We need to find more copper than ever over the next 10 years

The mining industry is facing one of the greatest challenges in its history: finding new mineral deposits at a time when global demand for copper and other critical minerals continues to accelerate due to the energy transition and electrification.

This was highlighted by Flavia Tata Nardini, CEO and co-founder of Fleet Space Technologies, who stated that the world will need to discover more copper than ever over the next decade to sustain the growth of industries such as electric vehicles, batteries, and renewable energy.

“We need to find more copper than ever over the next 10 years,” she said in an interview, in the context of the World Mining Congress 2026, which will be held from 24th – 26th June 2026, at the Lima Convention Center.

The executive explained that the main challenge is that new mineral deposits are becoming increasingly deeper and more difficult to identify, making traditional exploration slower and more expensive.

“Discovering a new deposit or extending an existing one can take between 10 and 15 years. Many current deposits are very deep, and that makes exploration extremely expensive,” she said.

Against this backdrop

Fleet Space Technologies has been promoting Exosphere, a technological platform that combines seismic sensors, artificial intelligence, and satellite connectivity to accelerate decision-making in mineral exploration.

According to Tata Nardini, the platform seeks to transform the way the subsurface is studied through real-time seismic information, significantly reducing exploration timelines.

“We are trying to move from decisions that take years to decisions that can be made in days, or even less,” she said.

Faster and more efficient exploration

The World Mining Congress 2026 speaker explained that one of the main differences compared to conventional geophysical methods is the use of seismic technology applied to hard rock mining, a technique widely used in oil and gas but still not broadly adopted in mining.

“Seismic technology allows us to observe geological structures in 3D, not just anomalies. That completely changes how we understand where mineralization may exist,” she explained.

She added that the company’s sensors are connected via satellite and operate in real time, allowing automated data processing and faster drilling decisions directly from the field.

“No other company is doing real-time geophysics this way. Automation and artificial intelligence are taking geophysics to the next level,” she said.

Tata Nardini noted that this technological evolution also responds to the need for more efficient and sustainable exploration by reducing the number of drill holes required and the associated environmental impact.

“We cannot continue drilling tens of thousands of holes to find deposits. The future of exploration has to be more ethical and more efficient,” she stressed.

Fewer discoveries, higher demand

The CEO of Fleet Space Technologies said the decline in global mineral discovery rates is occurring precisely at a time when demand for critical minerals is reaching historic highs.

“We have been searching for copper for thousands of years. The easiest deposits have already been found, and now new resources are deeper and lower grade,” she said.

In this context, she argued that the mining industry needs to adopt new technologies linked to automation, big data, and artificial intelligence more rapidly.

“Exploration is not a straight line. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. But the goal is to find more minerals faster and do it together with technological support,” she concluded.