Scribd
Upload
18 views7 pages

AI in Mining

Gold exploration has seen a decline in discoveries despite increased spending, with advanced AI technologies now playing a crucial role in identifying deeper and more complex deposits. AI is also being utilized to reduce the environmental impact of mining through real-time monitoring and data analysis, enhancing safety and operational efficiency across various mining sectors. Companies like Goldspot Discoveries and Kraken are leveraging AI to improve mineral exploration and underwater mining, while addressing challenges such as safety in coal mining and the volatility of copper prices.

Uploaded by

darshduejain
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
18 views7 pages

AI in Mining

Gold exploration has seen a decline in discoveries despite increased spending, with advanced AI technologies now playing a crucial role in identifying deeper and more complex deposits. AI is also being utilized to reduce the environmental impact of mining through real-time monitoring and data analysis, enhancing safety and operational efficiency across various mining sectors. Companies like Goldspot Discoveries and Kraken are leveraging AI to improve mineral exploration and underwater mining, while addressing challenges such as safety in coal mining and the volatility of copper prices.

Uploaded by

darshduejain
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 7

Gold exploration needs:

Historically, major gold discoveries have outpaced exploration spending;


however, in 2012, spending peaked at USD $6.1 billion. And a total of
four deposits were discovered between 2013 and 2015, whereas before
2012, the industry found an average of 10 per year.

Source: https://goldspot.ca/about-us/
Future discoveries are likely to be deeper and more complex ore bodies
that are hidden by overburden and other geological structures. Machine
learning has shown to be a promising tool in processing the
overwhelming amount of data collected during exploration and is key to
finding these more complex deposits. The way it accomplishes that is by:
1 Using training data (maps with known deposits and characteristics)
2 Data is cleaned, transformed, interpreted, and then used to train
machines in order to predict targets
3 Targets are identified with high potential for mineralization or extraction
Goldspot Discoveries Corp uses artificial intelligence for improving
mineral exploration by ingesting different data from which to discover
potential gold deposit locations. The company, through AI, advanced
analytics, and simulation modeling, has the potential to add more than
$11 billion in additional value to the mining industry.

Reducing environmental impact with AI

Mining by its nature is destructive and has a negative


environmental impact. While it isn’t possible to completely
eliminate the negative environmental impact of mining, it is
possible to significantly reduce this impact by managing how
resources are extracted, transported, and treated. Cameras
and sensors are being deployed around mines, both on the
inside and outside to have constant surveillance. These devices
are able to monitor excavation, extraction, and general mining
activities, keeping tabs on the spread of waste and harmful
materials.

What makes AI monitored devices different from “dumb”


devices is the analysis of the data. These AI enabled devices
are capable of instantly analyzing and interpreting large
volumes of sensor data, and alerting when an issue is present.
These systems can spot patterns that may be of concern.
Regular tremors, temperature changes, and events across
multiple parts of the mine can all be recognized by machine
learning.

Artificial intelligence has had a broad impact on the mining


industry. Mining equipment manufacturers and development
companies are increasingly making use of AI to provide
greater value and reliability to the industry while also
increasing safety and reducing environmental impact. The
impact AI is already having is being shown through safer
mines, reduced impact on the environment, improved
economics and profitability, and increased extraction of
precious resources.

Challenges
There are 10 billion tons of polymetallic nodules in the world’s ocean
floors, rich in minerals like gold, copper, and cobalt. As of January 2020,
the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has entered into 30 contracts
for deep-sea mining around the world. These involve exploration for
polymetallic nodules, polymetallic sulphides, and cobalt-rich
ferromanganese crusts. ISA is expected to issue regulations for mining
in the ocean by 2021. But the biggest challenge confronting companies
is the disruption from environmental impact assessments.

AI-based solutions

Kraken, a company based in Germany, has already received $900,000


in contracts for their SeaVision product. The foundation of this
underwater vehicle is AI and it addresses many of the challenges that
underwater mining operations face.

The SeaVision AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) uses scanners


and sensors while crawling at the bottom of deep underwater seabeds,
identifying safe mining locations. The SeaVision system has an
autonomous obstacle avoidance system and will identify species in a
benthic (the bottom of a body of water) habitat, preventing its
destruction. Over time, it begins to add to its own database and
improves its ability to locate optimal undersea mines.

