Lightning Minerals (ASX:L1M) has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with exploration technology company Eigenform NextMaps to evaluate AI-assisted exploration planning across its Australian portfolio.
According to Lightning, the partnership supports its April 2026 strategy reset by evaluating technology aimed at improving exploration planning, drill targeting, as well as capital allocation.
Initial deployment will begin across Lightning’s Western Australian gold projects before expanding to the flagship Mt Turner Gold Project and the broader Australian portfolio.
The company says the collaboration is intended to support advancement of Mt Turner towards a maiden mineral resource estimate through more efficient exploration planning.
“When we announced our Strategy Reset in April, we made a commitment to build a more focused exploration company and to be disciplined in how we invest our capital,” Managing Director Troy Brice says.
“Exploration success is increasingly determined not only by the quality of the ground you hold, but by how effectively you can interrogate geological data, prioritise opportunities, and deploy exploration capital.”
Lightning says Eigenform NextMaps has developed an AI platform designed to support geological interpretation, exploration targeting, and drill planning.
“This collaboration is not about replacing geological expertise — it is about enhancing it,” Brice says.
“By combining advanced AI-assisted geological analytics with Lightning’s experienced exploration team, we believe we can make better-informed decisions, reduce exploration uncertainty, and accelerate the pathway toward defining a maiden mineral resource at Mt Turner.”
“We are excited to demonstrate how AI-assisted geological workflows can unlock additional value from historical datasets, improve exploration planning, and accelerate the pathway to new discoveries,” Eigenform NextMaps co-founder Owen Hackenburg says.
Areas of collaboration include digitisation and integration of historical geological datasets, AI-assisted geological interpretation, mineral prospectivity modelling, exploration target generation and ranking, drill planning optimisation, and integration of geological, geophysical, and geochemical datasets.
The MOU also establishes a framework for the parties to evaluate future commercial opportunities arising from successful technical outcomes, while allowing each to retain ownership of its existing intellectual property.
Eigenform NextMaps is an Australian and Singapore-based exploration technology company specialising in AI and mineral prospectivity modelling.
Write to France Pinzon at Mining.com.au
Images: Unsplash
