Barrick Gold signs multi-year AI deal with Avathon ahead of planned North American IPO

Barrick Mining Corporation is betting on artificial intelligence to sharpen its edge before one of the mining sector’s most anticipated public offerings. The company’s North American unit signed a multi-year strategic partnership with Avathon, an industrial AI firm, with the collaboration capable of generating up to $20 million annually for the technology provider. The agreement, announced on September 23, 2026, centers on deploying Avathon’s Autonomy Platform across Barrick’s North American gold assets. That means AI embedded into exploration, mine planning, production logistics, and supply chain operations, essentially every major step between dirt and delivery. What Avathon actually does Avathon, formerly known as SparkCognition, builds industrial AI for high-stakes physical environments. Think predictive maintenance for heavy equipment, safety monitoring on active mine sites, and geological analysis that would otherwise require armies of specialists. The specific targets here are equipment reliability and geological intelligence, two areas where unplanned downtime or a missed vein can cost tens of millions. Predictive maintenance alone, catching a mechanical failure before it h...