West Africa has long been understood as one of the world's richly endowed mineral landscapes, a region whose geology holds answers to questions that the global energy transition is only beginning to ask. For decades, the tools available to those tasked with unlocking that geology have lagged behind the scale of the opportunity. Seequent’s Regional Manager for West Africa, Seth Miah believes that gap is closing and that Ghana is leading the way.

“What makes West Africa compelling for us is the convergence of a rapidly expanding industry, growing exploration capital and a genuine hunger for modern subsurface technology. It is one of the most strategically significant regions we serve. Ghana sits at the heart of that, and our Accra hub is central to how we serve that market across West, Central and North Africa. The mineral base is diverse, the regulatory framework is credible, and the exploration activity is relentless. For us, Ghana is not just a market, it is a model for what the rest of the region can achieve,” said Miah.

Seequent, a global leader in subsurface earth modelling, analysis and data management software, operates in more than 150 countries. Its client base spans mining majors, government geological surveys, consulting firms and universities and nine out of the world's ten largest mining companies use its software. In West Africa, the platforms seeing the deepest adoption are Leapfrog Geo, used for 3D geological modelling in structurally complex gold deposits; Oasis montaj, which supports geophysical processing and is widely used by geological surveys and early-stage explorers; Evo, Seequent’s cloud platform for bringing geological data together and making it easier to use across teams; and Seequent Central, the company's cloud-connected collaboration platform.

The practical value of that last offering is perhaps best illustrated at the Asanko Gold Mine in Ghana, where Seequent Central is being used to manage and share geological models across teams working in Ghana, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia simultaneously. Miah noted,“By providing a single, trusted source of geological truth, the platform enables real-time collaboration, reduces version-control issues and supports faster, more confident subsurface decisions across the life of the mine.” He said the result was a significant reduction in geological modelling time and a measurable improvement in how geographically dispersed teams coordinate, a demonstration of what cloud-connected workflows can do for operations at scale.

This matters because the challenges facing West African mining companies are not trivial. Miah is candid about what he sees in the field: increasing geological complexity as the industry pushes into deeper, less-understood deposits; fragmented or legacy datasets that slow interpretation and amplify operational risk and growing pressure from investors and regulators alike to demonstrate environmental rigour. “Limited access to modern subsurface modelling tools particularly for early-stage explorers can further constrain decision-making while there is growing pressure to digitise historical data to support new exploration strategies,” explained Miah.

It is in that last area, legacy data where Miah sees some of the most underappreciated potential. Across Africa, geological surveys have accumulated decades of data that has never been fully interrogated. Governments and agencies including the Kenyan Geological Authority are already using Seequent solutions to convert those legacy datasets into modern, usable geological frameworks. The implications for West Africa's brownfield and greenfield projects are significant.He added, "Unlocking value from legacy data is often critical to exploration success," pointing to work led by SRK Consulting in which modern 3D modelling and machine-learning-assisted reinterpretation of historical datasets revealed geological controls that had previously gone unrecognised, opening new discovery potential in a mature gold system.

On artificial intelligence and machine learning perhaps the most discussed topic in the mining technology space Miah is measured rather than evangelical. Seequent's latest Geological Data Management Survey Findings show that mining specialists currently spend close to a third of their time on data management, yet only 39% of mining organisations have a defined data framework in place. More than half are now using or actively considering AI to help manage that complexity. “When AI is embedded directly into trusted geological workflows rather than applied as a standalone tool it can speed up data preparation, highlight patterns that may otherwise be missed and enable faster iteration of geological models. Crucially, human expertise remains central. AI augments geoscientists' judgement, freeing them to focus on higher-value interpretation and discovery,” noted Miah.

The skills question is one Seequent is addressing directly. The company has forged academic partnerships with twenty universities across Africa, running a total of 46 courses across South Africa, Botswana, Ethiopia, Morocco, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon. In Ghana, its partnership with the University of Mines and Technology gives students access to industry-standard modelling software. In 2025, it extended similar partnerships to leading institutions in Mali. Free student licences are offered in countries including Zambia. Beyond formal partnerships, Seequent's free web application Visible Geology designed to teach and explore geological concepts, is used by over 200,000 students, professors and practitioners globally.

Miah sees the convergence of these factors; growing digital adoption, governmental interest in dataset digitalisation, rapid exploration activity in gold and critical minerals, a young and technically capable workforce and increasing private-sector demand for cloud-connected workflows as the foundation for something more ambitious. He said,“With continued investment in digital technologies, skills development and responsible mining practices, West Africa can become a global centre of excellence for modern mineral exploration and environmentally responsible resource development.”

For a region sitting atop some of the planet's most sought-after mineral wealth, the distance between that aspiration and reality may now be shorter than at any point in its geological history. The tools, increasingly, are ready. The question is whether the industry, its institutions and its investors will move at the same pace as the data.