Kobold is a little-known company, but it has recently achieved an amazing result in the use of AI technology for prospecting and mining. By reading and analysing geological**, laser earth scans, and **wave data taken by Earth satellites around the world, Kobold spent a year creating an incomparably detailed three-dimensional map of the distribution of mineral deposits in the earth's crust. Incredibly, using this map, the company found a giant copper mine in Zambia, which has been identified as the largest copper mine discovered in nearly a hundred years.
It is worth mentioning that the location of this copper mine has been drilled by the prospecting teams of many mining companies for a long time, but they have all missed this opportunity due to a number of reasons. However, AI technology is completely unaffected by luck. The AI gives vein location accuracy of just a few meters, and the survey process takes only ten days, compared to years or more with traditional prospecting. The efficiency is staggering. In addition, AI can also accurately calculate the reserves of ore veins, with an accuracy of up to 10,000 tons. This gives Kobold the ability to pocket the best bonanzas.
As a result of this discovery, Kobold was granted the rights to the copper mine and signed a multi-decade mining contract with Zambia**. In the first year of trial mining alone, production reached 400,000 tons. Based on the current copper price in the market, Kobold has recouped its upfront R&D costs within a year, achieving a significant net profit. It can be said that the impact of this incident is far-reaching, and there are four terrible aspects.
First of all, the ability of AI technology to detect ore veins far exceeds that of traditional prospecting teams. Over the years, many mining companies have drilled the copper mine, but they have missed it all due to deep burial or bad luck. In contrast, AI technology completely eliminates the element of luck, and through big data analysis and deep learning, it is possible to accurately find precious mineral veins hidden underground.
Second, AI technology has efficient survey speed and low cost. While traditional prospecting takes years or more to complete a survey, AI technology can complete a comprehensive geological survey in just ten days. This efficient survey method not only saves time, but also greatly reduces the survey cost. In contrast, traditional prospecting is like a blind man touching an elephant, and it cannot be compared with AI technology in any way.
In addition, the accuracy of AI technology is also unmatched by traditional prospecting. Traditional prospecting can only judge the information such as vein reserves and burial depth to a rough extent, while AI technology can accurately calculate the reserves of ore veins through the analysis of a large amount of data, and the information such as burial depth and mining difficulty of ore veins can also be accurate. This precision and capability greatly enhances the efficiency of extraction, enabling Kobold to have the best access to bonanza resources.
Finally, Kobold announced that its next target is a lithium mine. This move undoubtedly hints that AI technology will play an important role in the future energy storage battery competition. As a strategic resource, lithium ore has extremely high value, and countries such as the United States will compete in this field. It is foreseeable that AI technology will become a battlefield of competition between countries in the field of prospecting in the future, because the mastery of these minerals will determine the direction of future technology and economic development.
This incident has made people deeply realize the strategic importance of AI technology in resource exploration. AI can not only improve the efficiency and cost of surveying, but also greatly improve the efficiency of mining. Compared with traditional prospecting, AI technology has obvious advantages, which further highlights its great potential in the field of future resource exploration.
However, the development of AI technology has also raised some concerns. On the one hand, efficient AI prospecting will put a large number of traditional exploration teams at risk of losing their jobs, and some prospecting jobs may be eliminated. On the other hand, existing resources are monopolized by a few controllers, which may exacerbate inequalities in the distribution of resources. Therefore, we need to remain vigilant in the application of AI technology and actively explore fair and sustainable resource development and utilization models. Only in this way can we give full play to the potential of AI in resource detection and realize the sustainable development of human society and the rational use of resources.
In the future, AI technology will continue to lead the development of resource exploration and have a profound impact on the global economy. At the same time, we also need to raise ethical issues with AI technology to ensure that its application is in line with the principles of the common good of mankind. Only in the positive interaction between technology and ethics can we better cope with the challenges brought by AI technology and promote its application in various fields to achieve greater results.