PDAC: ‘Act like a startup to speed projects’

Mineral projects need to enter production much faster if the world is to find the metals necessary to power the upcoming energy transition, attendees of the world’s largest mining conference heard.

Miners were urged to use artificial intelligence more extensively and even make their geological data public to spur discoveries, panellists said Monday at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto. To compress development timelines and avoid “decision paralysis,” it’s also critical that miners start adopting a “startup mindset.”

“We’re not on track for the energy transition,” Tom Hunt, vice president of technology at KoBold Metals, a U.S. mining startup backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, told attendees.

“We need to discover hundreds of new resources and bring them into production over the next several years, and that’s simply not happening.”

Decarbonization and urbanization are two of the long-term trends that are driving an unprecedented demand boom for minerals. Mining companies across the globe will probably need to invest at least US$2.1 trillion in new supply by 2050, according to an October forecast released by Bloomberg NEF, a U.S.-based research firm. Aluminum, copper and lithium are among the energy transition metals that could face deficits in primary supply this decade, the firm said.

Problem is, delays are multiplying. It now takes about 17.9 years on average to build a gold, copper, nickel or lithium mine, up from 12.7 years for projects that started 15 years ago, according to S&P Global data released last year.

AI could help miners cut exploration timelines, but it’s essential that humans remain involved in the process, Hunt said. Every project at KoBold is co-led by a geologist and a data scientist, which has allowed the company to extrapolate data it would previously have been unable to use, he said.

Access to data

Making geological data public is essential to pave the way for the next wave of mineral discoveries, Hunt insisted.

“We can’t work if you keep your data close to your chest,” he said. “It takes five minutes to post your data, and that data will be there for the entire industry to learn from. This will drive discoveries.”

Miners shouldn’t be afraid to use AI, said Rajesh Swaminathan, a partner at U.S.-based venture capital firm Khosla Ventures.

“Take those baby steps but take them quickly because this industry will move very quickly,” he said.

Streamlining internal policies could help to speed up decision-making. Mining companies often lose six months to a year picking suppliers as part of a project’s procurement cycle, said Hatch Vice Chairman Joe Lombard, whose four-decade career includes the design of several aluminum smelters.

Miners and suppliers would do well to study sectors such as energy or aerospace to pick up the best practices that could be adapted to the industry, said Mark Podlasly, Vancouver-based CEO of the First Nations Major Projects Coalition. His non-profit organization, which includes more than 170 Indigenous communities across Canada, partners with companies on energy and mining projects.

“To learn, you have to go to other places,” Podlasly said. “Go to China. Not to copy but for inspiration, to see what they have done. Go to other sectors. Look at how they are bringing in contractors across the value chain.”