Description

The Northwest Territories Geological Survey (NTGS) has thousands of donated geological records from past exploration projects and closed mines. The archives contain original information, including field notes and maps, air photos, drill logs, and hand samples. There are also geological reports and maps, assays, thin sections, proposals, news clippings, annual reports and press releases. This material has been donated from Ptarmigan Mine, Terra Mine, Con & Giant Mines, Discovery Mine, Salmita, Tundra, and other private sector entities. Although most of the material is from the 1970s and 1980s, some date back to the mid-1930s. A database of digitized archive files is being constructed so that this information can be accessed remotely to support future research and mineral exploration in the Northwest Territories. 

Location

The geological archives were kept in warehouses in Yellowknife, which were sometimes in less-than-ideal conditions for long-term preservation or year-round accessibility. The archives were predominantly stored in stacked cardboard boxes and filing cabinets and poorly organized with no easy way to determine their contents. 

Justification

Mineral exploration and geology research is expensive, especially in remote areas like the Northwest Territories. The mining industry, environmental and engineering consultants, Aboriginal groups, academia, and other government departments depend on the NTGS to provide as much geological information as possible to inform their investment and activities. The research contained in the NTGS archives represents millions of dollars in geological work that could support economic development in the territory if the information could be efficiently accessed.  

Approach

The NTGS has contracted Purple Rock Inc. to help with digitizing and indexing the geological archives. This will result in a database of searchable files. 

Schedule

The project was initiated in January 2015 with an inventory of the digital and physical files. Purple Rock began working on this project toward the end of 2015. There are now more than 20,000 records in the index. The index has the following fields: title, author, geographical area, project name, Showing ID, NTS map sheet, map scale and document type. Documents range from letters and mine specifications to videos. A draft of the current metadata index can be requested. These resources will eventually be incorporated into the NTGS suite of web applications. The map of document counts shows document counts per 1:50 000 map sheet and a range from white to black. The white boxes represent the least amount of documents (1 to 6 documents) and the darkest is the most (2000 to 4000 documents). 

The project is ongoing as we continue to receive donations that need to be processed. 

Partners and Support

ENR/ITI/Lands Informatics Shared Service Centre

Purple Rock Inc.