In the words of Sprott analysts: “The world is in the midst of a fourth industrial revolution” with the fast-paced evolution of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, Internet of Things, genetic engineering and quantum computing.
While the latest industrial revolution is driving a commodity supercycle for the critical minerals needed to make this tech, things like AI and space tech are helping uncover major new deposits more quickly and effectively.
The old timers that panned for gold and steered clear of anything that wasn’t literally sticking out of the ground would have benefited greatly from the technology being used in exploration today.
Several explorers, juniors and majors alike, are working with companies like Fleet Space Technologies and Earth AI.
Last month Fleet Space announced it was rolling out its ExoSphere technology to advance copper exploration at C$45 billion ($50 billion) miner Barrick Gold’s (TSX:ABX) Reko Diq project in Pakistan.
ExoSphere is being used to generate 3D subsurface maps of copper porphyry complexes and local groundwater systems for multiple zones of interest.
The technology can generate these maps from depths of up to 2.5km to better refine drill targeting.
Prior to its most recent venture with Barrick, Fleet Space undertook the world’s largest real-time ambient noise tomography (ANT) copper survey with ExoSphere across 1818 km² of Inflection Resources‘ (CSE:AUCU) tenement portfolio in the Macquarie Arc of the Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales.
AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) is a partner in Inflection’s Duck Creek Project. After multiple new high-priority targets were identified at the project using ExoSphere, AngloGold moved to the second phase of its exploration agreement.
ExoSphere leverages Fleet Space’s satellite network in low Earth orbit, smart seismic sensors enabled with edge computing, and rapid data processing to generate real-time 3D mapping of mineral systems and AI-powered drill targeting with near-zero environmental impact.
Fleet Space says the process enables a faster and more efficient end-to-end data journey, making exploration activities more dynamic and precise by giving remote onsite teams access to actionable insights in real-time.
Fast-tracking copper discoveries with AI
Kincora Copper (ASX:KCC), which has a market capitalisation of $11.4 million, revealed last month it too was using Fleet Space tech to accelerate a potential major copper discovery in the Macquarie Arc, not too far from Inflection’s ground.
The pair are undertaking ANT and gravity geophysical surveys over a “regionally significant” priority target at Kincora’s Nyngan Project.
Kincora CEO Sam Spring says Fleet Space has successfully defined a number of new large targets for other porphyry explorers in the district, including one currently being drill tested within 10km of the surveys being undertaken at its Nyngan project.
Interestingly, AngloGold is also a partner in Kincora’s Northern Junee-Narromine Belt Project, which perhaps is a strong signal that the Macquarie Arc is host to some significant untapped copper porphyry potential.
Earth AI says the transition to a net-zero economy has sparked an explosion in the demand for critical minerals, which in turn has ignited a fervent race for new discoveries.
Kincora is also leveraging Earth AI’s proprietary AI and machine-learning technology for generating, funding, and drill testing targets at its Cundumbul Project, located in the central Molong volcanic belt of the Macquarie Arc.
Fellow junior explorer Astute Metals (ASX:ASE), meanwhile, is partnering with Fleet Space to explore for large-scale copper and silver-zinc-lead deposits at Ranken, in the east of the Georgina Project area in the Northern Territory.
Astute has previously used Fleet Space’s ANT survey technology, which successfully pinpointed a high-impact iron oxide-copper-gold target at the Leichhardt East Prospect.
Executive director Matt Healy tells Mining.com.au the Georgina Project sits under a layer of rocks that aren’t prospective.
“You’re not really interested in them, and you’re looking at everything underneath,” he explains.
“So that means you can’t directly look at the rocks, the only way to really see them is to drill, but you want as much information as you possibly can to go into your targeting process.”
While Astute has done a lot of magnetic and gravity surveying, the company now wants to assess the potential of the subsurface to determine how deep the cover rocks extend down and the likelihood of hitting something economic.
Virtual glimpse into the subsurface
Healy says Fleet Space’s technology goes beyond what magnetic and gravity surveying can achieve to de-risk a project further.
