US ‘Nickel Hunters’ Talon and Fleet Pilot Satellite-Enabled Mineral Exploration Technology to Help Secure US Electronic Vehicle Battery Supply Chain

Talon Metals Corp. and Fleet Space Technologies (“Fleet”) have agreed to pilot Fleet’s ExoSphere rapid mineral exploration solution at Talon’s exploration projects in Minnesota and Michigan. Talon is exploring for high-grade nickel deposits in the United States to supply the domestic battery supply chain with nickel and other battery materials required in the energy transition. 

“We are excited to work with Fleet to pilot their impressive advanced seismic tomography approach to mineral discovery and pair it with our in-house exploration teams’ unique approach to finding more high-grade nickel in the United States,” said Henri von Rooyen, CEO of Talon.  He continued “Fleet’s technology has the potential to deliver two tantalizing results for geologists like our team of proven “nickel hunters”:  speed and accuracy. Increased accuracy means less disturbance of the earth as compared to conventional exploration practices. Speed means a faster path to discovering the metallic minerals like nickel that society needs for the energy transition.”

Fleet’s ExoSphere technology scans the ground using an advanced seismic tomography technique, called Ambient Noise Tomography (ANT), where highly transportable ‘Geode’ devices listen to faint background vibrations from natural and man-made sources. The data is then processed rapidly and transmitted from anywhere in the world through Fleet’s constellation of low earth orbit satellites, recently launched by SpaceX.

“Our satellite enabled earth sub-scanning technology will play a vital role in securing the US mineral supply chain quickly, sustainably and less expensively. Fleet is excited to be working with Talon to pilot our ground-breaking exploration technology in North America,” said Matt Pearson, Chief Exploration Officer & Co-Founder, Fleet Space Technologies. “With Fleet’s ExoSphere technology, we are able to easily scan the earth in 3D, faster and with less environmental impact than ever before possible. This cleaner, faster and more flexible approach to exploration answers the urgent global need to find the minerals and metals required in the energy transition. ExoSphere is supporting the world’s transition to more sustainable practices by speeding up vital mineral discoveries more than one hundred-fold.”

This landmark agreement in the United States follows the successful completion of live field trials in Australia where Fleet’s Exosphere technology was proven to  non-invasively find critical lithium deposits more quickly than traditional methods.

In a statement to the ASX (1st August 2022), Core Lithium described the results of the trial as “an outstanding success”, noting an excellent correlation with the pegmatite body interpreted from drilling to depths in excess of 500m and stating that a number of previously unknown targets have emerged – a major boost for exploration.

EXOSPHERE: REVOLUTIONISING EXPLORATION

Fleet’s ExoSphere technology has been created to answer the urgent global requirement to find a dramatically more sustainable, economically viable and faster route to finding critical mineral deposits. Since introducing ExoSphere technology to the market in Q1 2022, Fleet has been engaged by the world’s leading exploration companies.

In completing these successful field trials, ExoSphere has emphatically proven its viability to support the discovery of more than $13trillion in additional energy transition minerals. This figure is stated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as required to meet global net zero targets to enable the transition of vehicles to clean-air powertrains.