21 Apr Guideline for Sharing Open Data Sets in Mining

The purpose of this guideline is to provide mining industry stakeholders with best practices for data sharing that are based on existing initiatives so that they can benefit from the opportunities that open data can offer. This guideline is directed towards readers who intend to share data with others, those who are involved in the approvals process, and users who want to use open data shared by the mining industry.

Management Considerations: 

• Licenses: A data license is typically used before sharing and publishing data to outline the data providers’ intended use while giving them protection. It also provides clarity to the data consumer, preventing them from potentially infringing the rights of the owners.
• Benefits: Sharing data provides benefits, which include supporting innovation and research and allowing the public access to information to help improve decision-making in operations.
• Challenges:  Challenges related to cost, legal issues, storage, privacy, and common language associated with the collection, administration, internal communication, and maintenance of open data should be addressed.

Implementation Considerations:

• Sharing: It is critical to identify what data should and should not be shared prior to implementation. The data that is shared should be well-documented, reliable, usable, accurate, relevant, and in an accessible format.
• Approval: It is recommended that a formal approval process is adopted when releasing data. Any data that contains sensitive information should avoid being shared unless the risks can be acceptably mitigated (e.g.,., through anonymization).

Artificial Intelligence Working Group