“It’s a passive seismic technique and so when cars are driving down the Barclay Highway, some waves will go into the ground and after they pass through all the rocks, they can pick them up using their technology and that can tell you some information about the subsurface,” he says.
“That can tell you where different layers are, like how deep those cover rocks are that we’re not interested in and that’s really important. You don’t want to drill down a hole that’s 700m thick, you want a hole that’s 100m thick because then you’ve got certainty that if you hit something it’s more likely to be economic.”
The other advantage of Fleet Space’s technology, according to Healy, is that it can potentially identify areas of high velocity, which might indicate they could be mineralised with sulphide minerals, for example.
“There’s a pretty good correlation with rock density and the velocity of the waves that pass through there and rock density is often a function of how mineralised they are,” he explains.
The work that Fleet Space did for Astute previously over the Leichhardt East Prospect helped the company identify an off-hole target.
The company utilised the ANT survey data to work out how thick the cover was, and from there was able to calculate the gravitational effect of that cover theoretically, then strip it out and see what was left.
“We drilled a hole back in 2022 and it intercepted elevated copper and some quite good uranium numbers up to 0.24% U308, but we didn’t intersect any dense rocks,” Healy notes.
“It turned out, once we’d done that ANT survey and we incorporated it into our geophysical model, that anomaly was sitting right above the drill hole. So it’s quite incredible, like a near-miss scenario, and I could see directly below the cover.”
Astute has also been in talks with other companies in the AI space, including one that has developed a method of differentiating between hematite that’s bored in as part of a hydrothermal system, like an ore-forming system, and magnetite that’s not.
Healy says if the company can differentiate between that it can then narrow down and hone in on the more prospective areas in the region.
“So I’m looking pretty seriously at that,” he says.
Power Nickel (TSX-V:PNPN) is another explorer that has utilised Fleet Space’s ExoSphere technology at its Nisk property in Québec, Canada.
CEO Terry Lynch says before deploying a rig, Power Nickel makes every possible effort to validate the data it collects on a survey area.
“A key challenge is that there is such a wide variety of data inputs used by the industry – some of which can take a while to procure and don’t always integrate seamlessly with each other, causing friction in on-site decision making,” he says.
“I view ExoSphere as a kind of operating system — where you collect the data from the ambient noise tomography surveys, then correlate with a wide variety of other data inputs like, gravity, airborne EMP, drilling data, and other lithographic insight to enhance the accuracy of your drill targeting.
“And you can refine and update the model with new survey data across time as you continue to explore — this has greatly enhanced our ability to make faster, data-driven assessments on where to target our exploration programs.”
More than just good for making big discoveries
The use of technology spans the whole spectrum of the mining sector, from greenfields exploration through to operational mines and rehabilitation.
This includes automated trucks and rail, drones and now even technology designed to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries and increase workplace safety.
Melbourne-based dorsaVi (ASX:DVL) is developing wearable sensor technology combined with video analysis to identify areas of injury risk.
The company, which has a market capitalisation of $7.4 million, announced last week that it had signed a new contract with a major Australian mining group with operations in Western Australia to provide mitigation strategies to reduce workplace risks prevalent in specific mining roles.
On the drone front, Vedanta Zinc International renewed its contract with global drones-as-a-service provider RocketDNA (ASX:RKT), which has a market capitalisation of $4.6 million, for drone surveying over its South African mining operations for a further three years.
RocketDNA’s drones can undertake aerial surveying and inspections, open pit conformance reporting, 3D modelling, and beyond visual line of sight services.
According to a Deloitte Access Economics report commissioned by the Australian Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications in October 2020, the mining industry could realise $2.4 billion in cost savings through to 2040 through the use of drones.
Another Australian drone company, Carbonix, is also working with major mining companies.
Most of the operations Carbonix’s drones currently traverse are coal mines, but the company is expanding its horizons into other commodities as well.
Founder Dario Valenza told Mining.com.au in mid-June that incorporating long range drones into daily operations could save miners around $50-$100 per kilometre, but there are also additional flow-on benefits.
“The follow-on of the indirect savings are really around the way informed decisions can be made on both the operation of the mine site and documenting rehabilitation and things like that,” he says.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Fleet Space and RocketDNA
