$1M payout offered in web-based gold rush

When Integra Gold Corp. bought the Sigma-Lamaque mine in Quebec last year, it came with an unexpected treasure trove: 70 years of prospecting data.

Now the Canadian miner plans to start an Internet-based gold rush with the six terabytes of information.

Instead of analyzing the drill-sample reports and geological surveys it found among papers and folders at Sigma-Lamaque, Integra will upload the studies to the web and let anyone sift through them.

Whoever finds the next multimillion-ounce deposit wins a $1-million prize.

Integra is betting the crowdsourcing initiative can be a cheap alternative to inject some much-needed innovation into an industry that’s struggling with high costs and low commodity prices, said Stephen de Jong, chief executive of the Vancouverbased company.

“The price of whatever commodity, in our case gold, has come down quite a bit,” De Jong said. “There’s just not the excess capital. Now are the times when we really need that innovation.”

The end of a decade-long commodity bull market is forcing mining companies to cut back on research and exploration.

Mining companies usually rely on geologists and engineers using traditional methods to find deposits. Opening up the data will let people who aren’t usually involved in exploration bring creative data analysis methods to the table, said George Salamis, Integra’s chairman.

Salamis said he hopes the project will prompt larger miners to think about opening their own data troves.

“We’re prehistoric in how we view data, how we share data, it’s very much an every-man-forhimself industry,” he said.

“The rest of the new world of business is heading in a completely different direction, and we have to head in that direction.”