Text reads: Geoscience Today. Geoscience meets AI: Imagining tomorrow's possibilities.

Geoscience Meets AI: Imagining Tomorrow’s Possibilities

Mary-Anne Hildebrandt, P. Geo., FGC Energy and minerals power our lives, and while we Canadians live in a land of abundance, global projections of natural resource consumption far exceed what is readily available. Economic geologists are increasingly challenged to locate near-surface mineral resources that are feasible to extract. Today’s evolving business models focus on creating more precise, surgical methods of extraction, not only to reduce the environmental impact of mining, but also to unlock economic potential in deposits that, in the past, would not have met the threshold for Reasonable Prospects for Eventual Economic Extraction (RPEEE). In parallel, we are working in the era of Big Data. In 2020, NASA reported that its Earth Science data collection had reached 40 petabytes (PB), a unit 1000 times the size of a terabyte (TB) and that this collection was expected to expand to 250 PB within six years. Geoscience data in the mineral and mining industry follows a similar trend. Big data and increased complexity of the deposits make it essential that Professional Geoscientists (P. Geos) leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) because traditional methods of analysis are often insufficient to handle the scale and complexity of modern datasets. There are many companies and software developers trying to deliver solutions that produce high-quality results in real-time such as geochemistry, mineralogy, and structural measurements collected and analyzed in real-time at a drill rig using either powerful downhole tools or field core scanners. Some experts in the field believe that these advancements may reduce the necessity for geoscience professionals; however, it is far more likely that AI will strengthen our ability to understand, analyze, and model vast amounts of data, giving us insights that would otherwise be unattainable in a short amount of time. Consider society’s approach to earthquakes and how advanced we have become in creating predictive models over the last century. There are AI applications in use today that allow P. Geos the ability to analyze large datasets that aid in the creation of robust, predictive models. These detailed models allow P. Geos to have a better understanding of risk to the public and offer greater guidance to inform early warning systems. By integrating AI into our professional toolkit, we will be able to make more informed decisions, streamline complex analyses, and better allocate limited resources.  Professional regulators, such as Professional Geoscientists Ontario (PGO), also stand to benefit from AI. For example, AI could be used to identify patterns and anomalies that would allow regulators to detect unethical behaviour more effectively. Rather than waiting for another Bre-X-type incident, where a company reported falsified assay results that inflated the gold reserves to attract investors, it is in the public’s best interest for our profession—and its regulators—to develop advanced tools to stay ahead. It is certain that bad actors will also leverage AI to attempt to bypass existing legal frameworks, making it essential to reinforce our defences. However, as powerful as AI is, its use must be carefully guided. As a profession, we bear the responsibility to harness AI in ways that ensure its development and applications remain ethical, transparent, and fair. We need greater dialogue and a robust framework to guide this evolving area. Inherently, AI lacks an understanding of ethical intentions. It makes decisions based on the algorithms and code designed by humans, as well as the dataset on which it is trained. However, developers have the ability to instil AI with ethical or unethical subroutines either intentionally or unintentionally. Developers might choose to design it with an underlying malicious intent, such as spreading misinformation, or creating harmful automated decisions that negatively affect individuals, groups, or the natural world. Unintentional biases could also emerge if the AI is trained on a limited or biased dataset, leading to skewed decisions or outputs. For example, a mining company using AI to identify mineral exploration targets might train the system on a flawed dataset that lacks sufficient diversity in the geological dataset used for training. As a result, the AI could misunderstand key aspects of the mineralization controls if its training dataset is incomplete or biased. This could lead to the AI relying on surface-level features like rock type or mineral traces that resemble those found in resource-rich areas. However, without accounting for other critical factors such as depth, geological history, geochemistry, alteration, or other favourable conditions needed for mineral formation, the AI might incorrectly predict the presence of valuable deposits in barren areas. This misinterpretation could lead to the company and its shareholders to invest millions in unproductive exploration, wasting time and money. Meanwhile, the AI might overlook other areas with better prospects due to the skewed training dataset. Without the critical and well-trained eye of a P. Geo. guiding AI and validating its outputs, AI has the potential to cause not only financial losses, but also unnecessary environmental damage. PGO’s Code of Ethics calls on P. Geos to demonstrate “integrity, competence and devotion to service and to the advancement of human welfare”, and it is imperative that AI systems embody these principles as part of the original code. Responsible integration of AI is critical to upholding the public’s trust in our profession, and a balanced approach is needed to ensure that we seize opportunities while safeguarding the public and the natural world from harm. After using the wrong ingredients to bake a cake, Anne Shirley reflects “…isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” (Anne of Green Gables, Ch. 21, by L. M. Montgomery). In the age of AI, geoscientists must remain committed to continuous learning and ethical practice. AI will inevitably become more integrated in our daily activities. To ensure that AI has the right ingredients that will prevent harm to society or the natural environment, we need greater discussion and more collaboration with each other and our peers in data science to build a framework that guides the use of AI in geoscience practice. A proactive approach focusing on the development of an

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Underground photo of a mine site. Tools and various machines sit in front of a wall covered in wire. Text on top of the photo says: Geo Careers Melissa Ng.

