Collaboration shouldn’t be just a buzzword—it’s the driving force behind innovation and success, and it’s something we care strongly about here at MGPalaeo. As such, we wanted to celebrate MGPalaeo and Intertek entering the second year of our working collaboration in Indonesia by looking back on what has been a successful first year, plus letting you know what’s to come.
This exciting partnership provides MGPalaeo with access to palynological processing facilities at the Intertek laboratories in Jakarta and to also offer rigsite palynology for exploration drilling across the region, with our current job in remote Bintuni Bay, eastern Indonesia.
In February, two of our directors, Carey Hannaford and Dan Mantle, stopped off on their way to rigsite to catch up with the Intertek Geological Manager Taufik Hidayat and Senior Geologist Lejar ‘Tyas’ Yustiningtyas. It was an invaluable chance to discuss our ongoing work as well as plans for the future, and as always, the Intertek hospitality was fantastic. Tyas played the gracious host for the duration of the visit, setting the tone for the meetings that followed.
Our laboratory manager, Daniel Mewett, joined the group for the first few days and had the opportunity to tour Intertek’s extremely well-equipped laboratory facilities in Jakarta, and then to swap processing ideas with MGPalaeo’s Jakarta-based team of technicians. This team is led by the irrepressible Semuel Simon and Suharyanto; two amazing palynological preparators who bring levels of artistry to their work that you only get from decades of experience!
Semuel and Suharyanto have also spent the last year training up the next generation of Indonesian palynology technicians. These young lads have quickly become expert technicians themselves and have proven crucial to our ongoing rigsite work in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, where they have formed a strong team with our PNG-based senior technician, Ian Sawaraba.
This whirlwind trip included further lunch ‘meetings’ with Andy Livsey (Horizon Geoconsulting), John Harrington (Intertek), and Patrice Brenac (consultant palynologist). Patrice had just returned from rigsite work in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea for MGPalaeo, so it was a great chance for everyone to meet and chat offsite.
To end their Jakarta visit, Carey and Dan travelled on the new bullet train from Jakarta to Bandung. The aptly named Whoosh train flies along at 350 km/hr, reaching Bandung within only 45 minutes!! There they met with Dr Indra Gunawan from the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) to discuss further upcoming biostratigraphy projects – the processing will be carried out at the Intertek laboratory with the palynological analysis undertaken in Perth.
As with any new endeavour, there is a lot of groundwork going on behind the scenes, and the above is just a snippet of the hard work we’ve put in the make this a successful partnership.
We are extremely grateful for the equally enthusiastic team at Intertek, particularly to John and Tyas for their support and guidance throughout – this has been invaluable! Now we are all looking forward to more successful projects in the years ahead.
MGPalaeo will be joining Andy Livsey (Horizon Geoconsulting) to showcase the benefits of biostratigraphy at the 48th Indonesian Petroleum Association Convention and Exhibition (IPA Convex) in BSD City, Indonesia, from 14–16 May, so if you’re there, please drop by and say hi. We’d love to chat about how MGPalaeo and Intertek’s integrated geological services can successfully support your exploration or development campaigns.
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