BRIMM is continuing to develop its ore body knowledge research program, which seeks to develop novel approaches to make a step change in how the mining industry creates and uses ore body knowledge in order to reduce mining risk, maximize ore body value and improve social and environmental outcomes. The OBK program aims to link the geological, mineralogical and geochemical datasets created during mineral exploration to the metallurgical and geotechnical characteristics of the ore body to enable the behaviour of the ore body and waste rocks to be predicted prior to mining.

The ore body knowledge program is a collaboration between the Mineral Deposit Research Unit, Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, the Data Science Institute and other researchers within UBC. Researchers involved in OBK are currently having discussions with key industry partners to identify critical needs and knowledge gaps within the mining industry, and aim to develop a series of research projects to address those needs.