Last spring, a Botswana diamond exploration company began employing artificial intelligence (AI) to make sense of 380 gigabytes of survey data.
In less than nine months, Botswana Diamonds PLC — with an assist from a mineral prospectivity technology called Xplore — has already identified seven kimberlite anomalies and applied for three prospecting licenses. Kimberlite pipes are the rock formations where diamonds are typically found.
Xplore combines semantic technology with machine learning to rifle through a mountain of information. The exploration company’s database includes 32,000 drill hole logs, 228,000 soil sample results, 606 ground geophysical surveys and 375,000 km of airborne geophysical data.
The AI program essentially acts as an army of expert geologists to process and analyze the data, specifically looking for anomalies that point to the presence of kimberlite. The goal is to find drillable targets previously unseen.
"Kimberlites are difficult and very expensive to find," said Botswana Diamonds' Chairman, John Teeling. "Less than 8,000 have ever been discovered worldwide. To find seven potential kimberlites in a few months is an impressive accomplishment for the company."
If successful, Botswana Diamonds will be reaping huge rewards in a part of the world where high-quality diamonds are a fact of life.
The landlocked Republic of Botswana in southern Africa produces more high-quality diamonds than any other country in the world, except for Russia. Jwaneng, in southern Botswana, is regarded as the world’s richest diamond mine, and Orapa, in northeast Botswana, is the world’s largest diamond mine by area.
Botswana Diamonds is particularly excited about an AI-generated target just southwest of the Jwaneng Mine. The company noted in a press release that the anomaly signatures are ideal, and the anomaly suggests more than one potential kimberlite.
The Managing Director of Botswana Diamonds, James Campbell, sees AI as a monumental game changer when it comes to locating new diamond finds.
"There is a saying in the exploration industry that every time there is a significant change in technology, the exploration clock starts to tick again," Campbell said. "This happened with the re-discovery of AK6 (Karowe) by African Diamonds Plc and De Beers, where there was a step change in geophysical and drilling technology."
He continued, "I believe it is happening again with the maturing of artificial intelligence exploration solutions combined with massive data sets. I look forward to having 'boots on the ground' to take these exciting targets to the next stage."
As an added bonus for Botswana Diamonds and the Republic of Botswana, the AI-supported analysis will yield information on other valuable minerals, including gold, copper, lead and zinc.
Credit: AI-generated image by The Jeweler Blog using ChatGPT and DALL-E 3.