Chinese researchers hope that this discovery will tilt the balance in favor of China.
Chinese scientists have discovered vast potential reserves of rare earth minerals in the Himalayas that could boost its position as a leading global supplier. South China Morning Post (SCMP), The outlet further states that researchers from the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan used artificial intelligence (AI) to locate these deposits spread across 1,000 kilometers of land located in the Tibetan Plateau. However, mining these minerals can be problematic due to the distance of the year and can take decades.
China had been building the AI system since 2020 and the project was being led by Zuo Renguang and his team, he said scmp reports, They built an AI-based system to scan raw satellite data to locate new rare earth deposits.
“China’s demand for bulk mineral resources such as iron, copper, aluminum, coal and cement that support industrialization and urbanization is expected to decline sharply over the next 15 to 20 years. The focus of mining will primarily be on rare earths,” the professor said. But will be transferred.” Zuo wrote in a peer-reviewed paper published last week in the Chinese-language journal Earth Science Frontiers, according to the Chinese outlet.
He added, “Rare earth metals are irreplaceable in emerging industries such as new materials, new energy, defense and military technology and information technology, making them a key strategic mineral resource in global competition.”
Now, researchers in the country believe the discovery will tilt the balance in favor of China.
Citing industry data, the outlet said China’s share of global reserves declined from 43 percent in the 1980s and 1990s to 36.7 percent in 2021. Meanwhile, rare earth resources outside China saw a significant increase, more than doubling over the same period.
Rapid changes in technology have made rare earth minerals an important part of many applications ranging from energy to defense applications.
The AI system developed by China was trained to identify light-colored granite that may contain lithium, a key ingredient for making electric vehicles, as well as rare-earth minerals such as niobium and tantalum.
Chinese geologists found such granites scattered throughout the Himalayas, including Mount Everest, but could not even think of mining them until recently.
About a decade ago, he accidentally discovered rare earth minerals and lithium in some rock samples from Tibet, leading him to develop new AI tools.
Initially, the machine had an accuracy of 60 percent. But the team of researchers added information about the chemical composition of the rocks, which increased the AI tool’s accuracy to 90 percent, he said. scmp,