Discovering new deposits of critical and rare earth minerals is paramount to delivering global net-zero ambitions. However, finding new ore bodies is becoming more challenging due to increasing costs and geopolitical tensions. What is more, much of the low-hanging fruit, so to speak, has already been exploited.
Could technological advances help broaden the search and speed up the process? Dr Bryony Richards, a senior research scientist with the Energy & Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah in the US, believes so.
Richards and her colleagues are incorporating NASA’s and Japan’s global Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) imagery with that of new satellite data, advances in computing power and AI. With this approach, they are developing a comprehensive first-of-a-kind method to uncover the ‘fingerprints’ of mineral deposits that could eventually provide a more cost and time-effective way of mapping minerals in remote areas.
Researchers in Utah are combining satellites, hyperspectral imaging and AI to discover mineral deposits in remote locations.