The Canadian Digital Core Library Begins Drill Core Scanning
The first drill core for the CDCL, provided by the Northwest Territories, has been scanned in-kind by GeologicAI. More providers and jurisdictions are expected to contribute in the coming weeks.
CALGARY, AB – September 21, 2026 – Scanning has started for the Canadian Digital Core Library (CDCL), a national initiative to digitize Canada's geological record and make it openly available through an AI-ready platform.
Canada holds significant critical mineral deposits and stores millions of metres of geological drill core in government repositories across the country, which together form one of the largest drill core libraries in the world. The Canadian Digital Core Library will digitize this geological record using advanced scanning technologies and make it openly available through an AI-ready platform, giving the entire industry, from major producers to junior explorers, access to a shared foundation for mineral discovery.
The first drill core for the Canadian Digital Core Library was provided by the Northwest Territories Geological Survey and scanned in-kind by GeologicAI at its facility in Calgary, Alberta. The resulting data will be contributed to and made available in the national library.
This scanning is the first of several contributions from core-scanning providers, each contributing the work and resulting data in-kind. In June, Creative Destruction Lab, neutral steward of the initiative, invited established providers to each scan 5,000 to 20,000 metres of public drill core. Additional jurisdictions and scanning providers are expected to contribute in the coming weeks.
From left: Natasha Tippett, Director, Creative Destruction Lab; Kumari Karunaratne, Director, Northwest Territories Geological Survey; and Kim Picard, Executive Director, Geological Survey of Canada - Calgary, with Northwest Territories Geological Survey drill core at GeologicAI in Calgary. (Photo: Creative Destruction Lab)
The invitation was non-exclusive and drew significant engagement from across the provider ecosystem. It is complementary to the ongoing scanning programs being led by provinces and territories, all of which aim to serve the same goal of open geological data for Canada.
Canada stores millions of metres of drill core across roughly 34 repositories, representing decades of exploration investment that cannot currently be searched nationally or queried digitally. Once digitized, that record becomes searchable and usable by digital tools. At the Energy and Mines Ministers' Conference in June 2026, the Government of Canada announced a contribution agreement of up to $15 million to Creative Destruction Lab to develop the platform, alongside memoranda of understanding with provinces and territories to support drill core scanning.
Since signing the Declaration of Intent on March 2, 2026, collaborators Agnico Eagle, Anglo American, BHP, HudBay Minerals, Teck, Vale Base Metals, Laurentian University and Creative Destruction Lab have worked together to design the Canadian Digital Core Library. Canada's federal, provincial, and territorial governments, industry players, and academic institutions are collaborating to make digital core data more broadly available to the industry.
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Quotes
“Public geoscience is foundational to responsible resource development and a strong economy. By collecting high-quality geological information and making it openly available, we give explorers, investors, Indigenous governments and communities a better understanding of the Northwest Territories’ mineral potential. Having Northwest Territories drill core among the first scanned for the Canadian Digital Core Library is an important step in modernizing how we share that information, reducing exploration uncertainty and strengthening the data needed to inform investment and future major projects.”
Pamela Strand, Deputy Minister, Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Government of Northwest Territories
"Canada's drill core holds decades of geological knowledge that has never been usable at national scale. This is among the first data contributed, and we are glad to be building the library with the Northwest Territories, the Government of Canada, and the providers contributing this work in-kind."
Sonia Sennik, CEO, Creative Destruction Lab
"Standing next to the core, then seeing the richness of the data that scanning extracts, you understand why this work matters. This is an early step in a national effort, and there is a great deal of core still waiting on the shelves."
Natasha Tippett, Director, Creative Destruction Lab
About the Canadian Digital Core Library
The Canadian Digital Core Library (CDCL) is a national initiative to digitize Canada’s geological drill core data and make it openly accessible through an AI-ready platform. The Government of Canada is investing up to $40 million over two years to advance the initiative, including up to $15 million to Creative Destruction Lab to develop the Canadian Digital Core Library platform. The platform will connect geological data held across Canada, including data held by provincial and territorial geological surveys, through shared national standards, to help accelerate mineral discovery, reduce exploration risk and strengthen Canada's critical minerals sector.
About Creative Destruction Lab
Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a nonprofit organization that delivers an objectives-based program for massively scalable, seed-stage, science- and technology-based companies. Founded by Professor Ajay Agrawal in 2012 at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, the program has expanded and now has 17 sites across ten countries: Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Halifax, Paris, Madison, Seattle, Estonia, Berlin, Melbourne, College Station, Milan, London, San Sebastian, Doha, and Cleveland.
Media Contact
Amarpreet Kaur
Director, Creative Destruction Lab
amarpreet.kaur@creativedestructionlab.com
