News

Dubai Survey Drones Explore Minerals In Central Asia

The UAVs reduce costs and boost efficiency by replacing helicopters and large teams of researchers and geophysicists.

Published

3 years ago

December 14, 2023

Nour Nasir

dubai survey drones explore minerals in central asia

Microavia

Microavia, a UAE-based company established in Dubai in 2022, delivers drone-based solutions for security, monitoring, and surveying.

Now, the company is helping geologists and researchers explore mineral deposits in Central Asia and Kazakhstan. Microavia’s advanced aerial surveying platform, Fortis, provides detailed information about an area’s geological structure, reducing task times by half and drastically cutting costs.

“We have successfully concluded all preflight tests with Microavia Fortis. A special feature of their geodrone is their ability to stay in the air for up to 60 minutes. The drone can carry up to 12 kg of payload. [and has] shown high efficiency in conducting aeromagnetic surveys due to the stability of the flight direction even in strong winds and long flight time,” explained Kirill Bazhin, CEO of Geodevice Kazakhstan.

Microavia drones hover at low altitudes between 40 and 100 meters, scanning the ground in 400-meter-wide sections. Hundreds of miles of land can be surveyed in days instead of weeks or months, and mineral exploration missions can now be undertaken in previously inaccessible areas.

“Big thanks to Microavia for supplying us with their drones for Terra Exploration. The 45-minute flight time with the magnetometer is quite impressive! Moreover, their team provided us with a beneficial and enjoyable pilot course. I can’t wait to start using these drones in our work,” said Nikita Shaliuto, geophysicist of Terra Exploration.

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According to recent reports, aluminum, copper, gold, and lithium deposits fall short of anticipated demand. Central Asia, and especially Kazakhstan, has a vast unexplored reserve of minerals, and drone-based exploration can help speed up their extraction.

Microavia’s export of advanced UAVs is also bolstering efforts by the UAE to diversify its industrial sector from traditional oil, petroleum, and gas production.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

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The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.