Finding new ways to extract copper from ore is a challenge scientists and metallurgists have been working on for decades. BHP, the world's largest copper producer, is focusing on digitalisation and artificial intelligence.
BHP is the world’s largest copper producer and has increased copper production by around 30 per cent since 2021. That’s because more copper is needed to support a growing population, the energy transition, digitalisation and the AI revolution, the company says. A collaboration between BHP and Microsoft is now accelerating discovery of advanced copper leaching solutions, to unlock value.
According to BHP, copper leaching is complex and discovering better ways to recover copper from ore has relied on slow, manual trial and error processes. There are millions of possible molecules, both known and yet to be discovered, that could potentially improve copper leaching. Testing them one by one in a lab would take years, if not decades. In partnership with Microsoft and Prescience Insilico, BHP set out to test whether advanced computing could speed up the discovery process without compromising scientific rigour or operational relevance.
The models are grounded in the real conditions of ore
Using Microsoft Discovery – a platform designed to accelerate scientific R&D through high performance computing and specialised AI agents – the team of BHP can speed up scientific discovery through computational workflows, targeting the things that matter most for BHP’s global copper operations, the company says. The models are grounded in the real conditions of ore at BHP’s copper operations, ensuring the results are practical, relevant and scalable.
“As the first mining partner on Microsoft Discovery, BHP is leading the way in exploring how advanced computing and scientific capabilities can help tackle complex industry challenges,” says Aseem Datar, Corporate Vice President, Product Innovation for Microsoft Discovery.
Working with Microsoft, the BHP team screened more than half a million molecules that might help extract copper more efficiently. This involved running tens of thousands of quantum chemistry calculations and simulations, narrowing the field to a number of molecules for testing by scientists in Australian laboratories.
“As copper demand grows and new deposits become harder and more expensive to develop, improving recovery from existing ores is a critical lever to help meet future supply needs“, says BHP Vice President Innovation Jessica Farrell. “Those candidates are being tested against the realities of our ore bodies and operating constraints, so we are solving for what can actually work in practice. This shows how technology and human expertise can be applied together to solve complex, real-world challenges”, Farrell says.
Source: BHP
