Flavia Tata Nardini, CEO and co-founder of Fleet Space Technologies, said that Saudi Arabia is deploying one of the world’s largest mining exploration programs using satellite technology and real-time geophysical systems.
The executive explained that the Australian company has a long-term multimillion-dollar agreement with Saudi miner Maaden to map extensive areas of the kingdom’s territory in search of new mineral resources.
“We are running the largest exploration program in the world in Saudi Arabia with Maaden,” she said in an interview with the Peruvian Institute of Mining Engineers as part of the World Mining Congress 2026, which will take place from June 24 to 26 at the Lima Convention Center.
According to Tata Nardini, the project involves the use of satellite-connected seismic sensors, artificial intelligence, and automated geological data processing to accelerate the identification of potential mineral deposits.
“Fleet has a multimillion-dollar, multi-year agreement to map the entire geological shield of Saudi Arabia,” she said.
The executive noted that last year alone the company mapped around 12,000 square kilometers in Saudi territory, a scale she described as ‘enormous’ by global mining exploration standards.
Space-Connected Exploration
The World Mining Congress 2026 speaker explained that Fleet Space Technologies’ technological approach is based on integrating seismic geophysics, satellite connectivity, and automation to drastically reduce exploration timelines.
“Traditional geophysics can be very slow. You may wait months to receive data. We send information from the ground to satellites and the cloud in real time,” she said.
The company uses Exosphere, a platform that processes 3D seismic data to identify deep geological structures associated with mineralization, a technique widely used in oil and gas but still underdeveloped in mining.
“Seismic technology allows us to understand structures, not just anomalies. That completely changes how the subsurface is interpreted,” she explained.
The CEO said the goal is to enable mining companies to make exploration decisions in days instead of years, especially at a time when mineral deposits are becoming deeper and harder to find.
Global Boom in Critical Minerals
Tata Nardini said Saudi Arabia’s growing interest in expanding its mining industry is driven by rising global demand for critical minerals needed for the energy transition.
“We have been searching for copper for thousands of years, and new deposits are becoming deeper and deeper. Something has to change,” she said.
She added that mining exploration is undergoing a transformation driven by artificial intelligence, automation, and large-scale data analysis.
“We need to find more minerals faster and do it together with technological support,” she stressed.
Currently, Fleet Space Technologies has developed nearly 165 exploration projects worldwide over the past decade, including operations in Canada, Australia, South America, and Saudi Arabia.
These and other trends reshaping mineral exploration worldwide will be discussed by Flavia Tata Nardini during the panel “How Do We Find the Minerals?” at the World Mining Congress 2026. The event will bring together industry leaders, technology experts, and researchers from around the world from June 24 to 26 in Lima. For more information and registration, visit wmc2026.org.
