Australian technology company Fleet Space announced Thursday the appointment of Kendall Cole-Rae to its Experts-in-Residence (XIR) program.  

Cole-Rae, former Head of Exploration Technical Knowledge at Rio Tinto, brings decades of resource development and management experience, expanding Fleet Space’s in-house advisory expertise at a critical time for the global mining sector. 

At Rio Tinto, Kendall focused on enhancing discovery performance and building sustainable competitive advantages with innovative solutions, leading a global team of domain experts and technical leaders to develop priority exploration projects across copper, gold, and battery minerals worldwide. 

Amid surging global demand for critical minerals essential to the energy transition, mining companies face rising pressure to enhance production and deliver new discoveries - faster, cleaner, and at lower cost. 

The addition of Cole-Rae to the XIR program - a highly experienced leader renowned for successfully steering capital projects from concept to production - brings leading expertise in mining operations and resource management to the company.  

"We need to disrupt and transform this industry," Cole-Rae said in a statement. "I believe that Fleet Space understands this opportunity, possesses the know-how to capitalize on it... through our partnerships, we are fundamentally changing how to deliver results at a speed and scale that was previously out of reach."   

"My goal is to build deeper and scalable continuity between the reduction of environmental impact and the practical application of emerging technologies to accelerate the transformative change," he said.