What is AI’s role in the new era of mineral exploration.
The critical minerals industry finds itself at a historic inflection point. Global energy demand is ever-growing, but the sector has seen more intense regulatory and environmental scrutiny, not to mention mounting geopolitical tensions. The era of easy discoveries is behind us.
What remains are deeper, more remote deposits, often buried under layers of cover and within increasingly complex geology. At the same time, stakeholder expectations are rising.
Obtaining regulatory approval for exploration projects is getting harder in many places, as local communities, environmental groups and other stakeholders demand more sustainable practices.
Geopolitical tensions and resource nationalism are also impacting where and how companies can explore.
The result is longer timeframes and higher costs. The average time from discovery to production has increased by more than 40 per cent in the past 15 years, from 12.7 years in 2005–08 to nearly 18 years in 2020–23. Exploration companies are being asked to deliver more with less, and to do it faster.
Fortunately, a new generation of tools is emerging. Artificial intelligence (AI) is already transforming how exploration is done, bringing sharper insights and radically faster ways of working.
Improvements in AI and data capture technologies are allowing exploration firms to fundamentally rethink how they identify targets, model orebodies, and bring discoveries to production. Collation and curation of data, once a laborious and time-consuming task, is being accelerated by AI.
Similarly, where geoscientists once sifted through fragmented, static datasets over months, AI can now model vast and complex data layers in a matter of days – enabling faster prospectivity analysis and ultimately shortening time to first ore.
Here’s how AI is bringing speed, precision and scalability to the exploration lifecycle.
Seeing through cover
The earliest, and often most uncertain, stage of mineral exploration is identifying where to look. For decades, this has relied on painstaking manual synthesis of data and intuition honed over years in the field. That’s changing.
Fleet Space Technologies, an Australian company enabling exploration groups to use satellites for multi-physics modelling, applies AI to process multispectral and geophysical data to detect anomalies beneath the surface. Its approach allows for rolling updates of geological models, significantly reducing the time between data acquisition and insight. This capability is opening new frontiers for discovery, particularly in regions with thick cover, such as Australia’s Macquarie Arc, where traditional techniques have struggled. With AI and remote sensing, explorers are now better able to prioritise drilling locations, reduce early-stage risk, and uncover deposits that might previously have gone unnoticed.
Repurposing current technology
Beyond prospectivity analysis, AI is reshaping how terrain is mapped and analysed in difficult environments. Gold explorers in Botswana are turning to drone technology and precision mapping to overcome the thick layers of Kalahari sand that obscure traditional signals.
Farmonaut, a company that originally focused on satellite-based crop health monitoring, is now applying its agricultural technologies to mineral exploration. The firm combines drone-based magnetic surveys, satellite imagery analysis, and AI-driven soil modelling to identify mineralisation patterns in areas where conventional methods fall short.
By repurposing techniques from precision agriculture, Farmonaut is enabling geoscientists to map sub-surface structures with greater accuracy and far less environmental impact. This is a powerful example of cross-sector innovation, where tools born in one industry are accelerating breakthroughs in another.
Smarter drilling, faster insights
One of the biggest bottlenecks in exploration is drill-core analysis. Geologists have traditionally relied on manual core logging and laboratory-based assays, which takes weeks or even months to deliver results. This not only delays decision-making in the field but increases the risk that valuable insights are missed.
AI is helping to close this gap.Core-scanning technologies, such as hyperspectral imaging and high-resolution core photography, can rapidly assess mineralogy, texture and structure, delivering accurate and consistent insights in near real-time. When combined with AI-powered 3D geological models, these datasets enable geologists to make smarter, faster decisions about where to drill, when to end a hole, and how to build a more accurate picture of the orebody.
In an environment where every metre drilled comes at a cost, improved hit rates and shorter timelines to resource definition is a game-changer.
Clearing the path to production
Lastly, even the most promising discovery can stall if regulatory hurdles get in the way. Permitting remains one of the most challenging phases of the exploration lifecycle, requiring extensive environmental assessments and community consultation. These are essential steps, but they can often be slow and prone to human error.
AI can help streamline these processes. By analysing historical permitting data, alongside regulatory and environment frameworks, AI systems can generate draft applications and flag potential compliance risk. This speeds up submissions and improves quality and consistency.
A leading iron ore producer in Western Australia has already demonstrated this approach. By developing a sophisticated digital platform to manage more than 1000 permit requests annually, the company has automated key compliance checks, integrated geographic information system mapping, and improved its responsiveness to heritage and environmental regulations. This system has enabled the miner to maintain its social license while reducing delays and minimising legal risk.
These are just some of the ways AI is already reshaping mineral exploration. From drill sites to boardrooms, it is helping exploration companies transform the way they work. But this is only the beginning.
The next few years will be decisive. Companies that invest in AI now by rethinking their exploration strategies will be best placed to unlock the next generation of discoveries.
AI is not a silver bullet, but it is a breakthrough technology. Creative use of AI can reinvent the way we explore and give exploration teams the insights and agility they need to succeed in a far more demanding world.
By Eric Croeser, Accenture ANZ managing director and mining and metals lead APAC region.
