American exploration firm Ivanhoe Electric to help Kingdom explore harsher terrains  

American exploration firm Ivanhoe Electric to help Kingdom explore harsher terrains  

RIYADH: American technology and mineral exploration firm Ivanhoe Electric aims to help Saudi Arabia "separate the haystack from the needle" as the Kingdom looks deeper into the Earth’s surface to extract mineral deposits, according to the company's founder. Speaking at the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh on Jan. 11, Robert Friedland, who is also the co-chairman of the firm, said Ivanhoe’s electric Typhoon system will enable the Kingdom to explore harsher terrains as the mineral deposits closest to the surface have already been discovered. He insists that technology has a major role to play as the world goes much deeper to extract minerals to meet the growing demand – while keeping environmental issues such as climate change in mind. Earlier in the day, the American firm formed a joint venture with Saudi Arabian Mining Co., also known as Ma’aden, to explore and develop mining projects in the Kingdom. The typhoon system is Ivanhoe’s proprietary exploration surveying technology that injects extremely high-powered currents deep underground. Explaining more about the technology, Friedland said the system takes a 20-kilometer-long wire putting its two ends into the earth and injecting bolts of electromagnetic energy at the output of a nuclear power plant. “If there's