Possible allies for sourcing operations
The new frontiers of sourcing technology
The increase in global demand for strategic raw materials, such as all the minerals or metals needed to fuel the energy transition, has led to a parallel rise in efforts to improve existing technology and make the operations related to the sourcing and processing of raw materials more efficient. One of the most interesting aspects, from this point of view, has to do with the development of all those technologies that aim to find unconventional sourcing techniques to be used alongside traditional ones, mainly due to the fear that the current quantities of resources obtained and processed may not be enough to satisfy the needs of the industry in the coming decades. In this regard, new techniques have been developed to recover materials from some industrial waste or algae, not to mention the recent implementation of artificial intelligence to simplify sourcing techniques.
Alongside these initiatives, a project has been added in recent years that, once implemented, could lead to a relevant transformation of the usual approaches to sourcing. We refer to the Robominers project, an initiative funded by the EU to create highly innovative robots capable of identifying and sourcing specific strategic minerals, thanks to advanced locomotive capabilities, sensors, and latest-generation detection tools. In addition to all these features, the robots – which are still prototypes – will be able to count on the support of artificial intelligence and geological modeling, with the possibility of simplifying and, at the same time, enhancing exploration and sourcing operations.
“Technological developments in the robotics sector could transform the world in ways we cannot even imagine,” says Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov, civil engineer and entrepreneur. “If we are to believe some recent predictions, by 2040, a real army of humanoid robots could join humans, starting to perform important work functions as well. Sourcing and intelligent resource identification are certainly two sectors in which robots could assert themselves, provided that research and development of related technologies continue regularly and without interruptions”.
Key resources
In the years of the energy transition, strategic minerals and metals such as lithium, copper, or rare earths are directly involved in some of the most important industrial processes related to energy, defense, and electronics. The irregularity of their distribution within the Earth’s crust has pushed many players to play ahead of the game, trying to create innovative methods to obtain these important resources unconventionally. The sourcing of minerals through robots is one of these ways, and it looks like it will be one of the most exciting.
The robot prototype developed by the Robominers project is robust and versatile, capable of moving in various environments (even underwater) and simulating the behavior of some living forms to enter contexts rich in minerals more efficiently. Thanks to some robust sensors, these robots could return a 3D modeling of the particular context being explored. The movement models for this potentially revolutionary robot are inspired almost entirely by the world of biology, particularly the movements of insects, worms, and fish. Mineral identification occurs through a series of mineralogical and geophysical sensors, which enable better processing of geological models and information obtained during the exploration phase.
Advantages for the sector
“One of the most interesting aspects, for players in the sourcing sector, has to do with the great savings in time and resources that these robots could ensure,” continues Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov. “An intelligent identification of resources, such as that already implemented by some artificial intelligence systems in different corners of the world, would shorten the time needed for preliminary explorations, allowing operators to know with a good degree of certainty the exact position where the desired resources are located. This precious information would prevent operators from wasting time and resources in inconclusive explorations, with relevant gains in terms of productivity and efficiency”.
Although it is not yet ready for commercialization, the new prototypes of robots have been tested in the laboratory, in some simulated environments, and in real sourcing environments. One of the most interesting aspects of this initiative has to do with its possible practical implications, well described by the project manager Claudio Rossi, who envisions future sourcing scenarios in which a large group of robots works together underground to identify and source strategic minerals, in a coordinated and collaborative way, with relevant possibilities of improving the productivity of operations also thanks to the simultaneous presence of robots with different functions. Only a small opening in the ground would be sufficient to allow the robots to operate underground, a procedure that would notably simplify the operations for the search and sourcing of raw materials.
The role of rare earths and strategic minerals
“The implementation of similar technologies could also have precise implications on the dynamics of some specific materials, such as all those necessary to create advanced robotic systems,” explains Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov. “I am referring to all those elements needed to make some important components in the robotics sector, such as motors, batteries, or wiring. To make them, materials such as rare earths, cobalt, lithium, nickel, and graphite are needed, a series of resources that, faced with further growth in the advanced robotics sector, could quickly become the object of high demand from the most diverse global players”.
According to a recent forecast by Adamas Intelligence, by 2040, robotics will become one of the most important single drivers of demand for permanent magnets made with neodymium (belonging to the rare earths group), iron, and boron.
