Cloud computing, AI can shorten energy transition, Seequent panel says

The path to the fourth industrial revolution and the green energy transition is best paved by integrating more technology into mining, industry panellists said this week at an event in Toronto.Organized on the sidelines of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention by mining software company Seequent, a three-person panel discussed the enormous need for critical metals in the data centres that will power artificial intelligence. Northern Miner Group President Anthony Vaccaro moderated the panel.“Fast innovation is key to the geoscience community, because we have been tasked to make the fourth industrial revolution a reality,” Janina Elliott, Seequent’s segment director of mining said, referring to the society-wide integration of artificial intelligence (AI), automation and renewable energy. “With that comes the onset of a new commodity super cycle that’s focused on critical minerals.”Huge copper needsElliott pointed to data centres, whose power cables, cooling system pipes and microchips are manufactured using large amounts of copper. A large-scale data centre using 500 megawatts of power – currently beyond the capacity of most data centres – would require 1,000 to 2,500 tonnes of copper.By 2030, global electricity demand from data centres is forecast to reach 1,135 terawatt hours, according to the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. That significantly raises the amount of critical metals needed for the centres.“So the trillion dollar question is, how can you operate more efficiently to make more out of the reserves that we already have?” Elliott asked. “How do we (find more deposits when) the shallow ones have already been picked off and it’s harder and harder to find big ones?”Stronger tech, better explorationThe answer today, Elliott suggested, is better technology through more integration and cloud computing.Seequent, which launched its first software in 2003, has had more than 20 years to build up its geoscience data and technology programs, she said.One innovation is its Evo platform, which integrates geoscience and mining software from other platforms and allows data sharing.Chief technology officer John Vandermay told the panel that Seequent has approached the geoscience and mining sectors for data and enabled hybrid computing between desktops and clouds.“Our customers have told us that they are frustrated by the software vendors who lock them into their walled gardens, and the agonizing complexities of file-based point to point integrations,” he said.In the near future, Seequent plans to further connect its Leapfrog 3-D geological modeling software with Evo through cloud computing.“(That will) enable online collaboration between geoscientists and extend the geoscientists desktop by connecting with the unlimited power of cloud computing,” he said.Bring geoscience to youthIn a video played after the panel, Seequent’s chief customer officer Angela Harvey explained that by 2029 in the United States, the industry will need 130,000 geoscientists. But with geoscientists now retiring and enrolment falling in mining-related post-secondary programs, it’s unclear how to meet that demand.The company is reaching out to younger generations through its partnership with video game producer CerebralFix. Together they built the free, online 3-D program Visible Geology to pique interest in geoscience.Users can build sub-surface models based on actual maps to better visualize how geological formations look and behave underground. “We want to really inspire the next generation of geoscientists,” Harvey said.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com