Mining LIMS buying guide

Give suppliers a requirements sheet with normal and peak sample loads, methods, instrument models, ID formats, handover points and release roles. Mark each requirement as essential or optional. Agree what evidence would constitute a pass before the demonstration starts.

Sample identity, splits, preparation and chain of custody

Require links from the field sample to each coarse reject, pulp and analytical aliquot. Test relabelling, a moved rack and an unmatched bag. Distinguish tracking a location from documenting custody: ask who handed material to whom, when, and with what receipt exception. In JORC Code 2012 Table 1, page 28, sample security is a reporting consideration. This custody checklist is our proposed test, not a prescribed software requirement.

LECO and ICP instrument connections that preserve context

For each LECO model and ICP-OES or ICP-MS workflow, request a serial, file-based or API transfer demonstration. Check IDs, units, dilution factors, detection-limit qualifiers, method versions and flags against the raw source. Include a wrong unit and repeated import. Do not accept a connector count as proof that your exact output is covered.

Assay QA/QC, failed batches and re-assays

JORC Code 2012 Table 1, page 27 asks about quality controls including standards, blanks, duplicates and external laboratory checks, and whether acceptable accuracy and precision have been established. Set test limits using your laboratory's approved rules, not universal insertion rates invented for a software demo. Show a failure and follow the re-assay without hiding the first result.

Certificates, result amendments and downstream data ownership

Agree certificate contents with the lab manager for the work in scope. Test the approver's authority, certificate version, amendment reason and correction notification. Table 1, page 27 also addresses primary-data documentation, verification, storage and assay adjustments. Use that context to request a traceable export; it does not establish mandatory certificate fields.

Allocate responsibilities in the contract. Neither hosting location nor a local gateway proves offline operation or security. Extend the checks with the mining software vendor security checklist.

Configuration, custom code and migration

Ask which workflows are repeatable configuration and which need custom code. For each custom change, name its maintainer and agree upgrade testing and charges. Rehearse migration with old IDs, retired methods and amended certificates. Reconcile record counts and relationships, then have a lab approver inspect exceptions. Keep unresolved historical data distinguishable from accepted records.

Build a small, representative test pack

Use permission-cleared, preferably de-identified dispatch records and representative instrument files. Agree scope with the lab manager. Keep demo results out of production decisions. Agree a finish date and run this script.

1. Receive. Import normal samples, a reference material, blank and duplicate. Include a missing bag and duplicate ID. Retain original IDs, receipt exceptions, operator, timestamps and custody handovers.
2. Prepare. Split a sample into coarse reject, pulp and analytical aliquot. Move it and change priority. Retain parent-child links, label checks, locations and handover history.
3. Capture. Import the site's LECO and ICP exports with a dilution, an over-range or below-detection qualifier, a wrong unit and a repeated file. Retain raw sources, mappings, rejected values and repeat-import handling.
4. Challenge QA/QC. Deliberately fail a reference material or blank and a duplicate against the lab's precision rule. Retain visible failure, release restrictions, original results and the documented re-assay route.
5. Interrupt. Disconnect the gateway or network during transfer, then restore it. Record queue behaviour, recovery and reconciliation. Investigate every unexplained lost or duplicated result.
6. Release and amend. Let an analyst attempt unauthorised release, then have an authorised approver issue a certificate. Correct a result afterwards. Retain permissions evidence, approval history, certificate version, amendment reason and downstream correction.
7. Exit and recover. Export samples, methods, units, results, qualifiers, QA/QC, audit history and certificates in agreed usable formats. Reconcile them against the pack and witness a restore exercise.

Retain evidence, including failed tests

For every step, keep a written pass or fail with a timestamp and named lab approver. Attach exports or screenshots and log manual interventions. Give unresolved gaps an owner and retest date. These tests are an editorial proposal; no software has been demo-tested for this guide.

Implementation cost worksheet

Fill every blank with buyer-agreed scope and quoted amounts. Identify currency, tax basis and the costing period. No prices or savings estimates are assumed here.

The laboratory information management software listings contain 3 products from 2 suppliers in this category, checked 2 November 2026. That is a directory count, not a census of the market or evidence of suitability. Every review currently in this category is for one product and was invited by its supplier, so the number of reviews here says nothing about how products compare.

Use these buyer questions alongside the listings: can we trace our samples, preserve instrument context, hold a failed batch and notify a corrected assay? Check each answer against your demo records. This guide makes no product-capability claims. Review volume is not an acceptance criterion.