AI Project Seeks to Streamline Critical Mineral Mapping in US

Federal officials are banking on an artificial intelligence project among the Defense, Energy, and Interior departments to help the government and mining companies locate critical minerals more precisely for faster extraction in the US.

The advanced research arms of Defense and Energy, along with the US Geological Survey, have teamed up with universities and technology companies on hackathons to use AI to map critical mineral resources across the country, augmenting the work and expertise of geologists. The group completed its most recent hackathon—its third—in late spring and has another scheduled in the next few months.

Critical minerals such as cobalt, ...