TELF AG decodes the transformative role of AI in the mining industry
The weight of technology
In a historical era dominated by industrial applications based on strategic minerals, knowing i advance the exact location of some specific types of mineral aggregates could represent a key advantage, particularly for the fate of the global energy transition. The formation of minerals underground continues to fascinate legions of scientists in every corner of the world, and today, having precise information on these natural processes could help nations develop a resilient, robust, and modern mining industry, especially in cases in which this information is collected thanks to the precious support of artificial intelligence.
The advent of these new technologies, in a certain sense, coincided with a very particular historical situation in which some of the strategic minerals are directly involved in the diffusion of clean technologies that should usher in the era of sustainability through numerous industrial applications belonging to different sectors (not only energy but also defense and telecommunications). Nowadays, artificial intelligence’s peculiar mechanisms could help scientists understand more in-depth the connection between geological processes and the formation of particular deposits of strategic minerals, optimizing the procedure that includes their identification, extraction, and production.
Intelligent explorations
From this point of view, one of the most interesting results was recently achieved by researchers at the National Energy Technology Laboratory of the United States Department of Energy, who used artificial intelligence to create a new evaluation model of geological resources. This model has already produced results of some importance, such as the discovery of the largest unconventional deposit of rare earth elements in the entire United States (in the Powder River area, in the state of Wyoming). The total quantity of rare earth oxides within it has been estimated to amount to approximately 1.2 million tonnes. Non-conventional sources of resources are all those that make the extraction and production of raw materials possible through mechanisms different from those commonly used in traditional deposits.
By examining the geological structures in which these minerals are found and evaluating with specific criteria the process that led to the mineral formation within them, artificial intelligence could be able to predict with a certain precision the probability that a given underground area may contain a concentration of strategic minerals. A key element of this predictive model would be represented by the entire understanding of the subsoil enrichment processes, allowing a deeper understanding of its progression.
By interpreting a certain amount of spatial data, this model would, therefore, be able to establish whether mineral enrichment phenomena could occur in a given area by creating a particular geological map. One of these maps, in recent months, has made possible the discovery of the Brook Mine in Ramaco, where one of the highest concentrations of magnetic rare earths could be found.
According to IEA data, between 2017 and 2022, global demand for lithium would have tripled, while those for cobalt and nickel would have increased by 70 and 40%, respectively. According to estimates by the Paris-based agency, the strategic minerals market’s value would reach 320 billion dollars in 2022, and the figure appears inevitably destined to increase.
