The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - August 1, 2024
VerAI Discoveries' platform uses AI and machine learning to increase the accuracy and lower the environmental impacts associated with discovering and delineating mineral deposits.
Rare earths are a suite of 14 elements critical to an array of high-tech devices, household goods, and military hardware.
China controls more than 98% of the world's supply of gallium, a metal used in semiconductors for computer chips, solar panels, and other high-tech applications.
Solidifying an AI-powered critical minerals exploration partnership announced in May, US Critical Materials Corp. has entered into a definitive agreement to deploy VerAI Discoveries Inc.'s AI-powered mineral targeting platform to more efficiently and sustainably expand upon the high-grade rare earths and gallium discoveries made on the Sheep Creek project in southwestern Montana.
By leveraging AI and machine learning to process geophysical and other data related to mineral exploration, VerAI's technology assists geologists in locating hidden deposits –something considered to be much more accurate than non-AI-assisted methods.
"VerAI is spearheading a paradigm shift in the exploration sector," said VerAI Discoveries CEO Yair Frastai. "We believe that AI and machine learning are essential tools for revolutionizing mineral exploration."
More accurate identification of buried mineral targets ahead of drilling has the benefit of accelerating the mineral discovery process while also reducing costs and environmental footprint.
"From an environmental perspective, our discovery process primarily occurs in the data space, significantly reducing our footprint on the environment compared to traditional methods," VerAI Discoveries COO Amitai Axelrod explained during an interview with Global Business Reports. "We avoid the need for extensive drilling and physical access to remote areas, minimizing disturbance to ecosystems and local communities."
US Critical Materials plans to leverage the advantages offered by VerAI's technology to set new industry standards for environmentally conscious mineral exploration as it endeavors to provide a high-grade domestic source of the rare earths needed for the green energy transition, gallium critical to the technology sector, and other critical minerals found at Sheep Creek.
Rare earths are a suite of 14 elements critical to an array of high-tech devices, household goods, and military hardware.
"The addition of this AI/ML technology will augment US Critical Materials' current exploration methodologies," said US Critical Materials President Jim Hedrick, who previously served as the rare earths commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
"AI-assisted mineral exploration platforms are beginning to be recognized by the mining industry and major media outlets," he added. "The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) also is looking at AI-assisted mining to expedite the search for critical minerals needed for U.S. industry, consumer use, and, most importantly, the U.S. military."
The AI-assisted exploration at Sheep Creek could help establish this southwestern Montana project as an important domestic source of several of the minerals that have been deemed critical to America's economy and national security.
Samples collected from Sheep Creek contain grades as high as 20.1% total rare earths. This includes samples with as much as 3.3% neodymium and praseodymium, amongst the most critical of the 15 rare earth elements due to their use in powerful magnets for electric vehicle motors.
China controls more than 98% of the world's supply of gallium, a metal used in semiconductors for computer chips, solar panels, and other high-tech applications.
Gallium, a metal used to make semiconductors critical to computer chipmaking, is found alongside the rare earths at Sheep Creek. Samples collected from the project contain as much as 490 parts per million gallium, which indicates the potential for the project to be the highest-grade source of gallium in the U.S.
According to the USGS, China supplied more than 98% of the world's gallium and nearly 70% of the world's rare earths in 2023.
The same rocks that host high-grade rare earths and gallium are also enriched with niobium, scandium, and yttrium – all considered critical to the U.S.
With the surface work carried out so far demonstrating Sheep Creek's high-grade critical minerals potential, US Critical Materials has finalized a deal to leverage VerAI's mineral targeting technology to help accelerate the discovery of enough concealed mineralization to support a mine that could offer a domestic alternative to China for rare earths, gallium, and other critical minerals.
"With this definitive agreement, US Critical Materials is proving its forward-thinking approach by leveraging our advanced AI-based targeting technology to systematically de-risk the economics of discovering concealed mineral deposits," said Frastai.
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
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