Ore characterisation company Plotlogic and its proprietary OreSense® technology have been given a boost with the latest $28 million funding round, supported by US- and Australia-based venture capital climate and sustainability firms.
In the five years since its inception, Plotlogic has become a leader in ore characterisation. Its OreSense technology is helping customers, including BHP, Vale, South32 and Pilbara Minerals, increase output and reduce waste through the combination of a sensor stack and artificial intelligence (AI) to scan core samples, chips and terrain (including mine faces, stockpiles, heavy vehicle loads and plant feed) in real time. This stack generates highly accurate ore characterisation predictions enabling miners to increase extraction of critical minerals and metals, according to Plotlogic.
By enhancing grade control methods and identifying problematic ore and deleterious materials as well as optimising plant uptime, Plotlogic’s technology effectively reduces costs and energy usage for every tonne mined and processed, according to the company.
Galvanize Climate Solutions, the climate-focused global investment firm founded by billionaire Tom Steyer and Katie Hall, and SE Ventures, the investing firm backed by French energy and automation giant Schneider Electric, co-led the round. Existing investors Innovation Endeavors, DCVC, Bentley iTwin Ventures and GRIDS Capital also supported the raise, doubling down on their Series A investments. Main Sequence, the Australian deep-tech VC firm backed by the CSIRO and Australian government, also participated via its newly launched Main Sequence Three fund.
After achieving success with its single-application deployments of OreSense, Plotlogic says it has an ambitious growth agenda and is planning to use the Series B funding to broaden its platform across a greater number of touchpoints, bolster commercialisation and invest in additional research and development as the company looks to continue to expand into North America.
Founder and CEO, Dr Andrew Job, is confident the company will see escalation in adoption of OreSense, driven by mounting pressure on the mining industry to confront its most formidable challenge to date: providing the essential critical minerals required for a sustainable future while avoiding the repetition of past environmental harm.
“Recycling alone can only meet a fraction of the demand for essential commodities making continued mining essential,” Dr Job said. “And sustainability in mining can be achieved through the increased adoption of advanced technologies like ours. Discovering new deposits is a challenging task and the development of mines can take up to 17 years, pushing us well into the 2030s before we see any kind of transformation in the supply of minerals required for a net-zero future.”
He added: “Plotlogic is actively contributing to the pursuit of a clean energy future by enabling existing mines to extract every vestige of value right now in an environmentally sensitive way. We developed the OreSense technology with the firm belief that mining should be able to generate the resources society needs without harming the planet. The feedback from our customers is that we are delivering on that vision. They describe using our tech as a game changer – like swapping a hacksaw for a scalpel – enabling them to mine more selectively, efficiently and sustainably, benefiting both their projects and the planet.”