Tsodilo Resources (TSX-V:TSD) has entered into a strategic collaboration with Battelle Memorial Institute to apply artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced data analytics to its critical minerals and rare earths exploration program in Botswana.
As part of the collaboration, Battelle will develop a physics-informed, predictive AI model trained on the company’s exploration datasets to uncover and rank high-profitability locations for critical mineral and rare earth mineralisation in skarn deposits.
The model is designed to reduce exploration risk and accelerate discovery, drawing on its extensive dataset comprising over 600 diamond core holes, more than 100,000m of recovered core, 30,000 assays and a broad suite of geophysical datasets including magnetic, gravity, electromagnetic and seismic surveys.
Tsodilo says the program is focused on three core objectives. These include systematically characterising geological, geochemical, geophysical and mineralogical signatures of the skarn systems, as well as leverage AI with interactive geologist-in-the-loop workflows and deploy a predictive model that quantifies the profitability of the critical minerals and rare earths prospectivity.
As the program matures, both parties will explore opportunities to delineate and rank priority target corridors for resource expansion and step-out drilling, and to establish profitability-based target ranking to quantify certainty and support exploration decision-making.
CEO James Bruchs says AI is increasingly being adopted to deliver unbiased, data-driven targeting that integrates legacy and newly acquired datasets into a unified framework.
“Partnering with Battelle allows us to expand our knowledge of our current critical minerals and rare earth elements project and to potentially expand the known mineralisation,” Bruchs says.
“The skarn project currently holds 15 of the 15 rare earth elements (REE) and six non-REE minerals on the US Geological Survey 2025 critical mineral list. Our data is extensive and Battelle is uniquely equipped to extract, organise and analyse our datasets.”
Battelle Senior Vice President Mike Janus says the institute is “pleased” to bring its capabilities in AI, data analytics and advanced materials science to bear on one of the most data-rich critical minerals exploration programs it has encountered.
“This work builds naturally on Battelle’s long-standing leadership in geoscience, from subsurface characterisation to environmental modelling, and reflects the kind of integrated, mission-driven science we are known for,” Janus says.
Battelle Memorial Institute focuses on applied science and technology, with expertise spanning data analytics, AI, materials characterisation and advanced processing technologies.
Tsodilo Resources is an international mineral resources explorer engages in the search for economic metal deposits in Botswana.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Tsodilo Resources
