Beyond Outreach: Robotised Exploration and Mining in the Arctic Subsurface

Europe’s green future depends on critical raw materials but today, Europe relies heavily on imports from abroad, especially China. BOREAS is changing that.

The BOREAS project is developing a new generation of intelligent, low-impact mining technologies to unlock Europe’s access to critical raw materials essential for electric vehicles, renewable energy, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing. At the centre of the project is the Malmbjerg deposit in Greenland — one of the world’s largest untapped sources of molybdenum, with valuable magnesium by-products.

Mining in the Arctic is one of the toughest industrial challenges on Earth. Extreme weather, fragile ecosystems, and high operational costs demand a radically different approach. BOREAS answers this challenge with autonomous aerial and ground robots equipped with advanced sensing technologies. These robotic fleets will explore, map, and monitor the subsurface in real time, identifying contamination before it reduces ore quality or creates environmental risks.

All information collected by the robots feeds into a live digital twin — a dynamic virtual model of the mine that predicts contamination, optimises operations, and supports environmentally responsible decision-making. This allows mining to become smarter, safer, cleaner, and fully traceable.

BOREAS combines robotics, AI, digitalisation, and environmental intelligence to create a new benchmark for sustainable mining in sensitive environments. By reducing waste, lowering environmental impact, and improving resource efficiency, the project will strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy in critical raw materials while demonstrating how responsible mining can be achieved worldwide.