Recent Advances and Future Perspectives of AI-Based Mineral Exploration: A Review of Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Geologically Informed Approaches
Driven by the energy transition and carbon-neutrality targets, global demand for critical minerals is increasing rapidly, while the discovery of new mineral deposits has become increasingly challenging because easily detectable outcropping deposits are being depleted, and exploration is shifting toward concealed ore systems. In this context, data-driven approaches based on machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) are increasingly complementing conventional geological, geochemical, geophysical, and remote-sensing methods. This review provides a structured synthesis of AI-based mineral exploration studies published over the past decade, focusing on four key aspects: theoretical foundations; applications to diverse exploration datasets, including remote sensing, geochemistry, geophysics, and drill-core imagery; advances in mineral prospectivity mapping (MPM); and emerging trends and challenges, such as limited labeled data, uncertainty quantification, geological consistency, explainability, physics-informed neural networks (PINNs), and the adaptation of foundation models to geoscience data. Convolutional neural networks, autoencoders, generative adversarial networks, Transformers, and graph neural networks show strong potential for improving pattern recognition, data integration, and workflow automation. Overall, AI-based exploration is expected to play an increasingly important role in detecting concealed mineral deposits and strengthening resilient critical-mineral supply chains.