Research firm BMI’s new Metals And Mining Megatrends To 2050: Navigating A New Era Of Technology, Geopolitics And Green Transformation argues that over the next quarter century, the mining industry will increasingly venture north of the 60th parallel, kilometres below the ocean surface and, eventually, beyond Earth’s orbit.
The pull towards the arctic, the seafloor and ultimately space has many drivers. Historic reserves are maturing, ore grades are declining and the energy transition and the trillion dollar data center build-out are creating supply bottlenecks from specialty materials like indium phosphide and samarium-cobalt through to everyday essentials like copper.
Robotics will be next decade’s metals chokepoint (look for a tipping point once humanoids start building humanoids) but physical AI and autonomy are already making it cheaper to operate and explore safely in harsh and high-cost environments.
AI and subsurface intelligence are helping miners deal with deeper deposits, lower grades and long development timelines, with one example showing how AI-supported geoscience can reduce uncertainty and improve permitting confidence...