2023年经济学人 人工智能预测新矿产区(2)（在线收听）

    Earth AI, led by Roman Teslyuk, SensOre, led by Richard Taylor, and OreFox, led by Warwick Anderson, have taken similar approaches, but have concentrated on Australia, which has particularly rich public geological records.

    以罗曼·特斯柳克为首的Earth AI、理查德·泰勒为首的SensOre和沃里克·安德森为首的OreFox都采取了类似的方法，但主要集中在澳大利亚，那里有特别丰富的公共地质记录。

    Verai, led by Yair Frastai, focuses on the western bits of North and South America, home to eight of the world’s ten biggest copper mines.

    由亚伊尔·弗莱斯太领导的Verai专注于北美和南美的西部地区，那里拥有世界十大铜矿中的八个。

    Dr House is especially proud of his AI’s ability to predict the shapes and distributions of subterranean plutonic intrusions.

    豪斯博士的人工智能可以预测地下深部岩侵入的形状和分布，他为此尤感自豪。

    These are bodies of igneous rock, often ore-bearing, that have risen as liquid magma from Earth’s interior but solidified before they reached the surface.

    这些是火成岩体，通常含矿，从地球内部以液态岩浆的形式上升，但在到达地表之前就凝固了。

    They can be detected from the surface via magnetic anomalies which suggest that a particular group of rocks formed at a different time from its surroundings, a standard practice in the industry.

    它们可以通过磁异常从地表探测到，这表明一组特定的岩石形成于与周围环境不同的时间，这是业内的标准做法。

    But KoBold’s AI is able to make more accurate predictions of the shapes of these intrusions, and so suggest the most effective places to drill.

    但KoBold的人工智能能够对这些入侵的形状做出更准确的预测，从而建议最有效的钻探地点。

    And with success.

    它取得了成功。

    Last year, KoBold announced its discovery of a rich deposit of chalcocite, a sulphide of copper, in Zambia.

    去年，KoBold宣布在赞比亚发现了丰富的辉铜矿(一种铜的硫化物)矿床。

    Earth AI, meanwhile, has to its credit a big find of molybdenum (an important component of specialist steels) in New South Wales.

    与此同时，Earth AI公司在新南威尔士州发现了大量钼(特种钢的重要成分)，这值得称赞。

    Verai has found ore containing copper, gold and silver in Chile and Peru.

    Verai在智利和秘鲁发现了含有铜、金和银的矿石。

    SensOre has found a large source of lithium in Western Australia.

    SensOre在西澳大利亚州发现了大量的锂矿。

    And OreFox’s technology has turned up a potential gold mine in Victoria, plus several promising copper prospects.

    OreFox的技术已经在维多利亚州发现了一个潜在的金矿，以及几个有开发前景的铜矿。

    Rio Tinto is building what Russell Eley, its head of exploration data science, calls a “virtual core shed”.

    里约廷托正在建造勘探数据科学主管拉塞尔·埃利所称的“虚拟核心棚”。

    This will bring together details of the many rock-core samples the firm has collected over the years.

    这将汇集该公司多年来收集的许多岩芯样本的细节。

    Software will then search these for patterns that will assist the interpretation of new cores, and tell geologists the best places to drill next.

    然后，软件从中检索，寻找有助于解释新岩心的模式，并告诉地质学家下一步钻探的最佳地点。

    Dr House observes that 99% of exploration projects fail to turn into actual mines.

    豪斯博士观察到，99%的勘探项目都没有开发出真正的矿山。

    AI therefore has plenty of room to improve things.

    因此，人工智能还有很大的改进空间。

    It may also help with a more subtle problem.

    它还可能有助于解决一个更微妙的问题。

    By greatly expanding the volume of rock which can be searched, it will enable new strikes in familiar, well-governed countries, lessening the need to rely on what Mr Taylor diplomatically calls “exotic jurisdictions” for future supplies.

    通过极大地扩展可搜索岩石的总量，它将使常见的、治理良好的国家能够发现新的矿产，减少对泰勒先生外交时所说的“外国司法管辖区”的依赖，以获得未来的供应。