amongst such organisations, the ON.G.C. has embarked upon computerisation in a big way with the acquisition and commissioning of ‘IBM’, ‘Tataelixy’, Russian and Norwegian made computers for handling seismic and other oil exploration data. The larger capacity IBM - 3083 system, installed at a cost of about Rs. 17 crores is one of the largest in Asia, C.LL., M.E.C.L., NNRMS, G.S.1., IBM., HCL, HZL, BGML, NALCO, etc, have also started computer-based management of the different types of geological and industrial data generated by them. However, all these efforts have mostly been limited to improvement in only the intradepartmental mineral information systems. Status of Interdepartmental Information System So far as interdepartmental linkage of these isolated information systems is concerned, no worthwhile attempt was made till the 1970s. It was in 1974 that for the first time a proposal to establish National Information System for Science and Technology (NISSAT) was mooted by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The NISSAT was conceived to be an apex body to coordinate and guide the activities of the various data bases in all the sectors of the country’s economy. One of the priority areas identified for NISSAT was the natural resources sector. Considering the pivotal role that the minerals and the mining industry plays in the economic development, it was suggested that Mineral Resources Data Bank should be set up as a subsystem of the NISSAT. Under this subsystem, it was proposed that five mineral data bases or information centers would be created and linked to a focal coordinating unit. These five data bases and their proposed locations were: 1. Metallic ores and nonmetallic minerals and rocks: (a) Exploration of mineral resources (G.S.1.) (b) Exploitation and economic activities of mineral deposits (.B.M.) Coal and lignite (C.M.P.D.1.) Petroleum (O.N.G.C.) Water (C.G.W.B.) . Atomic minerals ‘The proposal envisaged a computerised information system to facilita” timely availability of accurate data for analysis, for planning, and for monitoring progress and shortfalls in the achievement of various targets that time in India, a computer revolution was going to set in, However, Indi# yayeeMineral Information System 325 was yet 0 enter the space age. 6, " - On the whol led topmake m ‘ole, the imy i fai nagmake much headway ~ er east so qr Plementation of NISSAT centralised national mineral ar as the realisation of a Institutional Initiative In the recent times, two initiatives have been tal institutions. These activities in th though limited in scope, ken by nongovernmental field of geoscience information system, are worth mentioning. (a) Current awareness services in earth Sciences Since the beginning of 1985, the National Centre for Science Information (N.C'S.L) of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, has been providing an information alerting service in the area of earth sciences mainly for the academic community in Indian universities. The service is essentially bibliographic in nature, and it consists in abstracts of recently published Papers. It is based on the “GeoRef” system which isthe magnetic tape version of the printed “Bibliography and Index of Geology”, prone by the American Geological Institute (A.G.1), U.S.A. The monthly bb oe Coverage is of the order of 6000 publications in earth selenees, oe ice Major subject areas covered by this database aig gelners ooo a crystallography, geochemistry, geochronology, a fa terry, Petrology, marine geology and SE ee eer a aheeeantcal historical geology and palaeoecology, aah drology, engineering and 8eology, geophysics, hydrogeology and mining geolouy Snvironmental geology, economic geology an ll Scale Mining has been formed on the Ist ie Mining Geological and '¢ Federation of Indian Mining almost simultaneous with that een incorporated in ©) Information (Data Base) Centre on Sm The National Institute of Small MT Pril, 1989 with the active sup Metallurgical Institute of India MGM and istry (FIM). The conception oF er has b °F the Small Mining International (SMAn Introduction to Mineral Eo, 326 NOM 1989. The immediate objective of the guy; Canada on a tte system on small scale mining. The Ne 'o to matreain links with the SMI as an independent national body for cooperation in the fields of small scale mining. i NISM is to fun the nodal point in India for dissemination of world information and transfer of technology amongst the small mine owners and to pass on all help ang support that may be obtained from the SMI. As such, one. of the prim, objectives of the NISM js to collect, analyse and disseminate Scientific, technical and sociological information through a computerised data base system. is Mutual ction ag Problems In India, there is a multitude of central and state government agencies carrying out mineral exploration. Besides, there is a vast number of government undertakings and private mining organisations which are engaged in development and exploitation of mineral deposits. In each of these organisations, data on mines, minerals, exploration, etc., are generated continuously round the year . It will be a formidable task to organise and manage such data under a centralised information system. The most difficult problems are summed up as follows: 1. Selection of data items It is not feasible to store any and every data in one central place. That will unnecessarily consume extra storage space of the computers. Moreover, much of the data may not actually be required by the Government or any user other than the organisations where they are generated. This will necessitate @ judicious selection of the data items that should serve as the optimum input for a national information system. 