This type of application will significantly reduce the environmental


footprint associated with sea mining and will provide the basis for
meeting industrial subsea activity regulations. The sensors and scanners
on the AUVs ensure that the geography of the seabed in question won’t
lead to algae bloom or habitat destruction based on elevation levels. AI
enables this task to be done on-demand and remotely, which helps not
only the environment but also employees.
Challenges

The most prevalent problem in coal mining is safety. Black lung and
silicosis are two highly damaging health conditions for coal miners due to
the gasses and chemicals they are exposed to daily. The issue goes well
beyond illness. Miners the world over are constantly in danger of gas,
water, fire, structural collapse, and dense dust.

AI-based solutions

Artificial intelligence in coal mining can go a long way in improving


workers’ safety.

In hazardous environments, there need to be systems in place that will


reduce the number of people who are active in the mines at any one
time.

In every coal mining plant, there are operators who conduct repetitive
but judgment-based decisions that ensure the scrapers mine the right
locations. At a mine in Inner Mongolia with an annual output of 21.7
million tons, 900 people are needed to act as operators. However, AI
and a neural network mean that many of these operators don’t need to
be physically inside a mine.

Mine Brain, Huawei’s big data-powered solution, brings impressive


safety improvements by optimizing workplace presence and control. By
using Mine Brain, coal mining companies can input data from previous
years and allow the product to develop thorough algorithmic capabilities
to operate the scrapers without needing human interaction or
involvement from within the cave.

In addition, Huawei’s AI solution can also protect other workers inside


the mines by alerting them of any changes in the workplace environment
such as gas levels. Similarly, computer vision can warn of people
working in front of shears or spot missing hydraulic support guard plates.

Application of AI in copper mining

Copper mining has remained one of the main industries in the US ever
since the emergence of the northern Michigan copper region in the
1840s. Today, the USA is the fifth largest copper producer in the world
after Chile, Peru, China, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Challenges

Volatile commodity prices are a major concern for the copper mining
sector, which results in pressure on profitability. Another challenge is
determining the maturity level of the mine. Later in its life span, a mine
yields lower grades, while transportation distances lengthen.

AI-based solutions

In mining, fast and accurate decision making is crucial. By employing


insight-driven decision making, enabled by AI, companies can
substantially boost their profits.

A Deloitte-Norcat report highlights how AI can dramatically improve


efficiency. Companies can use AI to eliminate errors and quickly derive
patterns from large amounts of data. This increases the consistency of
positive returns, which are usually subject to human error.
This technology brings with it the promise of a closed-loop, thanks to a
set of mechanical or electronic devices that don’t involve human
interaction, since they themselves automatically regulate the process to
the desired state or setpoint. This advance is critical to the copper
mining industry, and not only because it cuts costs and eliminates errors.
It also allows companies to establish standards of best practice and
helps them to monitor each operator so that they can preemptively act
on decline in performance and drive forward workforce excellence.

In 2018, McKinsey AI data scientists worked with Freeport-McMoRan, a


mining company based in Arizona. The McKinsey employees facilitated
the creation of a custom-built AI program in mining that looked for
operational inefficiencies and was loaded with three years’ worth of
operating data from the mill. The impact was hugely impressive: copper-
ore concentrating mills sustained a faster pace with no loss of efficiency.

In fact, Freeport-McMoRan reported that as time progressed and they


became more familiar with AI techniques and analytics, they could scan
vast amounts of data, identifying even more operational changes that
might improve performance. This case study of a company that
embraced AI in copper mining very early on proved to the entire industry
that the technology had the capability to transform bottom lines and
much more.

Challenges

REEs are essential for renewable energy, especially in the creation of


wind turbines for offshore power. The future of US offshore wind energy
relies on a consistent supply of REEs. The US and many other countries
are reliant on Chinese REE imports. Unfortunately, Chinese litigation is
restricting mining in many locations, meaning exports may become
unstable.

AI-based solutions
There are five phases within REE mining: prospecting, discovery,
development, operation/production, and reclamation. In the
operation/production phase companies answer the question of how to
mine, mill, and process the discovered ores. It is here that AI has the
most impactful presence.

The Kore Geosystems company won $500,000 in funding for their idea
of leveraging AI in combination with installing measurement instruments
onto drill rigs for real-time automated geological data acquisition and
decision making. This will fast-track exploration campaigns and vastly
reduce costs. For Chinese mining companies, this equates to efficiency
and informed decisions about which plots of land they will use for drilling
and which plots they will reserve.

On a similar note, Ozius Spatial, a company utilizing machine learning,


has figured out practices to better prevent environmental destruction –
the root cause of Chinese restraints on mining. By deploying satellite
imagery and drones, companies don’t have to be on-site and can use
remote-sensing algorithms, supported by machine learning, to enable
them to assess large tracts of land.

You might also like