Digital Surveying

What Digital Surveying does

Digital Surveying is a private subsurface evaluation services and technology provider headquartered in Midrand, South Africa, with additional field operations bases in Carletonville (South Africa), Tarkwa (Ghana), and Kitwe (Zambia), and stated service reach extending into the Middle East and Asia. The company serves mining houses, minerals exploration firms, drilling contractors, and geotechnical and hydrogeological consultancies, with prominently disclosed clients including Rio Tinto, AngloGold Ashanti, Sandfire, and Geoangol.

Its core offering is downhole wireline logging and directional surveying under five branded service lines — Digi-Surv (rig alignment and gyro/multishot surveys), Petro-Log (ore and host rock characterization), Tech-Log (structural geology and geohazards), Hydro-Log (porosity, conductivity, density), and Enviro-Log (aquifer and contaminant mapping) — supplemented by Petrophysics/Digital Core Capture workflows and a Data Science service that applies expert interpretation alongside machine learning methods. The underlying technology stack includes borehole magnetic resonance, off-hole radar imaging, and acoustic and optical televiewers with calibrated depth accuracy of 1m per 1000m.

Digital Surveying earns revenue primarily through professional services contracts for borehole logging and directional surveying, complemented by usage-based rental of directional survey and downhole logging tools (gyros, multishot, rig alignment, core orientation systems) sourced from technology partners Axis Mining Technologies, Hexagon, and Veracio, which it distributes and supports across its operating regions. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales with direct deployment of field technicians to client mine sites, with quote-based project pricing rather than disclosed rate cards. The company employs 51–100 people and has been operating since at least 2001 under the leadership of CEO Annette Alberts.

Name

Digital Surveying

Legal name

Digital Surveying

Website

https://digitalsurveying.co.za

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Digital Surveying provides downhole wireline logging, directional surveying, and subsurface evaluation services for mining and minerals exploration companies across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, using proprietary downhole technologies and rented instrumentation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mining and Mineral Exploration Services

NAICS

Support Activities for Mining (213), Support Activities for Metal Mining (213114), Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services (54136)

SIC

Mining Machinery & Equip (No Oil & Gas Field Mach & Equip) (3532), Wholesale-Construction & Mining (No Petro) Machinery & Equip (5082)

akta.pro primary industry

Mineral Exploration & Geoscience Services (Geology, Geophysics, Geochemistry, Resource Modeling) (IMAKAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Exploration & Production Drilling Services (RC, Core, Directional, Sonic, Auger) (IMAKAKAB), Mine Surveying & Geospatial Services (Survey, Drone/LiDAR, GIS, Grade Control) (IMAKAKAK)

Keywords

• Mining exploration services
• Borehole logging
• Directional surveying
• Geotechnical logging
• Subsurface evaluation

Headquarters

HQ city

Eastleigh

HQ country

Kenya

HQ region

Africa

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Borehole Logging Services: Field services providing downhole wireline logging for minerals exploration, geotechnical, and hydrogeological applications. Services include petrographic logging, hydraulic conductivity testing, formation evaluation, and borehole imaging. Revenue generated through service contracts with mining houses and exploration companies.
2. Directional Surveying Services: Directional survey services including rig alignment, gyro surveys, and electronic multishot surveys for borehole orientation in mining applications.
3. Product Rental: Rental of directional survey equipment including north seeking gyros, electronic multishot tools, rig alignment systems, and core orientation tools. Clients include drilling contractors and mining companies who rent tools for their own operations.
4. Data Processing and Interpretation: Post-log data processing, interpretation, and analysis services using both expert and machine learning methods.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Digital Surveying provides downhole wireline logging, directional surveying, and subsurface evaluation services for the mining and minerals exploration sector. The company deploys field technicians and proprietary tools (Digi-Surv, Petro-Log, Tech-Log, Hydro-Log, Enviro-Log) to mining and exploration sites to acquire in-situ physical, structural, and hydrogeological borehole data, and also rents directional survey equipment to drilling contractors.

Product overview

Digital Surveying offers a portfolio of subsurface evaluation technologies and services for the mining and minerals exploration sector. The core services include five specialized logging offerings (Digi-Surv™, Enviro-Log™, Petro-Log™, Tech-Log™, and Hydro-Log™) that provide borehole logging for directional surveys, environmental assessment, petrophysical analysis, geotechnical evaluation, and hydrogeological measurements. These services are complemented by geoscience capabilities including Petrophysics/Digital Core Capture and Data Science using machine learning methods. The company also distributes and supports drilling products including Rig Alignment tools, North Seeking Gyros, Electronic Multishot systems, and Core Orientation tools from partner manufacturers (Axis, Hexagon, Veracio). The portfolio is delivered primarily across Africa with operations extending to the Middle East and Asia.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Digi-Surv™: Directional survey service providing accurate rig alignment, electronic multishot survey, north seeking gyro survey, and directional wedging & QA.
• Enviro-Log™
• Petro-Log™
• Tech-Log™
• Hydro-Log™

