Saudi mineral survey expands ‘data revolution’ frontier
- 6 May 2025
Saudi Arabia’s Maaden has joined the list of mining majors using Fleet Space Technologies’ ExoSphere mineral exploration survey technology, engaging the Australian company for four years to help it advance deep targeting on the Arabian Shield.
South Australia-based Fleet Space is working with Rio Tinto, Barrick Mining Corporation, Gold Fields, AngloGold Shanti and other miners to generate large-scale 3D geophysical data maps of highly prospective, remote parts of the world, ranging from the Atacama Desert in northern Chile and the Puna region of Argentina to Pakistan’s Chagai district and central New South Wales in Australia.
It has also formed a partnership with Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates-backed green hydrogen start-up Koloma.
“By integrating Fleet Space’s cutting-edge, space-enabled exploration stack with our world-class operations, Maaden aims to set a new global benchmark in exploration data intelligence and build a faster, smarter and more sustainable path forward for the global mining sector—fully aligned with the Kingdom’s bold transformation under Vision 2030,” Maaden CEO Bob Wilt said.
Fleet Space says its ExoSphere ambient noise tomography (ANT) ground sensors, connected with its own low Earth orbit satellite network and multimodal AI models, can deliver “3D subsurface insights and AI-enabled drill targeting to field teams in real-time”. It will work with Maaden through the Tahreez JV to explore about 12,000 square kilometres of the Saudi Arabian miner’s vast Arabian Shield acreage, with the alliance aiming to highlight targets up to 7km deep.
“How the most ambitious global mining companies use data to design and execute their exploration strategies is undergoing a phase transition,” Fleet Space CEO and co-founder Flavia Tata Nardini said.
“Space-enabled, real-time exploration is unlocking unprecedented speed, reach and data quality – transforming mineral discovery into a dynamic, data intelligence-led system. Similar leaps to real-time data have produced breakthroughs like commercial space travel, autonomous vehicles and AI, among many others.
“With this partnership, Maaden is set to unlock the most valuable untapped frontier of the data revolution: the global mining sector.”
Fleet Space recently raised US$100 million through its latest private equity funding round and acquired Australia seismic mineral exploration firm, HiSeis.
Next year it plans to deploy the lunar variant of its ExoSphere technology, SPIDER, on the Moon to inform future mission planning with a deeper, data-driven understanding of the lunar subsurface.
