INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Discovering and drilling for the important minerals used for industry and the technology sector remains incredibly important as existing
mines are becoming depleted
Applying AI to this problem would seem like a no-brainer for the environment.Andreessen Horowitz knows this, as they invested in KoBold
GoldSpot Discoveries is a competitor.Joining this field is now Earth AI, a mineral targeting startup which is using AI to predict the
location of new ore bodies far more cheaply, faster and with more precision (it claims) than previous methods.After closing a financing
Previously, the startup had raised $1.7 million in two seed rounds from Australian VCs, AirTree Ventures and Blackbird Ventures, as well as
angel investors.The startup uses machine learning techniques on global data, including remote sensing, radiometry, geophysical and
geochemical data sets, to learn the data signatures related to industrial metal deposits (from gold, copper and lead to rare earth
elements), train a neural network and predict where high-value mineral prospects will be.In particular, it was used to discover a deposit of
Vanadium, which is used to build Vanadium Redox Batteries that are used in large industrial applications
Finding these deposits faster using AI means the planet will thus benefit faster from battery technology.In 2018, Earth AI field-tested
remote unexplored areas and claims to have generated a 50X better success rate than traditional exploration methods, while spending on
average $11,000 per prospect discovery
In Australia, for instance, companies often spend several million dollars to arrive at the same result.Jared Friedman, YCombinator partner,
Earth AI has the potential not just to become an incredibly profitable company, but to reduce the cost of the metals we need to build our
a geoscientist with eight years of mineral exploration and academic experience
Ivan Franko University, Ukraine
from Gagarin Capital joins a line of other AI-based products and services and investments it has made into YC companies, such as Wallarm