2. Formatisation After selection of the data items, the next problem will be to fit them inte Proper formats. The formatisation should be such that maximum possi number ofthe data items can be represented in quantitative forms. This Wil facilitate economy of computer storage space, and also ensure quick, accuse and selective retrieval of the stored data. Further, since different data b= and also, sometimes, the same data base, may have different forma: wi be necessary to provide some key parameters to facilitate linkage ee {he formats. For example, let us consider the data bases for mapPiN& Ce mineral inventory and mining lease; some user wants to know HOW rilling and how much mapping have been carried out in a particular Hit ay mineral deposits have been identified, how much reso ch er estimated, and which areas have been leased out to which pats Y Will require retrieval of information from a large numbet ©Mineral Information System 327 bases built up with the help of a ta case, “district” rger number of iny peels put formats. In such a 'y Serve as a linkage amongst the various formats, 3. Psychological aspect A very common reaction to any questionnaire or format seeking data fro1 an agency or in ividual, is one of antipathy or apathy. This eae 2 in India, where people are ‘yet to become psychologically adapted to large scale interaction and cooperation. It is, therefore, not enough to design a technically perfect format for data collection, but the format should also be simple and attractive So as to find large scale acceptance and to evoke the desired response. 4. Codification Many of the data items are not amenable to quantification. Examples are the names of states, districts, deposits, rocks, minerals, etc., types of mineralisation, structural features, etc. If these are entered into the computer as names as such, not only these will consume unnecessary storage space, but also their retrieval will be difficult. Moreover, such descriptive names are vulnerable to spelling variations (and even mistakes). It will, therefore, be necessary to codify all such names and store them in computers in the form of numerical or simple alphanumerical (e.g., A -12, B -03 etc.) codes. 5. Training and education In India, data are generated in organisations located at every nook and corner Moreover, within any single organisation also, data are generated at different levels- right from the field camp to the head office. Consequently, ifa national information system is to function effectively, the same kind of input data items will have to be sent by different organisations and individuals. For example, let us consider the case of drilling data bese the ce lL hae : jlling camp located throug] out the length anc to flow from each and every driling SOE format andthe same system breadt untry. Unless the same input at and ; of cae ae and all, linkage and integration will not be poral One of the requirements is that for the same state, different ees cul not use different codes. Such a scale of standardisation inavast i ¥! India will require tremendous efforts in training and educating all those concerned with generation of geoscientific data. 6. Statute = fatutory back-up n India which may make supply of data Presently, there is no legislation i i ligatory. Under the 2 we Si scientific data obligaiory: by all the organisations seers aor in organisations are empowered 8 existing acts like MM (D&R) Act holders of mining leases an collect and demand certain types of data fomIntroduction to Minerat E ‘ 328 o conomie nd processing of most of the data, ing licences. For collection a! : prospecting licences. fon. Under ciolr ciredingtaheas} nn depend on persuasi F su : 10 be set UP with the sole objective of implementing government has to, formation system, may not be able to function with new organisation t centralised national in confidence and authority. 7. Security of information Some of the data are of confidential nature. Examples are the data pertaining to atomic minerals, those pertaining to mining leases (particularly cost data), etc. The suppliers of such data will naturally want to ensure that there will be no chance of such data being disseminated or leaked out without their consent. Currently, such data are locked in files and reports not readily accessible. In the case 0! rmation system, however, data fa centralised infor from different sources will be pooled together and kept in processed form. Hence, danger arising out 0! f any loophole in security measures may prove to be prejudicial to the security of the country and to the commercial interest of producers and traders. 8. Cut-off date Geo-scientific data in India have been generating since a long time — well over a century ago. Much of these data are still available in the form of old unpublished and published literature. It may not serve any useful purpose to store all the past data in any single information system. The question will, therefore, naturally arise regarding what should be the cut-off year or date, subsequent to which whatever data have generated, may be stored. 