Squadrone Infra & Industrias Geodia Partner for Mineral Exploration

Mumbai, Jan 24 (PTI) Bengaluru-based drone platform Squadrone Infra and Mining has partnered with South American firm Industrias Geodia for mineral exploration.

The collaboration will tap into opportunities estimated to be worth USD 3-4 billion in the mineral exploration space in India, the Middle East, and the South Asia region, Squadrone Infra said in a statement on Wednesday.

The startup, which is into aerial intelligence for mineral exploration, mining, tunnelling, and infrastructure, said it played a crucial role in the Silkyara tunnel rescue in Uttarakhand last year.

Global demand for critical minerals essential for green energy has created a significant supply gap. This urgency has led to a focus on discovering vital minerals like nickel, cobalt, niobium, graphite, lithium, and other green energy minerals, it said.

According to the statement, the alliance is set to tackle this global demand for critical minerals essential for green energy and will also facilitate the completion of exploration processes.

Guyana-based multinational firm Industrias Geodia, which has branches across Colombia, British Guyana, Venezuela, has expertise in dealing with alluvial and hard rock deposits.

"Through this initiative, we will be integrating our drone-based technology with Geodia Industries' prowess in AI (Artificial Intelligence) and (Machine Learning) ML-driven exploration technology to push the boundaries of geophysical prospecting," Cyriac Joseph, Founder and CEO of Squadrone Infra, said.

Jorge Negrette, CEO of Geodia Industries, said the collaboration is a game-changer for the geophysical exploration sector and added, "we will be breaking new ground in mineral exploration, particularly in challenging and inaccessible regions".

By leveraging technologies like drone-based Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and drone-based magnetometer -MagArrow, this partnership's non-destructive technology pushes the boundaries of industry norms, he stated.