Elsevier announced that it is in collaboration with the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) to incorporate thousands of maps from SEG’s journal, Economic Geology, into Geofacets, Elsevier’s research tool for geoscientists working in exploration for the metals, mining, and oil and gas industries.

The move underlines Elsevier’s continued drive to accelerate geoscientists’ discovery of hard-to-find scientific maps through Geofacets, supporting confident decision-making in a high-risk exploration environment.

By January 2013, the joint venture will add a further 14,800 maps collated over the past 107 years from Economic Geology into Geofacets, bringing the total maps within the research tool to more than 240,000.

“A significant part of SEG’s mission is to disseminate geological information and aid those working in exploration, mineral resource appraisal, mining and metal extraction,” said Brian Hoal, executive director at SEG. “Collaborating with Elsevier to make our maps and information much easier to discover, and therefore easier to apply to their work, will help geoscientists combat specific industry challenges such as low drilling success rates and the increasing difficulty in finding new orebodies.”