This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner TerraEye. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
Geospatial intelligence firm TerraEye is gearing up to expand its namesake artificial intelligence-powered satellite data processing technology not just across more commodities but also in more locations.
Launched in April 2024, TerraEye initially started compiling data for porphyry copper and iron oxide-copper-gold deposits.
But less than a year after the technology hit the market, co-founder and CEO Marek Wilgucki tells Mining.com.au it is generating more interest from customers exploring for commodities like tin, coal, tantalum and uranium.
“Currently in the platform we’ve got six types of deposits that you can select and in two weeks we’ll be expanding the list to 19,” he says.
Wilgucki says TerraEye is democratising remote sensing data and, importantly, does it with 90% accuracy compared to other remote sensing analytics done by consultants or universities.
How it works is the application pulls in data from global satellites and combines it with data uploaded into the system by explorers to create an “immersive digital twin” of an explorer’s landholding or a miner’s operation.
The satellite data is sourced from the European Space Agency, NASA and commercial data suppliers from the US, Europe and Japan. Data integrated into the system has also been sourced from the US Geological Survey, Australian Geological Survey and NASA’s ECOSTRESS platform.
A user can search by area of interest, time period and deposit type to generate information showing rock-forming minerals, secondary minerals and alterations which work as indicators of desired mineralisation. A user can also utilise other attributes such as ‘False Colour Composites’ to compare against geological maps and other surveys.
“You don’t need to have any specific knowledge about satellites and data processing, we’ve designed it to be point and shoot and you’ll receive the results of the processing in a matter of minutes, not hours or months like with other tools that are available on the market,” Wilgucki explains.
“Also, the price point that we are offering is accessible for prospectors and juniors.”
While TerraEye’s customer base is primarily across Canada, Australia and Chile, the company has been trialling the technology in Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas where it is witnessing greater interest among explorers.
TerraEye is being used by companies spanning the resources spectrum from the juniors to the majors, with some of the world’s largest miners among the company’s clients.
Majors utilising the platform include $3.7 billion diversified miner IGO (ASX:IGO) Toronto, Canada-based Dundee Precious Metals (TSX:DPM), which has a market capitalisation of C$2.7 billion ($3 billion), and £33 billion ($65.2 billion) Anglo American (LSE:AAL) across its operations in Findland.
Ben Cave, Senior Technical Geologist at IGO, says the speed at which TerraEye can process and deliver baseline data in a user-friendly manner has the promise to fundamentally change the way IGO approaches surface minerals prospecting.
“We are enjoying working with TerraEye to tailor more advanced company specific solutions to greatly increase our exploration efficiency and impact,” he adds.
Meanwhile, critical minerals explorer Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) and Jindalee Lithium (ASX:JLL) are among the juniors using the TerraEye technology, along with private company Mineral Exploration.
TerraEye was also part of Chile-headquartered SQM’s (NYSE:SQM) Lithium Ventures Acceleration program in which US$10.7 billion ($17 billion) SQM validated the technology and both companies are now making progress to work together on various projects.
Wilgucki started development of the TerraEye application in 2022 with funding from Polish venture capital firms as well as grants from the European Space Agency and European Space Resources Innovation Centre from Luxembourg.
‘Demystifying’ data processing
The aim was to utilise the tools and procedures already available in the earth observation and mining spaces and present them in a more simplified manner, essentially “demystifying” the process, for a wider audience.
“We still acknowledge that you will need to drill, you will need to trench, you will need to be down on the ground, but with TerraEye you can better select those spots,” Wilgucki says.
One of TerraEye’s early adopters, a Canadian consultancy that started using the platform not long after it was launched, compared 2023 data generated before the company started using TerraEye to 2024 data generated using the TerraEye platform.
Wilgucki says that without TerraEye, the consultancy undertook 100 site visits in 2023 that culminated in a 20% success rate from all of the samples collected.
However, once the consultancy started using TerraEye, it halved its site visits and increased its success rate to 80%.
“So basically with that, they’ve reduced the number of field visits and at the same time they’ve improved the hit record of the good samples,” he tells this news service.
The technology does not just address the geological requirements of exploration and mining, it can also assist companies in meeting their environmental obligations.
“Mines have a huge impact on the environment and I believe you can do something more to reduce that impact,” Wilgucki explains.
“We figured out once we started that the first step to improvement is measuring the impact.
“So what we are doing right now is helping with the measurement, and it’s not only about the measurement of the inside of the mine but also the large areas outside of the mine, because the mines will have an effect five or 10 or 50km away from the area they’re exploiting.”
Wilgucki says TerraEye has the tools and capabilities to undertake environmental monitoring in a timely and cost-efficient manner, with updates delivered every three to five days.
“We’ve also built a prediction system for the greenery, for the land subsidence, for water, physical parameters like chlorophyll or iron oxide contents, and when the system detects that those values are exceeding the predicted levels, it will alert the operator,” he says.
“With the satellites, you’re getting unbiased data so you’re able to make decisions that are based on the scientific data.”
TerraEye recently finalised an investment from EIT RawMaterials to expand the capabilities of the platform and boost its customer base.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: TerraEye
