The law firm's March 5 report said the trend was driven by rising operating costs and the need to supply minerals essential to the energy transition. Technology – The most popular commodity in the mining and metals sector.
Intellectual property is becoming important, Turgel explained, turning into a valuable asset that is exchanged between industry players to increase efficiency and restructure business models.
A prime example is the partnership between Ivanhoe Electric (TSX: IE; NYSE AM: IE) and Saudi state-owned mining company Marden, which is leveraging Ivanhoe's Typhoon technology to explore vast areas of Saudi Arabia. . Ivanhoe's Typhoon technology, used for large-scale geological surveys, is essentially a “payment” or consideration provided to Marden for access to explore vast mineral-rich areas of Saudi Arabia. there were.
“Technology really becomes the currency,” said Turgel, highlighting the evolving nature of transactions in this sector and the increasing role of technology in forging new strategic cross-industry alliances.
“For example, it's becoming much more common for people to offer their technology in exchange for equity or some sort of bond,” he said.
Rebecca Campbell, group head of global mining and metals, says this kind of innovation is new for a generally conservative sector. “That's one of the interesting things for us because we're starting to see a little bit of change.”
This trend highlights the growing importance of securing and managing intellectual property rights as new legal challenges may arise. While hardware has traditionally been the focus, the rise of software and AI has the potential to revolutionize mining operations. This report highlights the cost savings and efficiency gains that can be achieved with these technologies.
Nick Crawford, an associate at White & Case, says machine learning and AI are already significantly improving the efficiency, accuracy and safety of mine planning and processing.
“Generative AI in particular opens new possibilities for exploring and processing vast amounts of geological data, significantly accelerating the project development process,” he said. “Companies like BHP and Vale are leveraging these technologies to improve safety, maintenance and operational efficiency.”
Meanwhile, White & Case found that despite the urgent need for innovation, spending on research and development (R&D) in this area remains relatively low. Miners have historically spent less than 3% of their EBITDA on research and development, compared to 8% for materials manufacturers, 30% for industrial products, and 40% for automakers and related OEMs.
