Insights from a Best Paper Award Winner

As part of our 2025 Mineral Resource Estimation Conference (MREC 2025), we’re seeking abstract submissions for presentation in Perth, Australia from 7-8 May 2025. Reflecting on his experience at MREC 2023, Jonathan Moore, OceanaGold and Best Paper Award winner, shares his teams journey and offers advice to industry professionals considering presenting at MREC 2025.

Jonathan Moore is the Group Manager - Resource Development at OceanaGold. He has worked internationally in resource and mine geology environments for 30 years. He is particularly interested in team-based problem solving, mine chain reconciliation and extracting value out of production data.

Jonathan and his team were honoured with the Best Paper Award at MREC 2023 for their paper titled, Schrödinger’s Kittens: Lifting the Lid on Resource Drill Hole Data after Mining.

Jonathan explains that the decision to submit an abstract was driven by a desire to explore estimation uncertainty from an operational risk perspective. MREC 2023 provided the perfect opportunity for the team to put their ideas on paper. The process involved a collaborative effort, with the presentation topic evolving as studies progressed.

Winning the Best Paper Award was a pivotal moment, motivating the team to continue their research with further case studies using production data as the foundation. The support from peers within the geological community was overwhelming, affirming the relevance of their work.

For MREC 2025, he advises tackling industry-wide challenges and leveraging the extensive production data available in mining. “If the data is of good quality, it provides an incredible resource for testing hypotheses and addressing forward-thinking problems,” says Jonathan. He also emphasises the importance of collaboration, seeking early peer feedback from outside the team, and streamlining presentations to make a significant impact.

“As studies progress, some findings may be unexpected or even uncomfortable. We encountered our fair share of surprises. Follow the data. Often, the abstract is submitted before the study is completed, so it may be necessary to write an abstract that’s not specific about the findings.”

Despite time constraints, the submission process was rewarding. The team credits external reviewers honest feedback for helping them refine their paper and submit it on time.

Submit your abstract for MREC 2025 and join a community dedicated to advancing mineral resource estimation.