Legacy Minerals (ASX: LGM) has successfully utilized artificial intelligence (AI) software in its exploration endeavors, leading to a groundbreaking discovery of platinum group elements (PGE) and nickel-copper-iron sulphides at the Fontenoy project in New South Wales, Australia. The company reported significant findings from diamond drillhole EFO7D, revealing a 34-meter intercept grading 0.5 grams of PGE, including a notable segment of 10 meters at 1.2 grams PGE per tonne, along with 0.2% nickel and 891 parts per million copper from a depth of 388 meters.
Legacy Minerals attributes this milestone to the implementation of artificial intelligence through their partnership with Earth AI. Christopher Byrne, the CEO and managing director of Legacy Minerals, expressed the importance of this discovery, emphasizing that it marks the first confirmed identification of magmatic-related nickel-copper sulphide mineralization in the extensive 700 km ultramafic belt hosting the Fontenoy project.
The integration of AI in the mining industry has gained traction as explorers and miners seek to leverage advanced technologies for data processing, operational efficiency, and innovative opportunities. Earth AI, based in San Francisco, claims impressive success rates with mineral deposit discoveries, achieving positive results in two out of three attempts compared to the industry’s average of 0.5%. The company’s predictive technology, trained on diverse datasets including remote sensing, geophysical, and exploration data, facilitates the rapid identification of prospects for metals such as nickel, copper, zinc, and vanadium, outperforming traditional methods by more than 100 times in speed and cost-effectiveness.
Roman Teslyuk, the CEO and founder of Earth AI, highlighted the significance of AI in diversifying global critical metals supply chains, asserting that their technology plays a crucial role in discovering maiden deposits in previously unexplored areas at a fraction of the conventional cost. Earth AI’s success in the Fontenoy project, coupled with a recent discovery of a greenfield molybdenum deposit, reaffirms the company’s conviction that the future of mining lies in AI-driven technologies.
The Fontenoy discovery, achieved at a cost of A$500,000 in exploration, demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of Earth AI’s approach. This amount is notably 200 times less than the A$100 million spent by KoBold Metals, a startup supported by prominent billionaires like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, which also employs AI in its exploration efforts in Zambia, Quebec, and Australia.
Legacy Minerals’ shares closed A$0.01 higher at A$0.14 apiece in Sydney on Monday, valuing the company at A$14.8 million. The stock has traded within a 52-week range of A$0.11 to A$0.21.
The Fontenoy project encompasses disseminated and veined copper-gold mineralization over an 8 km strike length, interpreted as McPhillamys-style volcanogenic hosted massive sulphide mineralization. Following the discovery, a priority area for further exploration has been identified south of the intercept, featuring nickel-copper-PGE surface anomalism. Legacy Minerals plans to conduct follow-up activities, including electrical geophysics for future drill targeting, with diamond drill planning already underway.
Earth AI, equipped with an in-house drilling unit, completed three diamond-cored holes totaling 1,633.7 meters at the Fontenoy site, located approximately 150 km northwest of Canberra. Notably, Fontenoy was historically drilled for shallow nickel-laterite deposits, with AI-driven exploration focusing on PGE and magmatic-related nickel-copper sulphide mineralization. Earth AI’s approach involved predictive software to minimize costs and expedite the search process, followed by targeted sampling of areas with logged sulphides for further analysis.
The success of mining aided by AI technology, particularly in the Fontenoy discovery, underscores the transformative potential of advanced data-driven methodologies in the industry. Earth AI emphasized the importance of this achievement in the market, noting that their technology has previously uncovered a greenfield molybdenum deposit in Australia, a feat that eluded eight other companies exploring the same region. This success reinforces the notion that AI-driven exploration is at the forefront of shaping the future of mining, offering unprecedented efficiency and cost-effectiveness in mineral discovery.
