NEW DELHI : India is preparing to bring artificial intelligence (AI) into one of the oldest and most uncertain businesses in the world — mineral exploration.
To boost the country’s mineral security, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) will set up a Rs 100-crore Data Processing, Interpretation and Integration Centre (DPIIC) in Bengaluru. The facility is expected to become the nerve centre of India’s search for critical and strategic minerals at a time when nations across the world are scrambling to secure resources needed for clean energy, electronics and defence production.
The centre is expected to analyse mineral-potential regions spanning nearly 8.5 lakh square kilometres over the next five years. Officials see this as a potential game-changer for India’s exploration ecosystem.
For decades, India’s exploration efforts have relied on conventional geological surveys, field studies, and drilling. While these methods helped discover many of the country’s major mineral belts, officials acknowledge that the next generation of discoveries is likely to be harder to find. The focus is increasingly shifting towards concealed and deep-seated deposits that do not reveal themselves on the surface.
That is where the new Bengaluru centre comes in.
The DPIIC will bring together vast volumes of geological, geophysical, geochemical and satellite data collected over decades and use advanced analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to identify areas with a high probability of mineralisation.
Instead of depending solely on traditional exploration methods, scientists will be able to generate predictive models and prospectivity maps that can narrow down promising targets before expensive field operations begin.
The objective is not merely to store data but to convert it into actionable intelligence that can help locate new mineral deposits, improve exploration success rates and accelerate the movement of prospective areas towards detailed exploration and eventual mining.
The timing is significant.
As India pushes ahead with electric vehicles, renewable energy projects, semiconductor manufacturing and defence indigenisation, access to critical minerals has become a strategic priority. Global supply chains remain concentrated in a handful of countries, making domestic resource discovery increasingly important for long-term economic and national security planning.
Government officials believe the new facility can help bridge a major gap in India’s mineral exploration capabilities by combining geoscience expertise with modern data analytics. The centre will also feature high-performance computing infrastructure, cloud-based data management systems and advanced 3D visualisation tools capable of generating detailed subsurface models.
Beyond exploration, the project is expected to support policymakers, research institutions and exploration agencies by creating a centralised repository of geoscientific intelligence. Officials hope this will improve decision-making, reduce exploration risks and ultimately increase the number of viable mineral blocks available for development.
The Rs 100-crore project reflects a broader shift underway in India’s resource strategy — from searching for minerals with hammers and field maps to searching for them with algorithms, predictive models and artificial intelligence.
