Quantum computing in mining and materials

When people in mining hear “quantum,” they usually picture a computer. The quantum technology closest to a mine site today is a sensor. Quantum computing in mining is a separate and slower story, split between materials research and optimization pilots. And a third topic, post-quantum cryptography, matters to any company running autonomous fleets from a remote operations center. It helps to keep the three apart, because they run on different timelines and need different budgets.

How close is quantum sensing to real mineral exploration?

Quantum sensing is the quantum technology closest to real mineral exploration. Quantum gravity sensors measure small changes in the Earth’s gravity field that point to density differences underground, and startups are building them for exploration with backing from mining companies. They add to a geophysics team’s toolkit rather than replacing it.

Many quantum gravimeters and gradiometers use clouds of laser-cooled atoms to measure very small changes in the Earth’s gravity field. Those changes reflect density differences underground, which can point to ore bodies or geological structures without drilling.

This is moving past the lab. Atomionics, a startup that pairs quantum gravity sensing with AI modeling for exploration, lists BHP among its investors. Other companies are working on quantum magnetometry for the same purpose.

None of this replaces a geophysics team. It may give them faster, denser surveys, and fewer holes drilled into targets that turn out to be empty. If you run exploration, the useful step this year is to ask your geophysics contractors whether they are testing quantum sensors, and on what terms you could join a trial.

Where could quantum computing help a mining company, and how soon?

Quantum computing could help a mining company in two places: simulating materials and processing chemistry, which needs error-corrected machines and is years away, and optimizing mine planning or maintenance, where early pilots exist but classical tools remain strong. Neither justifies a large budget in 2026, though small, well-measured pilots can.

Materials and processing chemistry

Simulating how atoms and electrons behave is hard for classical computers, and it sits under many mining questions: new cathode materials for lithium batteries, catalysts, leaching and flotation chemistry, corrosion. Many researchers expect this to be one of the first areas where quantum computers pay off.

It is still early. In 2020 IBM and Daimler researchers modeled small molecules related to lithium-sulfur batteries, such as lithium hydride and lithium sulfide, with simulations on up to 21 qubits and runs on IBM quantum hardware. That was a methods paper, not a new material. Industrially useful simulations are expected to need error-corrected machines with thousands of logical qubits. For a producer of lithium or copper, the realistic move is to follow this through the battery makers and universities you already work with.

Mine planning and maintenance

Block sequencing, fleet dispatch, blending and maintenance scheduling are large optimization problems. They have the shape that quantum optimization targets, and they already have strong classical tools. There are early pilots in the region. Kipu Quantum, which has operations in Peru, signed an alliance with NTT DATA to take quantum computing to Latin American industry. Mining companies in Peru and Chile are natural candidates for that kind of work.

Treat these as learning projects. If you want to run one, pick a problem where you already have clean data and a classical model to beat.

Is there a Latin American angle?

Latin America has a clear angle on quantum technology in mining. Chile’s national quantum strategy names mining among the sectors where it expects quantum solutions to be tested, and Colombia’s science ministry funds quantum projects on strategic minerals and quantum sensing. For Andean producers, public co-funding for pilots is getting easier to find.

Chile’s National Quantum Technologies Strategy for 2025 to 2035, published in December 2025, names energy, mining, telecommunications and logistics among the sectors where quantum solutions should be tested and scaled. Colombia’s science ministry, in its ColombIA Inteligente 2026 call, included a line on sustainable energy and strategic minerals (with quantum simulation of materials) and another on quantum sensing and metrology. For copper, lithium and gold producers in the Andes, that means public money is available for sensing and materials pilots, and universities in the region are training the people to run them.

The security side: OT, remote operations and long-lived data

Modern mines are connected systems. Autonomous haul trucks, remote operations centers far from the pit, industrial control networks and vendor remote access all depend on public-key cryptography, mostly RSA and elliptic curves. NIST published its post-quantum standards in August 2024, and its draft NIST IR 8547 plans to deprecate those algorithms in 2030 and disallow them in 2035.

Two things make mining harder than an office network. OT equipment stays in service for a long time and often can’t take new cryptography through a software update. And some mining data keeps its value for years: drill results, resource models, and the terms of offtake contracts. Anything someone records now could be read once large quantum computers exist. If your operation is treated as critical infrastructure, the reference date to watch is the EU’s coordinated roadmap, which asks for critical infrastructure to move to post-quantum cryptography no later than the end of 2030.

A short plan for this year

1. Ask your exploration contractors about quantum gravity and magnetic sensor trials.
2. Pick one planning or maintenance problem with good data, and decide whether it is worth a scoped pilot against a classical baseline.
3. Add post-quantum support and crypto-agility to OT and autonomy procurement requirements.
4. Inventory the cryptography in your remote operations and vendor access paths.

Where AndesQubit fits

Our quantum use case discovery sorts which of your planning and chemistry problems are worth watching and which a classical solver already handles. A quantum strategy and roadmap ties sensing, computing and security into one plan with dates, and our post-quantum cryptography migration work covers OT and remote operations. If your mining operation includes power generation, see energy and utilities. We are opening engagements in stages; contact us to join the early-access list.