Using AI to discover minerals critical for global electrification

A new platform can greatly improve the chances of finding commercial mineral deposits, at a fraction of the cost and time

Spotted: Metals like copper, cobalt, nickel, and lithium are the foundation of the green-energy transition. Technology like electric vehicles (EVs), sensors, and electricity storage all rely heavily on these metals. However, ore production is declining and remaining ore deposits are located in areas that make them challenging to discover. Startup VerAI has a solution – it is using data to find new ore deposits.

Traditional exploration and discovery methods rely on human data interpretation and are not accurate enough to meet the growing demand. VerAI’s Discovery Platform improves on this by using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to analyse tailor-made magnetic, gravimetric, electromagnetic, and seismic data to identify areas with a high probability of economic mineral deposits.

VerAI claims that its system can identify commercial deposits faster, more successfully and at a fraction of the cost of “traditional, human-centric techniques”. This is important because, currently, only around 1 in 1,000 exploration projects become a mine. By better identifying potential mines, VerAI could greatly improve this rate.

The promise held by VerAI’s technique has paid off in investment – the company has recently completed a $12 million (around €11 million) series A funding round, with investment from T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and other large investors.

In the archive, Springwise has spotted other approaches to the impending mineral shortage. These include environmentally-friendly metal extraction and a process for recovering the majority of critical materials from batteries for reuse.

Written By: Lisa Magloff