Ma’aden to deploy ExoSphere in Saudi search


Staff reporter

Saudi Arabia mining major Ma’aden will deploy satellite-linked sub-surface imaging technology from Australian company Fleet Space Technologies under an agreement between the two companies.

Ma’aden announced new Arabian-Nubian shield gold and copper discoveries at last week’s Future Minerals Forum 2025 in Riyadh and is now working with Saudi oil giant Aramco on mineral exploration in the country’s eastern platform sediment-hosted terrain.

Ma’aden is also partnered with Ivanhoe Electric and they are using the latter’s Typhoon geophysical survey system to explore for deep porphyry and other copper-gold geology in Saudi Arabia.

CEO Bob Wilt said the use of Fleet Space’s integrated ExoSphere technology stack was aimed at accelerating “our path to discovery and strengthen[ing] the Kingdom’s position as a mining innovation leader and a foundational partner for the global mineral value chain”.

“Integrating leading-edge, world-class exploration technologies is a central pillar to Ma’aden’s ambitious growth strategy,” he said.

Fleet Space CEO and co-founder Flavia Tata Nardini, who was also at Future Minerals Forum 2025, said ExoSphere was now helping many of the company’s large and small mining clients to make faster, more precise targeting decisions “at scale in the world’s harshest exploration conditions”.

“Real-time 3D subsurface data acquisition, processing and AI-powered insights in a single workflow represents a paradigm shift in the future of mining, providing a platform to identify high-quality targets in days while maximising the ROI of every drilling campaign,” she said.

Fleet Space is working with Saudi-based Alturki Holding and its technology subsidiary Tahreez in the kingdom.

“Used by global mining leaders like Rio Tinto, Barrick, Gold Fields and AngloGold Ashanti to deliver 3D imaging of mineral systems up to 7km in depth, ExoSphere enhances data-driven exploration with near-zero environmental impact, furthering ESG and sustainability principles for customers worldwide,” the company said.

Fleet Space recently closed a US$100 million private equity fundraising backed by Canada’s Teachers’ Venture Growth.

It says it has just launched its most advanced exploration satellites, Centauri 7 and Centauri 8, on SpaceX’s Transporter 12 mission, building its satellite capacity to support expansion of ExoSphere’s capabilities.

 

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