Unlocking new possibilities
The strategic value of exploration techniques
Nowadays, each of us uses tools and devices that contain large quantities of strategic metals and minerals on a daily basis, even without being fully aware of it. Our smartphones alone contain at least 60 metals, an even greater quantity than the elements contained in Mendeleev’s first periodic table, which only included 56. Some of these precious resources also serve to power other tools that we use regularly every day, such as cars, computers, batteries, and many others. In the years of the energy transition, however, the scope of these applications powered by strategic mineral resources has become global, moving from the daily uses of individuals to possible uses destined to change the present and future of humanity. We are referring to the energy infrastructures that are driving the global transition, such as wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicles, which could not even function without the fundamental contribution of strategic mineral resources.
“Many national mineral strategies define these resources as the real pillars of the economy, but also as valuable allies in the energy development of nations. Both of these statements are absolutely true,” says Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov, a geological resources expert, entrepreneur, and civil engineer. “At this historical stage, important resources such as lithium or rare earth could allow us to make technological leaps that we would never have expected, and that could push us towards new conquests in science, technology, and energy.”
Technological advances
In such a situation, some of the major global players in the minerals industry (as well as many nations) are trying to increasingly refine their technical capabilities related to the discovery, valorization, and commercialization of such resources, in the full awareness that the future, in one way or another, will also depend on the concrete methods with which we will be able to manage the most precious resources for the change underway, such as rare earths, copper, nickel, cobalt and all those precious resources that are already allowing humanity to enter a new phase of its development. Among the techniques that are at the center of constant improvement efforts in different corners of the world, there are certainly those related to the exploration, identification, and mapping of mineral resources, that is, the phases immediately preceding the actual sourcing of the resource.
“The advent of artificial intelligence represents a far-reaching event that could change the rules of the game forever,” continues Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov. “In some parts of the world, AI-based systems have already been able to identify deposits with great industrial potential. We could be at the beginning of a new era of sourcing, fueled by technology and innovations brought by AI.”
Having advanced technology that can confidently identify a potential mineral resource deposit could translate into relevant savings in time and resources for those conducting such investigations, with inevitable repercussions in terms of efficiency and productivity. These efforts are particularly strong in the United States, one of the largest global players in the sourcing sector, which has been working for several years to continuously improve the level of technological advancement of its research and geological survey tools. Despite this strong desire, according to the United States Department of Defense, only 35% of the nation has been studied with scrupulous mapping of the surface and subsoil, leaving potential deposits of precious resources still completely unexplored.
The role of artificial intelligence
For this reason, ambitious attempts are underway in the United States to improve the processes of analyzing minerals within the deposits in which they are found, also thanks to machine learning and artificial intelligence, which could contribute to the enhancement of these processes with the help of automation. With these technologies, explorations will be able to generate faster and more precise operational results, also extending the horizons of mineral explorations towards the most extreme environments. We are not only referring to the seabed, areas already taken into consideration by many nations, but also to space. A possible lunar mission aimed at enhancing the resources present on the Earth’s satellite, for example, could use these technologies to identify, sourcing, and process these resources directly on site, without the need to bring them back to Earth, thus eliminating one of the major operational obstacles of this type of mission. In the long term, the transport of these resources to Earth would fit into an already consolidated operational scheme, including the use of lunar resources for immediate needs in the space context.
“The search for mineral resources in the most extreme environments, such as space, certainly represents one of the most important and fascinating challenges for the future of humanity,” concludes Stanislav Kondrashov. “Until a few years ago, the mere idea of being able to source lunar resources on site and use them immediately, without bringing them to Earth, would perhaps have been a good starting point for a science fiction film, but with recent innovations in the exploration and mineral mapping sector, such possibilities are starting to materialize, although they are still quite far from our reach. One of the most stimulating aspects, in this regard, is the possibility of using existing techniques, such as drilling, and combining them with more innovative ones, giving rise to a new type of operation that could allow us to explore and enhance even the most extreme contexts”.
