The discovery was made near Wombat, in the Southwestern Slopes region of New South Wales (NSW), Australia at a site known as the Fontenoy Project, a mineral rich area part of the Lachlan Fold Belt. Beyond the original drilled area, Earth AI has uncovered broader mineralisation across a 2 km2 zone, which could make it the largest platinum group elements (PGE) prospect in the world.

This significant discovery of palladium, platinum, and nickel elements is both the first verified greenfield mineral discovery made by artificial intelligence (AI) and the first discovery of magmatic nickel, copper, and PGEs on the east coast of Australia, a region previously thought to contain no magmatic nickel. This represents a major development and potential shift for the critical minerals’ global markets, which play a key role in the energy transition. Roughly 40% of global palladium is produced in Russia, which has been subject to growing calls for international sanctions, while another 40% is produced in South African brownfield mines that are known for deadly working conditions and poor economics.

Palladium is a vital component used in catalytic converters to reduce noxious emissions in internal combustion engine (ICE) and hybrid vehicles, while platinum and nickel are both used in energy transition technologies including hydrogen fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries. It is estimated that the world will need to increase production of critical minerals by 30x to a market value of US$10 trillion in order to meet demands associated with the renewable energy transition. New discoveries at scale like Fontenoy are critical at a time when discoveries of new mineral prospects have declined by more than 70% over the last decade, due to traditional exploration approaches that can be inefficient, ineffective, and expensive.

“After years of development, we are incredibly excited to see our AI-powered technology accurately predicting the location of mineral deposits and our drilling programme validating those predictions,” said Roman Teslyuk, CEO and founder of Earth AI. “The opportunity at Fontenoy is massive and it is a project that has huge significance, both in providing critical metals needed for the energy transition, as well as from a personal perspective, as a Ukrainian, in providing an alternative source to the market that doesn’t fund Russia’s war on Ukraine.”

Earth AI’s Mineral Targeting Platform (MTP) technology leverages predictive, high-accuracy AI technology that has been extensively trained using remote sensing, geophysical, and exploration datasets. It is designed to work in unexplored, data poor, and untapped environments, a key differentiator to other exploration technologies that focus on identifying resources near existing mines. In addition to its AI technology, Earth AI’s proprietary drilling hardware streamlines site movement and logistics and reduces the size of exploratory drill holes to the size of a tennis ball, significantly reducing environmental impact, cost, and time required to verify mineral deposits.

Earth AI first identified Fontenoy as highly prospective for magmatic nickel in 2022. Shortly thereafter, the company established a joint venture with Legacy Minerals agreeing to a 3% royalty on mining revenue in exchange for identifying and drilling a discovery hole. On 15 October 2024, Earth AI entered into an agreement to take majority control, or 80% equity of the project, in exchange for agreeing to AUS$4.5 million (US$2.9 million) of development work.

“Legacy Minerals is pleased to see results of the great work completed to date by Earth AI in unpacking the palladium, platinum, gold, and nickel potential of the Fontenoy project, said Chris Byrne, CEO and managing director of Legacy Minerals. “The latest results strengthen the Earth AI team’s confidence in the continuity, scale, and overall potential of this mineralised system.”

The known mineralised system is now 2 km2 in size and has geochemical and geophysical indicators that demonstrate strong potential for it to grow further and potentially host higher-grade zones, as identified in the last round of drilling. Importantly, the drill rig is again on site and drilling, with three holes planned for completion before the end of the year that will hopefully continue to expand the scale of this discovery.