Solution To The Professional Ethics Challenge of December!

Ethics Case No. 2 – Scope of Work Problems- Insufficient Data

By Anonymous

Brief Statement of the Situation

As you recall, last December we outlined an ethical dilemma that a professional geoscientist may encounter during the practice of their profession. In case No. 2, a Canadian geologist, working for a British consulting firm, was contracted by a junior mining company to prepare a resource estimate for a project in Asia. The geologist realized, after examining the information provided, that the data (the sketch map, the density of drilling, the understanding of the deposit genesis and the electronic database) were insufficient on which to prepare an estimate of mineral resources present to an appropriate degree of confidence for a feasibility study. The client’s schedule was being driven by an agreement with a foreign government to provide a NI 43-101 compliant feasibility study by a specific deadline in order to keep the mining concession in good standing.

In our last issue we posed the following question.

Question
Which of the following routes should the professional geoscientist follow to be ethical?

A. Refuse to do the work.
B. Request to be reassigned to another project.
C. Complete the work as laid out in the contract, but reduce the mineral resource classification level to inferred reflecting the level of confidence in the estimate.

Solution

This case was especially problematic because the human element that seeps its way into many projects and can add significant pressure on the scientist to deliver a specific product. The project manager in this case imposed a very strong edict to his team to see to it that the engineering schedule was strictly adhered to.

The approach in this case borrows from Fisher and Ury’s book entitled “Getting to Yes”, which essentially advocates separating the people from the technical problem.

1. The geoscientist used the available data to create a presentation to demonstrate two quite different geological interpretations based on the same data in one portion of the deposit. The purpose was to clearly demonstrate that there was insufficient data to adequately understand the controls on mineralization and estimate resources. The level of risk and uncertainty was well communicated in the presentation by demonstrating the vast difference in volumes resulting from the two interpretations. The geoscientist’s presentation included a multi-phase course of action to build a dataset and geological interpretation that had the potential to be appropriate for the estimation of resources and reserves.
   
2. The proposal was presented to the consulting company and eventually to the client who agreed to revise the contract. The proposal was also used by the client to negotiate an extension to the required feasibility study from the government.

Was this an appropriate ethical solution?

APGO does not necessarily advocate the solutions in these cases. APGO’s intent in publishing these cases is simply to stimulate discussion and thought.

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Wanted: Ethical cases regarding incomplete disclosure, problems with conflicting test data results, insufficient information with which to draw stated conclusions, pressure to rewrite conclusions or any others that you can think of that affect geoscientists. Authors will remain anonymous. Articles to be published in future issues of Field Notes.

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Copyright 2006, Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario (APGO)