Products and services

• Petro-Log™ Borehole logging for host and ore characterization, petrogenesis and alteration analysis, geophysical properties, and mechanical properties measurement for mining houses and exploration companies.
• Tech-Log™ Geotechnical logging service focusing on structural geology analysis, fracture classification, mechanical properties, and geohazard identification for geotechnical and civil engineering projects.
• Hydro-Log™ Hydrogeological logging service covering hydrological properties, porosity and clay typing, hydraulic conductivity, and storage and dry bulk density measurements for groundwater studies.
• Enviro-Log™ Environmental logging service covering aquifer location, hydraulic conductivity and flow assessment, contaminant mapping, and water quality evaluation for environmental consulting and mining clients.
• Digi-Surv™ Directional survey service providing accurate rig alignment, electronic multishot survey, north seeking gyro survey, and directional wedging and QA for drilling operations in mining and exploration.
• Petrophysics / Digital Core Capture Petrophysics and digital core capture service applying industry best practice and bespoke data reduction and interpretation workflows to validate and enhance acquired in-situ datasets for mining clients.
• Data Science Data science service employing dedicated data and geoscientists using expert and machine learning methods to extend traditional subsurface data analysis for mining and exploration clients.
• Rig Alignment Products Distributed and supported rig alignment products (e.g., Hexagon Azimuth Aligner, Axis Navigator, Veracio TruProbe Align) for surface and underground drilling rigs to enable accurate borehole orientation.
• North Seeking Gyro Products North seeking gyro survey tools (e.g., Axis Champ Gyro, Veracio TruGyro) rented and supported by Digital Surveying for high-accuracy directional surveying in mining drilling applications.
• Electronic Multishot Products Magnetic electronic multishot (EMS) directional survey tools (e.g., Axis MagShot, Veracio TruShot) rented and supported by Digital Surveying for directional drilling projects.
• Core Orientation Products Core orientation tools (e.g., Axis Champ Ori, Veracio TruCore) rented and supported by Digital Surveying to provide accurate core orientation for minerals exploration drilling.

Quantifiable outcome

• Industry accepted depth accuracy of 1m per 1000m of borehole depth maintained through regular calibration
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature11 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Axis Mining TechnologiescoreTechnology or IntegrationAxis Mining Technologies provides directional survey instrumentation distributed and supported by Digital Surveying. Products include Axis Navigator for rig alignment, Axis Champ Pilot and Champ Gyro for north seeking gyro surveys, Axis MagShot for electronic multishot surveys, and Axis Champ Ori for core orientation. DS provides sales, rental, and technical support for Axis products in their operational regions.
• HexagoncoreTechnology or IntegrationHexagon provides mining technology solutions including the Azimuth Aligner product line that Digital Surveying distributes and supports. The Hexagon Azi Aligner is offered as part of DS's rig alignment product portfolio for directional drilling applications.
• VeraciocoreTechnology or IntegrationVeracio provides TruProbe Align, TruGyro, TruShot, and TruCore products that Digital Surveying distributes and supports. These directional survey and core orientation tools complement DS's existing product portfolio for mining applications.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• SLB (Schlumberger): World's largest oilfield services company with growing mining and subsurface evaluation exposure. Overlaps with Digital Surveying on wireline logging, petrophysics, and borehole imaging at vastly greater scale and global reach.
• Weatherford International: Global oilfield services major with expanding mining and downhole logging offerings. Provides wireline logging, formation evaluation, and directional drilling services across a much broader portfolio than Digital Surveying's mining specialization.
• Bureau Veritas (Minerals): Global testing, inspection, and certification company with a sizable minerals and exploration services division. Comparable as a broad incumbent providing geoscience-related inspection, assaying, and laboratory services to mining clients.

Direct peers

• Boart Longyear: Global drilling services and downhole instrumentation provider to the mining sector, including directional surveying and core orientation tooling. Highly comparable given overlapping services in drilling support and downhole measurement for mining exploration.
• Veracio: Provider of digital orebody knowledge solutions including TruProbe, TruGyro, TruShot, and TruCore — products that Digital Surveying itself distributes. Direct competitor and partner with substantially overlapping mining directional survey and core orientation offerings.
• Corescan: Specialized provider of hyperspectral core scanning and mineralogical analysis services for mining. Comparable to Digital Surveying's Petro-Log and petrophysics/digital core capture offerings, both serving minerals characterization workflows for exploration and mining clients.
• Micromine: Mining software and services company offering geological modeling, resource estimation, and increasingly drilling-oriented solutions. Comparable on the mining geoscience software/services side that complements Digital Surveying's interpretation workflows.
• Scientific Drilling International: Provider of directional drilling services and downhole survey tools across oil & gas and mining applications. Closely comparable on directional surveying, multishot, and gyro services for resource exploration drilling.
• Imdex Limited: Mining-focused technology company providing downhole instrumentation, drilling fluids, and structural geology tools (including the REFLEX and AMC brands). Direct overlap with Digital Surveying's directional surveying and core orientation offerings for minerals exploration.

Others

• Axis Mining Technologies: OEM partner of Digital Surveying and supplier of directional survey instrumentation (Navigator, Champ Pilot, Champ Gyro, MagShot). Comparable as a peer OEM/competitor in directional survey tooling, with DS acting as distributor and field service provider for Axis products.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInza.linkedin.com/company/digital-surveying

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Digital Surveying