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Mining · head to head

CorePlan vs MineSight

CorePlan logo

CorePlan

Mining

Drilling programme management for mineral exploration teams and drilling contractors

From
$1350/month
Rated
-
MineSight logo

MineSight

Mining

Integrated mine design and planning software

From
On request
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: CorePlan pricing is usage based on plods or shifts and billed annually with overage calculated monthly, so an intense drilling quarter generates an unbudgeted overage invoice, and finance teams that need a fixed annual number will struggle to get one.; MineSight mineSight (now part of Hexagon Mining) sells time-limited lease licenses rather than perpetual seats for exploration-stage users: License to Explore is scoped explicitly to "the life of a drilling campaign" and comes as two separate products, HxM Explorer and HxM Modeler, with additional functionality (UAV point-cloud surface meshing, a QAQC module) sold as further add-ons rather than included (archived press release, 6 March 2016)
  • They diverge on capability: CorePlan covers Digital plods, MineSight covers Geological modeling.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CorePlan and MineSight actually diverge.

Attributes where CorePlan and MineSight differ
AttributeCorePlanMineSight
Starting price$1350/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer month by shift or plod volumesubscription
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWindows
FoundedUnknown1981

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Mining).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in CorePlan

  • Digital plods
  • Rig scheduling
  • Contractor reconciliation
  • Sample and core tracking
  • Field Operations module
  • Advanced Analytics
  • Forms subscription
  • Interoperability service

Only in MineSight

  • Geological modeling
  • 3D mine design
  • Production scheduling
  • Resource estimation
  • Operations planning
  • AutoCAD
  • ArcGIS
  • SAP

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

CorePlan

  • A junior explorer running a two rig programme that wants cost per metre visible weekly instead of when the contractor invoice arrivesnot MineSight
  • A drilling contractor with crews across several client sites submitting plods digitally to cut invoice disputesnot MineSight
  • An exploration manager reconciling contractor billing against recorded shift hours before approving paymentnot MineSight
  • A multi project mid tier miner consolidating hole planning and sample dispatch across sites that currently each run their own spreadsheetnot MineSight

MineSight

  • Mine planningnot CorePlan
  • Resource schedulingnot CorePlan
  • Pit designnot CorePlan
  • Underground developmentnot CorePlan
  • Production optimizationnot CorePlan

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

CorePlan

  • Pricing is usage based on plods or shifts and billed annually with overage calculated monthly, so an intense drilling quarter generates an unbudgeted overage invoice, and finance teams that need a fixed annual number will struggle to get one.
  • Only the Starter tier price is published; Professional, Enterprise and Corporate are all quote only, so comparing CorePlan against a competitor requires entering a sales process before you know the number.
  • Core modules are unbundled: field operations, advanced analytics and custom forms are separately priced add-ons that each start in the hundreds of dollars per month, so the realistic monthly cost is well above the advertised entry price.
  • It is a drilling operations system, not a geological database or modelling package, so it must sit alongside acQuire, Datashed or equivalent and the integration between them is a project rather than a switch.
  • The customer base and support depth are concentrated in Australia and the company is small and venture funded, which means teams in the Americas or Africa get thinner local implementation support and carry the usual supplier concentration risk on a system that sits in the middle of drilling spend.

MineSight

  • MineSight (now part of Hexagon Mining) sells time-limited lease licenses rather than perpetual seats for exploration-stage users: License to Explore is scoped explicitly to "the life of a drilling campaign" and comes as two separate products, HxM Explorer and HxM Modeler, with additional functionality (UAV point-cloud surface meshing, a QAQC module) sold as further add-ons rather than included (archived press release, 6 March 2016)

Pricing, plan by plan

CorePlan

$1350/month
  • Starter$1350/month
    • One project
    • Up to two rigs
    • Digital plods and rig scheduling
  • Professional$undefined/month
    • Multi-project management for mid-tier explorers
    • Higher rig and shift allowances
    • Priced on quotation
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Large-scale operations
    • Complex data integration
    • Priced on quotation
  • Field Operations add-on$800/month
    • Pre-starts and inspections
    • Field compliance forms
    • From this price

MineSight

On request
  • MineSight Core$18000/year
    • Geological modeling
    • Mine design
    • Block modeling
  • MineSight Advanced$35000/year
    • Production scheduling
    • Resource estimation
    • Advanced optimization

Which should you pick?

Choose CorePlan if

  • You need digital plods.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want rig scheduling.

Choose MineSight if

  • You need geological modeling.
  • You work on Windows.
  • You also want 3d mine design.

Questions people ask

Is CorePlan or MineSight better?
Neither clearly leads. CorePlan starts at $1350/month and MineSight at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CorePlan or MineSight?
CorePlan starts at $1350/month and MineSight at On request.
Does CorePlan or MineSight run on more platforms?
CorePlan runs on Web, iOS, Android. MineSight runs on Windows.
What is CorePlan best used for?
CorePlan is most often used for a junior explorer running a two rig programme that wants cost per metre visible weekly instead of when the contractor invoice arrives, a drilling contractor with crews across several client sites submitting plods digitally to cut invoice disputes, an exploration manager reconciling contractor billing against recorded shift hours before approving payment, a multi project mid tier miner consolidating hole planning and sample dispatch across sites that currently each run their own spreadsheet. Of those, a junior explorer running a two rig programme that wants cost per metre visible weekly instead of when the contractor invoice arrives and a drilling contractor with crews across several client sites submitting plods digitally to cut invoice disputes are not what MineSight is typically brought in for.
What can CorePlan do that MineSight cannot?
CorePlan covers Digital plods, Rig scheduling, Contractor reconciliation, Sample and core tracking. MineSight covers Geological modeling, 3D mine design, Production scheduling, Resource estimation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

CorePlan: Is CorePlan a geological database?

No. It manages drilling operations, plods, scheduling and sample dispatch. Geological data still lives in acQuire, Datashed or similar.

CorePlan: Can drilling contractors use it too?

Yes, and that is the point. Contractors submit plods on the same platform their client uses, which removes the invoice reconciliation argument.

CorePlan: What does it actually cost?

Starter is 1,350 US dollars a month for one project and two rigs, billed annually. Everything above that is quoted, and the analytics and field modules add several hundred dollars a month each.

CorePlan: Does it work without mobile signal?

Yes, field capture works offline and syncs when the rig comes back into coverage.

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