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- 🤖 Automation is unlocking 💰 capital and 💸 profits within mining.
🤖 Automation is unlocking 💰 capital and 💸 profits within mining.
Mineral markets are getting interesting, and mining tech even funkier.
David here - in the next 5 min you’ll get:
💡What’s New: Automation is unlocking capital and profits within mining.
🤔 Opinion: Digital maps 🗺️ shaping our world views 🌍
🛠️ Tools & Data: Opensource tools for mapping and geology.
🎓 Developer Spotlight: Influential developers building earth systems.
💡What’s new
“Unlock up to 40% increase in Net Present Value” – even if I’m skeptical of this marketing line, I’m glad to finally see an actual (i.e., measurable / verifiable) value proposition for mining AI. The marketing slogan “Connected [insert industry here]” for IoT AI is long on promises, but what of results? Implementation is hard and investments take years. Check out a historical review of how mining has transformed, then some ideas for how it might in the future.
Unlikely alliances: University professors and the mining industry. It’s a path to government-funded custom software development. If you’re in the US, check out the Missouri University of Science & Technology.
I will keep saying it: automation drives profits in mining as economies tighten. See how a mining company in Australia is using a custom AI bot for actual work. Meanwhile, Comstock starts its mining business unit, invests in AI and material science for an edge. And some ideas for how you can use ChatGPT for your mining work. AI is more than just automating boring stuff..use it in complex mineral analytic processes too.
Very cool - NASA’s Artemis moon mission presentation. If they think satellites to map minerals is a good investment, what about you? Australia developed this hyperspectral imaging inside of mines to detect and process minerals on the fly.
Along with mining skills, mine companies and investors are looking for AI and data skills to reduce development costs and increase speed to market. Want a software job? Mine planning software will see huge growth over the next decade.
Here’s a thorough treatment of how and why AI plays in mining, and how it can fail. Mining may eventually become automated, but not before mining equipment is. We’re not there yet.
Looking for technical details to get a trading edge? Check out an upcoming book on geospatial analysis applied to mining. And a short intro to how minerals huddle together. Hint: these works can make great training materials for AI bots!
The narrative around mining and environmental conflict of interest is shifting. Clearly the Chinese believe deep sea mining is a viable solution. India’s central government may start auctioning mines to encourage foreign capital, talent, and expertise.
Did you know the USGS has a mineral census called Earth MRI? Also, a handy map of mining tech for a 5min scroll through.
🤔 Opinion
There’s an ongoing dilemma of government influence over social media that has me thinking. The things we see on a daily basis alter our perception and therefore the decisions we make. That brings me to modern digital mapping. We rely on digital maps to know what’s going on around us, and for many of our daily decisions–where to go, which route to take, how our world and demographics are changing.
When I pause to consider that these little decisions form a significant portion of my life, it makes me wonder how I am influenced. How might a change in ranking algorithms on GMaps, for example, affect my spending habits, potentially sink a business, or highlight some social issue? Do we take time to think about how changes in these tools could affect our life / investment outcomes?
I have started to keep tabs on mapping tech.
The industry is not static. There’s a lot of ongoing work in algorithms (search, data extraction, data processing, data movement, map presentation, artificial intelligence) and displays (flat screen, 3D mapping, VR). Some trends I am following include:
data layering and interactivity of new sensor data (satellites, etc),
selling of news and business narratives using “evidence”,
digital twinning for VR simulations and gaming, and
real-time data acquisition and display (especially with drones).
Investors and business owners should keep some things in mind.
As self-driving matures, traffic won’t play as significant a role in our daily routing decisions. Maps will move aggressively towards consumer-selling platforms. Products and experiences may become the primary concern of geographical search. In the context of commodity businesses like mining, development efforts will still focus on tracking and reporting assets, but also on predicting and visualizing future physical states (super interesting).
I also think we’re vulnerable to algorithmic manipulation. I ask myself: Does reliance on a mapping AI leave me to the whims of whomever figures out a way to manipulate them? I think the future will still reward those who have a comprehensive geographical framework and the ability to bring their own preferences and data to their desired platform.
🛠️ Tools and Data
Opensource tools and data to help you make decisions.
LeafMap: https://github.com/opengeos/leafmap Geospatial analysis and interactive mapping in a Jupyter environment. | ![]() |
RasterFrames: https://rasterframes.io/ Easily handle satellite (and related) pixel data. | ![]() |
SuperVision: https://github.com/roboflow/supervision Automated computer vision for labeling | ![]() |
Geology Github: https://github.com/topics/geology?o=desc&s=updated A list of github software featuring geology workflows for use in your AI coding explorations. | ![]() |
Univ of TN GIS Data Library: https://libguides.utk. A rich set of data provided by the Univ. of TN at Knoxville with links to other great resources. | ![]() |
🎓 Developer Spotlight
Developers and influencers leading change in mapping and earth systems.
If your company uses map tiling services, you should know about Ian and his company, Stadia Maps, a ridiculously lower-cost alternative to GMaps tiling. | ![]() |
Besides being a prolific developer, Ian is an e-residency ambassador for Estonia. He has been on the cutting edge of mapping and finance for years.
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