TEXMiN, the Technology Innovation and Translation Research Park at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airborne Geoscience International (AGI), India’s first technology aggregator in airborne geoscience technologies for exploration of critical & deep-seated minerals, to pioneer AI/ML-driven mineral prospectivity analysis and mineral target ranking systems, for the first time in India.
TEXMiN and AGI will work together to build proprietary AI-based systems, customized to Indian conditions, that will integrate and analyze disparate geoscience datasets (geological, geophysical, geochemical, GIS etc) with the mandate to generate high value exploration targets and ranking them in accordance with their prospectivity.
By combining airborne & ground geophysical data, geological inputs, geochemical samples and GIS elevation models with AI based machine learning, the partnership aims to reduce uncertainty in early-stage mineral exploration, accelerate target generation, and create a world class mineral prospectivity database in India, for the first time, not only enable more informed decision-making for explorers and policymakers, but to also attract technology and financial investments from international early stage explorers (also known as junior miners) who are responsible for more than 2/3rd of all new mineral discoveries reported worldwide.
Sudipto Mukerji, Managing Director, AGI, said: “For years, the focus has been on collecting standard data; the next chapter must be about identifying strategic exploration technologies for prioritizing discoveries. We see this collaboration as an important step towards accelerating critical mineral exploration, strengthening India’s resource security, and contributing significantly to the vision of both Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat.”
