Artificial intelligence is increasingly being deployed across the mining sector as a way to enhance exploration and improve targeting, but industry executives say most tools offer only modest efficiency gains rather than transformative results.
EY’s 2026 Outlook finds that 21% of miners plan to increase their AI spending by 20% or more next year, even though profits remain limited by siled data and misalignment with business needs. AI currently offers the most consistent value in data management, quality control, and workflow automation, but its impact on mineral prospects remains difficult to measure.
Northisle Copper and Gold (TSXV: NCX, US-OTC: NTCPF) is collaborating with Stanford University’s Mineral-X Initiative to evaluate AI-based exploration for the North Island Copper and Gold project on Vancouver Island.
“We are in the very early stages of using AI,” said Pablo Mejía Herrera, vice president of exploration.
The company is leveraging decades of geophysical, geochemical, and mapping data, including aeromagnetic and electromagnetic surveys, soil sampling, and surface mapping, to assess how these datasets can be integrated for targeting.
“The challenge for geologists is that the deeper we go, the less understanding we get,” Mejia Herrera said. miners of the north. “This helps us use AI to establish different risk scenarios and define appropriate goals.”
deeper data
Mejia Herrera, who previously worked on AI applications with Stanford University and Ero Copper (TSX, NYSE: ERO), said the technology performs best when supported by high-quality datasets.
“It’s very difficult to use AI if you don’t have a good understanding of the chemistry and the properties of the rocks,” he said.
Northisle is one of a growing number of miners evaluating artificial intelligence in exploration workflows. Nevada Sunrise Metals (TSXV:NEV) is using VRIFY’s AI-assisted mineral discovery platform to help identify new targets at its Griffon gold mine in Nevada. Cantera Minerals (TSXV:CTM) also reported initial AI-driven results from targeted work at its Buchans project in Newfoundland.
In February, Equinox Gold (TSX, NYSE:EQX) announced that drilling at its Valentine Gold Mine in Newfoundland confirmed a new AI-supported gold discovery in the Minotaur Zone.
Junior’s approval
Mejia-Herrera said AI tools can help exploration teams filter large datasets and focus on the most relevant variables for targeting, making them an important tool for midsize companies with limited budgets.
Mejia Herrera said Junior is facing intense pressure to improve targeting efficiency and make AI-based decision support tools more attractive. “It’s very difficult for lower-tier companies to digest bad results.”
AI can act as a target sign-off. “In terms of risk, AI is a decision-making tool,” he says.
One barrier to broader adoption is the limited quantitative expertise available within exploration teams. Machine learning systems require statistical and probabilistic modeling skills not traditionally embedded in geology-focused organizations, increasing reliance on external partners.
“That’s one of the weaknesses, and perhaps one of the opportunities, is identifying how to start a dialogue with people in other areas of management. [AI] It was very good,” he said.
operational focus
Sebastian Goodfellow, senior director of products and AI at KORE Geosystems, helped develop an AI-powered digital core logging platform for geologists. He said KORE’s strongest demand remains production and brownfield operations, where staffing and consistency issues are common, especially in mines that drill hundreds of thousands of meters per year.
In these settings, the company’s Specter GEO platform supports visual logging using high-resolution core photos and built-in AI tools to standardize descriptions and reduce errors across multiple shifts. Companies can spend months reconciling inconsistent datasets. Early error detection can generate measurable savings even if it does not directly lead to new discoveries.
“This is not an automated system. It’s your name on the data,” Goodfellow said. “But you can speed up what you’re doing a lot.”
KORE was founded in 2016 amid rising expectations for AI. “A lot of mining companies went out of business early on and paid a lot of money for some kind of consultants and products that didn’t get results,” Goodfellow said. “Now, when we engage with these companies, they kind of know what they can and cannot do.”
variable benefits
Antoine Catet, a structural geologist with SRK Consulting in Toronto who specializes in data science and machine learning, said the value of AI as a tool for core logging, satellite image recognition and finding patterns in large amounts of data is well-documented.
“But when you talk about target generation, the value of AI is very diverse,” says Caté. “People sometimes question that.”
He points to Equinox’s new AI-assisted gold discovery. In this case, it aids in the discovery process, not makes the discovery, he said. “Words like ‘assist’ and ‘augment humans’ are very important here. AI is just a tool to help you succeed, not the whole recipe.”
Kate said he is optimistic about the potential of AI in exploration, but that AI needs to be used selectively. “When you have a really good shiny hammer, everything becomes a nail,” he said. “But it’s not all nails and needles.”
