Big data and network theory to be used in hunt for minerals

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Striking gold used to be a matter of luck, but tools used to track criminals, diseases and social networks could soon uncover vast troves of valuable minerals, researchers revealed on Tuesday.

Whether in gold or gemstones, bricks or steel, laptops or iPhones, or the soil in which we grow crops, minerals form the basis of the world's material wealth.

"This new tool for understanding minerals represents an important advance in a scientific field of vital interest," said Shaunna Morrison of the Deep Carbon Observatory and the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington.

Geologists said they have found a way, backed by troves of big data and mapping, to uncover previously unknown locations of valuable minerals like never before.

"Mineral networks are analogous to social networks," said Morrison. "We can rely on those statistics that have been developed by other researchers and we can expand them to apply to the mineral kingdom."

There are more than 5,200 known minerals on Earth, each with a unique chemical composition and atomic structure.

New rare Earth minerals are crucial for modern technology. /VCG Photo

The approach mines databases full of information on locations around the world where minerals have been described and catalogued.

"I think this is going to expand the rate of mineral discovery in ways that we can't even imagine now," said Robert Hazen of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington.

This may prove useful for mining companies, which could use the technology to predict the locations of unknown mineral deposits. Geologists could use it to learn about minerals on Earth and on Mars.

New rare Earth minerals, which are crucial for modern technology and increasingly of economic importance in a gadget-driven society, could also be uncovered.

Talks have begun with the US Geological Survey on ways to move forward on finding economically valuable minerals and resources, researchers said. The technique has already been used to predict 145 missing carbon-bearing minerals and where to find them, leading to creation of the Deep Carbon Observatory's Carbon Mineral Challenge.

Ten have been found so far.

(Source: AFP)