Rio Tinto Backs the Costs as Aterian Expands in Botswana, Copper, Lithium, Mineral Trading and AI
“…we are committed to taking AI initiatives to the next level…”
When Simon Rollason appeared on an AI-in-mining related panel at this February’s Mining Indaba in Cape Town he was not only representing main market-listed explorer Aterian plc, but the industry itself which is at a crossroads.
The mining sector of the future has an upcoming problem which is a dearth of geologists resulting in a squeezing of geoscience skills. It also has the collaboration of AI which Rollason views as an industry positive.
AI has already been adopted by Rio Tinto, Aterian’s Tier One joint venture partner at its Lithium HCK licence in Rwanda, and Rollason and his board are committed to taking AI initiatives to the next level particularly as they are located in what he describes as the ‘new lithium frontier in Africa.’
Six months after Rollason’s appearance at one of the world’s premier mining investing summits, Aterian announced a collaboration with a machine learning start-up specialising in advanced computational modelling for mineral exploration. It is UK-based, but what the collaboration is focused on has global applications in terms of time and cost savings.
Artificial intelligence can accelerate early stage exploration and for example narrow down targets from as much as 1000 square kilometres down to 50 square kilometres says Rollason.
“You’ve got less time on the ground, but you will always have to have the geological input to verify the data and what we’re doing with the AI company is actually providing a lot of that input into the starting process while they build up their model.”
That’s the generic description of the benefits, but at a more company-specific level, the startup will initially be focused on data being collected from Aterian’s Agdz copper-silver project in Morocco. The idea is to assist with more accurate targeting and the cost benefits as explained above could be sizeable.
Recently, the Company has also advised an update on three recently awarded prospecting licences in the world- renowned Kalahari Copperbelt, located in the Republic of Botswana, as announced on 7 August 2025. The three PLs were awarded to the Company’s 90% owned subsidiary, Atlantis Metals Ltd and cover an area of 329.16 km2. The KCB portfolio now comprises ten PLs covering an aggregate area of 2,298.34 km2, in a region attracting strong global interest from major copper exploration and mining companies.
Aterian Chairman, Charles Bray, commented : “Our recent expansion within the Kalahari Copperbelt – one of the world’s most prospective copper- silver districts – significantly strengthens our portfolio and enhances the opportunity to create substantial shareholder value. With increasing global demand for copper driven by the energy transition, we believe these assets position us to unlock major discovery potential. We remain committed to advancing our portfolio and pursuing strategic partnerships and transactions that can deliver transformational value for our shareholders. The independent geological review has highlighted multiple highly compelling targets across two of the three licence areas, confirming the strong prospectivity for copper and silver mineralisation. Historical copper-in-soil anomalies, together with clearly defined magnetic structures, provide a robust foundation for future exploration success. Importantly, the presence of the D’Kar/Ngwako Pan formational contact and nearby developments demonstrates the exceptional scale and upside potential of these assets.”
Partnerships form a big part of Aterian’s business model with established Tier One’s and startups, and as Simon explains to Sarah Lowther in this video interview networks are essential to the company’s funding in addition to its expansion and acquisition ambitions.
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