PlotLogic, an Australia-based startup focused on using AI to discover critical minerals, has raised a significant amount of capital in a Series B funding round.

Plotlogic is a 5-year-old company founded by Andrew Job, a former mining executive and PhD.

The mining technology uses sensors and artificial intelligence to determine the quality of minerals on a mine tenement site, offering significant efficiency gains and low environmental impact assessments.

The funding round was led by former US Presidential Candidate Tom Steyer and Katie Hall’s Galvanize Climate Solutions, along with French company Schneider Electric, according to the WSJ.

According to the AFR, BHP, Brazilian miner Vale, South32, and Pilbara Minerals all use the technology provided by PlotLogic.

The company undertook a successful Series A in 2022, with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavours and BHP.

Andrew Job told the Australian Financial Review he was pleased with an oversubscribed and ahead-of-schedule Series B investment round.

“In what has been a pretty dire market for a lot of tech stocks, we are excited that we were able to raise money and raise on a higher valuation; it’s a really good endorsement for what we’re building,” Job said.

The company says the tech allows mining companies “to precisely understand the location and material properties of every rock in your mine, in real-time.

“We have helped some of the world’s top mining companies utilise this precision ore-body knowledge to make better decisions, improve ore recovery, reduce dilution and enhance environmental and social governance performance.”

The firm has a ‘Mars Rover’ looking hardware that can be used on mining sites and is aimed at increasing the likelihood of finding, funding and securing critical minerals for decarbonisation supply chains.