Satellite-Powered Surveying Technique Revolutionises Critical Mineral Exploration - Fleet Space Technologies

Fleet Space Technologies’ space-enabled ExoSphere technology has demonstrated a path to scale critical mineral exploration globally while also helping to reduce environmental impact, which is the only approach that will enable humanity to reach its net-zero ambitions over the coming decades.

Lithium mining company Core Lithium faced a major challenge: No reliable geophysical technique could directly detect and target lithium pegmatite rocks below the surface. Fleet's ExoSphere provided a faster and more sustainable solution to this problem - enabling rapid exploration with near-zero environmental impact.

Leveraging the latest advances in Ambient Noise Tomography (ANT) and Fleet’s constellation of satellites, ExoSphere delivered 3D subsurface insights to Core Lithium in days - rather than months or years with other methods - to help accelerate their exploration program. In just a few days, a high-resolution 3D map of the subsurface of their survey was delivered, yielding results that were previously thought to be impossible.

‘‘With ExoSphere, we can make real time decisions very quickly, getting into positions that we can define drilling targets quicker. When you can accelerate exploration programs, what you are really doing is accelerating your discovery which is a game changer for exploration,” says Andrew Bennett, Exploration Manager at Core Lithium.

ExoSphere’s survey data detected known pegmatites along with unknown ones in just 7 days of initial survey. No other viable geophysical method has been able to directly detect lithium pegmatites at a greater depth, proving the effectiveness of ExoSphere’s satellite-enabled ANT survey method. ExoSphere successfully imaged the known pegmatite dyke with only a 5% velocity contrast between the slower pegmatite and the surrounding sandstone, revealing that just a small contrast is enough to image the subsurface.

The technology perfectly imaged the pegmatite down to 500 metres depth with high resolution in addition to determining the depth of base weathering. The 3D velocity model not only imaged the mineralised pegmatite but also identified new ones, which become new drilling targets. This allowed Core Lithium to quickly develop high potential targets while also reducing drilling costs and their overall exploration time frame.

This is just one of many examples demonstrating how ExoSphere has created a more sustainable path to accelerating mineral discovery by reducing exploratory drilling and helping to identify new deposits of critical minerals needed for the energy transition.

For their ExoSphere technology, Fleet Space Technologies was awarded the Banksia Foundation's 2024 Climate Technology Impact Award, sponsored by Ventia.

Website: fleetspace.com