The global push for renewable energy adoption continues to advance as governments worldwide seek to shift away from harmful fossil fuels.
In effect, it increased the demand for critical minerals like nickel, cobalt, and lithium. The industry expects the prevalence of these metals to continuously accelerate due to the emergence of new technologies.
Some of the demand drivers include electric vehicles, power batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines, among others.
However, the challenge remains in navigating and mining those minerals due to expense and complexity.
In response, Kobald Metals seeks to utilize an artificial intelligence-based (AI) approach to locate ore deposits, the company said.
How does it work?
California-based KoBold Metals is actively working on an AI technology to “find the most desirable ore deposits in the least problematic locations.”
It recently secured $200 million in funding to fuel its current and future initiatives in revolutionizing the traditional mineral exploration method into a “data-driven and scalable science.”
KoBold Metals does not intend to directly mine the minerals. It will only serve as the locator of new mineral deposits. Then, it will form partnerships with mining firms and provide them with relevant insights into the ideal extraction approach.
KoBold tools
The company developed interesting tools to aid in efficiently locating the ore deposits, including the TerraShed and Machine Prospector.
TerraShed
KoBold employs a data system for its mineral exploration. TerraShed compiles the company’s public-domain geoscience data from various sources.
The system includes all relevant data that would significantly make mining companies’ work less complex.
“The data could include anything from maps showing the type of rock in a given location to geochemical measurements of element concentration in rock or soil samples to satellite imagery measuring the spectral reflectance of minerals at the Earth’s surface—and much more.”
Singluarity Hub
After collecting the data, TerraShed organizes the data in a standard way for every phase of mineral exploration, from locating new deposits to developing a new mine site.
“All the stuff poking out of the ground has already been found. At the same time, we’ve realized we need to massively change the energy system, which requires all these new minerals.”
Kurt House, co-founder/CEO of the San Francisco Bay area firm (via Spectrum)
Machine Prospector
KoBold Metals also uses its Machine Prospector to interpret all the data from TerraShed.
It aids the company in facilitating efficient decision-making. Notably, this technology utilizes machine learning conditioned on historical geological data.
It works like AI, demonstrating millions of protein interactions in a fraction of the time a human takes.
Apart from utilizing existing geological data, KoBold also uses a giant metal director attached to a helicopter to discover new insights.
See Also:
- Tesla publishes its 2022 Conflict Minerals Report
- Mercedes-Benz to secure critical minerals with Rock Tech’s first lithium refinery in Germany
- US and Japan partner on EV battery minerals to lessen reliance on China
- Western Australia: A global battery and critical minerals hub
- Redwood Materials successfully secured $1 billion in Series D funding for US expansion
KoBold’s innovative approach will undoubtedly accelerate battery mineral exploration. It can aid the industry by accelerating the search for critical metals for electric vehicle batteries. In effect, it can support the growing demand for sustainable transportation and further boost its adoption.