Geo Careers: Melissa Ng

One question that I often am asked is, “How did you pick mining as an industry?” That answer is simple: De Beers commissioned a raw diamond exhibit at the University of Alberta where I attended school. This was my first introduction to mining and the idea and complexity around mining, which I found fascinating and challenging. The second question I always get asked is: “How did you get to where you are now?” That answer is a little more complex. We all take different journeys in life and career. Some experiences are within our control, and some are not. People always joke: “If I knew what I knew now, things would be different.” But there is no journey, no growth, and no success without those experiences. They are unique to us and mold us in the unique individual we are. So, to me, the real question should be “How has your experience specific to your career helped you to get to where you are now?” I began my first job search after graduation with enthusiasm, looking for the job opportunity that would launch my career. At the time, the market was hot with international opportunities, as well as Canadian prospects, which meant that I could be picky about the opportunities I pursued. I knew from my summer jobs doing exploration work in the Northwest Territories that I wanted a fly-in fly-out position at an operation and not field exploration work. My husband and I were married in 2007, right after my graduation, so choosing a fly-in fly-out role was a lifestyle choice we were making so that we could stay in Edmonton. My parents were born and raised in Saskatoon, SK so I knew about Cameco Corporation, the uranium producer centered in Saskatchewan. I was excited to have an interview with them. Even during the interview, being able to talk about structurally driven deposits was thrilling. I felt good after the interview, and therefore, was disappointed when I later received a call that hiring had been frozen due to unknown circumstances. Lucky for Cameco, I was so picky during my job search that I had only applied to one other company at the time. In January 2008, I received a call asking if I was still interested and if I could start next week. I didn’t even own a pair of steel toe boots yet, so I couldn’t start the following week, but I was thrilled that I did not have to endure a second round of interviews. The first time I flew into Rabbit Lake operation, which is situated at the edge of the Athabasca Basin in Northern Saskatchewan, I felt what I would describe as contained excitement. Contained because I didn’t want to make it obvious how “green” I really was. In other words, I did not want to stand out or get noticed. Which is very hard to do when you are a woman in a male-dominated industry, and in particular, a young woman in a male-dominated industry. I stuck out like a sore thumb, despite my cargo pants and winter coat. I was fresh meat, and everyone wanted to get to know the new girl. Throughout my career, I have heard stories of women who feel like they made the wrong career choice and have left the industry. When I hear this, I reflect back to those first few days at Cameco. My first room at camp was not my permanent room and there was a nasty draft from the window blowing over my head. I remember wearing my toque and not being able to fall asleep, wondering what I had gotten myself into. After a few days, I moved rooms and, luckily, there was no draft in the second room. I remember sitting around the lunch table with the geologists and engineers and hearing the story about why my hiring was delayed. There was an open historical drilled lake hole that intersected a stope (a stope is a term in mining for dugout space that contains your ore that is to be mined). It was marked as cemented, but after the blast, water started pouring into the mine – a sign you never want to see underground. But the tale was dramatic and heroic, and through teamwork the workers were able to control the situation and mitigate the water. The epic conclusion of the story involved a geologist shoving a piece of PVC pipe into the hole on the shallow lake bottom. I know we all exaggerate our stories, but at that point, I knew this was my crew and this was where I belonged. This was 2008 and when the financial crisis hit hard I was fortunate to be at Cameco. Many of my colleagues from school found themselves without work whereas Cameco sold its product with contracts with locked-in pricing, which meant that Cameco was stable. And so was my career. That geologist who starred in the epic conclusion of the story with the PVC pipe was Dennis Merber, who was also my first mentor in the industry. Once he became the Chief Geologist at Cameco, I learned a lot from him. He gave us the flexibility to make the position our own. He recognized that you need to incorporate fun at work if you want to improve efficiency. He also encouraged sharing of job tasks, which is the primary reason why I was not just exclusively logging core at the start my career. His job as a leader was to take care of the wellbeing of his people and sometimes that was as simple as a break with a little bit of fun. His leadership tactic stayed with me my entire career and I have used it many times, even sometimes when I had to defend my decision to add fun to the work cycle. I stayed with Cameco for 8 years because of the people. I built many great relationships over that time, relationships that I keep to this day.

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