Rio Tinto and Founders Factory have named the participants of the fifth cohort of their program for mining technology companies. From more than 500 applicants, five projects were chosen, working on exploration, safety, and metals processing. The program lasts four months and gives startups access to Rio Tinto’s leadership, mines in Western Australia, and pilot testing sites.
Participants get the chance to test their solutions in real-world conditions and find commercial partners among government bodies in Australia, the US, and Canada. A separate track offers help in reaching banks and capital providers. The results are backed by numbers: two-thirds of companies that previously went through the accelerator are already testing technologies with Rio Tinto or have contracts with it.
Three of the startups are based in the US. Cascade Geomatics monitors geological hazards for infrastructure and resource sites. Fieldstone uses biological methods to rapidly determine metal content. Determinant Materials is developing technology for rapid on-site refining of critical metal microparticles at the point of extraction.
The Australian model, running on the Imvelo platform, helps companies make economic decisions on planning and project life cycles. NanduX, with offices in the US and Chile, explores for copper using deep sensing.
The selected projects work with artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and deep science. This mix of technologies makes it possible to tackle problems beyond the traditional mining perimeter — from detecting deposits to processing raw materials.
Founders Factory President George Northcott noted that a new generation of founders is entering mining, and their developments are making the industry more efficient, sustainable, and safe. Emily Hilton, head of innovation at Rio Tinto, added that the startups are taking on the industry’s key challenges, and the company hopes to help them test and scale their ideas.
The accelerator’s portfolio has reached 29 companies. Past graduates include Fast Metals, which extracts base and rare metals from bauxite residue, and Terra AI, the industry’s first AI-based subsurface modeling platform. The program shows that mining is looking for technologies beyond familiar solutions and is ready to test them on operating assets.
Source: MINING.COM