9. Data volume Before designing and deciding upon a computer system, it is necessary 10 estimate the volume of data that will have to be processed and stored. The nature of the geoscientific data is such that new data do not substitute the old data and instead, continuously get added. As a result, the cumulative volume of data stored in the computers will go on increasing. For example, if we consider the monthly production data, we will find that when new data bea available, the past data do not become useless, and both the old a” pes ata are required to be stored. This nature of geoscientific data rendet the exercise of an advance estimation of data volume a difficult task. 10. Hardware and software The choi ; deri ae Me eae and peripherals) will have to take i different data bases a to be processed and the access facilities : microcomputers installe All the hardware, mainframe computers installed in all the organisations throughout the count’ " inMineral Information System 329 have to be fully compatible with i eacl ised for data processing wilt toc" OFM. Database managemem systems yf AVE 10 be availa i as well as for microcomputers, They shout poe computer possible data wes betwee i exchang ‘ n the different Components of the the national information system becomes re Freres softwares should be “user friendly” interrogation by persons, who are not computer trained, 11. Organisation and management Bates Ora aed iit mineral information system will involve 2 Volume of data, a large number i ing st volt + of data generatin; organisations and individuals, and highly sophisticated diva sortie and communication systems. An inform ‘ ee wil ee ‘ation system of the scale, that India requires, will require a high degree of organisational and managerial skill. MINERAL INFORMATION SYSTEM OUTSIDE INDIA In view of vital importance played by scientific data and technological information in the perspective planning and overall development of any country, the UNESCO launched a programme entitled UNISIST in 1972, the ultimate objective of which was to create a world network of existing and future information systems. This was aimed at helping the scientists of the member countries working in diverse fields to exchange published and unpublished information in manual and machine readable forms. This was also aimed at promoting compatibility among information systems developed in different countries. For collection, critical evaluation, organisation and dissemination of scientific data, a committee known as CODATA was formed. The responsibility of CODATA was, inter alia, to frame plans and Policies, to identify formats for data acquisition, to standardise norms for data dissemination and also to develop infrastructure. COGEODATA, which was a sub-committee of the CODATA, was constituted for advang 4 Storage, automated processing and retrieval of exoloatial ane lobiantads] sienees data, The COGEODATA has meta number of times, and some Progress has been reported towards conceptualisation of variou: Smaius for manageny=nt ea USA. U.K. Canada and Well developed information sys er cess to the data bases for France. For entry of input dala. a5 Ni) ries use softwares known dissemination of information, these Eh may be hierarchial, relational as DMS (Data Management S9Ster te id etreval sytem known or network type. The U.S.G.S. is usin AROS |<) maintains a central as the Earth Sciences Information System (E-' in Virginia which is i jce at Reston in Virginia w Se et pias scattered all over U.S.A. Entry : re id syst aie fo Seen ae ase ugh additional computers and through a 10 the data bases iAn Introduction to Mineral Economicg 330 roughout the length and breadth of the country, 3 ions and communication satellites, Th; Data are monitored through bars jes tosutinit data from field terminals zs computing network enables ei eto them through the E.S.LS, ie Dapeat foe. satel by the British Geological Survey is an cake oan system ati | data base for preprocessing, editin, example of data-independent relational ; Taarill cat Ig, verification and selective retrieval and transformation of earth science data, and this also can be used for report generation, computer Ses Braphic outputs, etc. The British Geological Survey, has now deployed a Swedish DBM software called MIMER. It can handle almost each and every type of data, using a modular structured software in FORTRAN-IV language, and containing data in a file called G-STAR. The Geological Survey of Canada has a system called CANMINDEX (Canadian Mineral Deposit Index). The French Bureau de Researches Geologique Minieres (BRGM) has developed computerised system for their sub-surface data bank interlinked with their central office at Orleans and 22 regional offices. A recent development in the area of geoscientific information management is what is known as “Geographic Information System” or GIS. This is a computerised system that is used to store and manipulate geographic information and has now been accepted as an essential tool for the collection, storage and analysis of objects and phenomena where geographic location is an important characteristic. The common application is in geological analysis of regions, agriculture and land use planning, archaeological site location, municipal planning, etc. With the help of G.I.S., it is possible to analyse complex multiple sets of spatial and nonspatial data in an integrated manner. Itisa funetion that cannot be done effectively with manual methods or ay computer-aided design and drafting Systems or with any other cee eeraaeioe systems. In a G.LS., data are maintained in a digital format. such, data are in a form more physically compact than that of paper maps, tabulations and other conventional t i I i lypes. Now-a-days, remote sensing provides much of the information that is input to a G.I 8 number of terminals located th