China's Natural Resources Ministry Launches AI Tools to Enhance Mineral Exploration and Geological Survey

At the 2026 China International Mining Conference held in Tianjin on Sept. 11, China's Ministry of Natural Resources unveiled two artificial intelligence systems, AI-OreSeeking and AI-GeoMapping, designed to improve the efficiency of mineral exploration and geological mapping.

AI-OreSeeking, independently developed by the China Geological Survey, can be used to survey, explore and evaluate various solid mineral resources including gold, iron, copper, aluminum and lithium. By integrating a nationwide multi-scale geological and mineral database, it can handle the entire mineral exploration workflow, from automatically extracting geological data and identifying key mineralization information to pinpointing promising targets, estimating reserves and generating evaluation reports. The ministry said the system has been tested in hundreds of mineral exploration projects in more than 10 provincial-level regions, including Xizang, Xinjiang, Fujian, Shandong and Inner Mongolia, narrowing target areas and cutting the time and cost of blind field exploration, with overall workflow efficiency improved by over 60 percent.

AI-GeoMapping, also unveiled at the conference, is applicable to mineral, hydrological, environmental and ecological surveys. It improves geological mapping efficiency, reduces field workload in challenging areas and lowers safety risks. The system has been tested in several provincial-level regions in China and promoted in countries such as Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

A ministry report released at the conference showed that as of end-2025, the country's geological exploration investment and fixed-asset investment in mining had both risen for five consecutive years, and China ranks first globally in proven reserves of 14 minerals including rare earths, tungsten, tin and molybdenum.