BHP Group PLC (LSE:BHP) is the latest miner to sign up to use the artificial intelligence tools developed by a Bill Gates-backed start-up to find new deposits of metals required for batteries and clean energy.
The world’s biggest miner and Silicon Valley-based KoBold Metals will jointly fund exploration using data processing technology to help locate potential mineral deposits below the earth’s surface, starting in Western Australia, the Financial Times reported.
“Their powerful platform combined with our in-house capabilities and data sets could unlock an enduring competitive edge as we grow our options in future-facing commodities like copper and nickel to meet increasing global demand,” said Mark Frayman, head of BHP Ventures.
The principal investors in privately held KoBold Metals are Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a climate technology fund overseen by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson; Andreessen Horowitz, the premier Silicon Valley venture capital fund; and Equinor, the Norwegian state oil company.
The alliance with BHP will cover an area in Western Australia of more than 500,000 sq km, KoBold chief executive Kurt House told Reuters.
"Exploration success rates have been declining over the last couple of decades ... because the easy things have been found," House said, adding that the discovery zones over the next 20 years will be at depths of 200 to 1,500 metres.
"Globally, shallow ore deposits have largely been discovered, and remaining resources are likely deeper underground and harder to see from the surface," said Keenan Jennings, vice-president of BHP Metals Exploration.
"We need new approaches to find the next generation of essential minerals, and this alliance will combine historical data, artificial intelligence, and geoscience expertise to uncover what has previously been hidden," he said.