Freeport-McMoRan is to start using robots from US-based Gecko Robotics to generate the required data to feed machine-learning algorithms, attendees of the Financial Times’ Mining Summit 2024, in London, heard last month.

Freeport is looking to bolster copper production from its existing assets in expectation of the world requiring more of the red metal, and it sees AI and machine learning as one potential avenue to pursue.

Speaking on a panel at the event in late September, Bill Cobb, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, acknowledged the copper major had just signed a contract with Gecko Robotics, led by CEO Jake Loosararian.

He explained: “We collect a lot of data, and it’s across the open pits; so all the haulage equipment, the drills, the shovels, etc in the processing facilities…And there is a lot of data, [so] we employ a lot of data science.”

The company is using this data to attempt to “reinvent what we do”, he added.

He explained: “And you heard it over the panels today. Whether it’s the loss of head grade that they’ve experienced over the last 10 years. You know, all of us in the copper sector are seeing decreases in head grades, right? That means we’re going to have to get more efficient, and so it’s really pushing the question on technology and what can technology do.”

Loosararian, for his part, said that the company’s robots were powering AI-based systems that customers use in the mining, energy, manufacturing, defence and infrastructure sectors.

“We gather this information and data sets about how to solve the problem a lot of these facilities have,” he explained. “[In many cases] they’re (the facilities) very old, they’ve reached their useful life and now we’re asking them to last way longer and also produce way more.”

Gecko’s technology is specifically based around how to extend the useful life of this infrastructure so it doesn’t result in catastrophic failures that end up increasing emissions and put the safety of people at risk, he explained.

“And, so, it’s really important to, first and foremost, reject the idea that we have to react to things breaking,” he said. “Technology exists to be able to ensure that, instead of react[ing] to it.”

Loosararian cited a study showing that if major industry eliminated forced outages and catastrophic failures in the US by 2030, there would be an 18% reduction in emissions.

“We need more data to understand the impacts of certain decisions,” he said. “But, I think, really, we need these materials, we need these minerals and we have to ensure that we can rely on – in a way that’s increasing the amount of production while reducing emissions – them to meet the needs for this transition.

“That’s the thing that gets me excited and, I think, that motivates the next generation of technology enthusiasts that need to be flooding through into the industry and places like Freeport.

“I see that beginning to happen because leadership is beginning to embrace technology.”