• Tsodilo partners with U.S.-based Battelle to deploy AI at Gcwihaba project
• Model will prioritize high-probability drilling targets using existing data
• Move reflects broader shift toward AI-driven mineral exploration

Botswana is seeing a growing use of artificial intelligence in mining, as junior company Tsodilo Resources moves to apply the technology to rare earth exploration.

The company announced on March 29 that a partnership with the U.S.-based Battelle Memorial Institute to integrate AI into its Gcwihaba rare earth project. The move follows a broader trend in the country, where mining firms are increasingly using AI to search for strategic minerals.

Companies such as Botswana Diamonds and Aterian, both from the United Kingdom, have already introduced similar tools in the exploration of copper, cobalt, nickel, and zinc. Tsodilo now aims to bring Gcwihaba into that shift.

Under the partnership, the company will develop a physics-based predictive AI model trained on existing exploration data. The tool is designed to identify and rank areas with the highest likelihood of rare earth mineralization across the project’s targets.

Once deployed, the model will be refined over time as new drilling results are added, improving its accuracy. Tsodilo says this approach could help reduce exploration risk while speeding up the discovery process.

“Across the mining sector, AI is increasingly being adopted to deliver unbiased, data-driven targeting that integrates legacy and newly acquired datasets (including drilling, geophysics, and geochemistry) into a unified framework, alongside mineral-system models, enabling more confident classification, prioritization and prediction of high-probability drill targets while reducing exploration risk,” said James Bruchs, chairman of Tsodilo Resources.

The initiative comes as Tsodilo seeks to identify its first deposits at Gcwihaba. The company has announced a drilling program of up to 15,000 meters this year, targeting not only rare earths but also copper, cobalt, nickel, and vanadium.

It remains to be seen how much AI will improve exploration outcomes in the near term. While deployments in Botswana have yet to lead to major discoveries, successful examples exist elsewhere on the continent.

One of the most cited cases is KoBold Metals’ discovery of the Mingomba copper deposit in Zambia, where AI plays a central role in exploration strategy.

Aurel Sèdjro Houenou