Artificial intelligence, machine learning primed to deliver 'a wave of discoveries'

The past 20 years have seen remarkable advances in the mining industry, particularly in mineral exploration technologies with vast volumes of data generated from geologic, geophysical, geochemical, satellite and other surveying techniques. However, the abundance of data has not necessarily translated into the discovery of new deposits, according to Colin Barnett, co-founder of BW Mining, a Boulder, Colorado-based data mining and mineral exploration company. "One of the problems we're facing in exploration is the huge increase in the amounts of data we have to look at," said Barnett, in his presentation at the Managing and exploring big data through artificial intelligence and machine learning session the recent PDAC 2020 convention in Toronto. "And although it's high-quality data, the sheer volume is becoming almost overwhelming for human interpreters, and so we need help in getting to the bottom of it." By integrating hundreds or even thousands of interdependent layers of data, with each layer making its own statistically determined contribution, machine learning offers a solution to the problem of tackling the massive amounts of data generated, and a powerful new tool in the search for mineral deposits. But, in an interview with The Northern Miner, he cautioned that to fully exploit the potential of machine learning in mineral exploration, "prospectors will still need to devote considerable time and effort to the preparation of data before machine learning techniques can add value for companies."