Leading Australian mining software company Maptek has moved to 100% ownership of 11-year-old PETRA Data Science, which “invented digital mine-to-mill AI software”, according to Maptek chair Peter Johnson.
“They remain well ahead of the industry,” he said this week after Maptek acquired the 75% of PETRA it didn’t already own for an undisclosed sum. Mining technology advisory firm Atrico was PETRA’s adviser on the deal.
“Maptek and PETRA speak the same language,” said PETRA CEO and founder Dr Penny Stewart. “We share the same fundamental purpose: using orebody knowledge to create value across the mine value chain. This acquisition allows PETRA to remain agile and independent, while benefiting from Maptek’s global network and corporate support.”
Maptek is one of the world’s largest mining software vendors and is among the few significant independently run firms left in the space following a series of buyouts of companies such as Seequent, Micromine, Datamine, Deswik, Mintec, Gemcom, RPMGlobal and MineRP.
PETRA describes itself as a pioneer in orebody learning and data fusion technology.
Maptek bought 25% of the firm in 2019.
Stewart said PETRA was progressing towards the release of MAXTA 6.0 in 2026, which she said featured advanced agentic AI designed to convert optimisation insights into measurable value for mines.
