First Machine Learning Workshop on Mineral Exploration Organized for 2020 SEG Annual Meeting


Jiajia Sun Leading Efforts on Workshop to be Held Virtually Oct 15

Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential of transforming our lives in virtually every area. The last few years have witnessed the great success of machine learning/AI in many areas, including image recognition, fraud detection, video surveillance, speech recognition, and self-driving cars.

Jiajia Sun

Machine learning also has found successful applications in geophysics, such as seismic fault interpretation, salt body detection, facies classification, and stratigraphy analysis.

“However, the applications of machine learning/AI to mineral exploration have been modest, although we started to see an increasing trend recently,” said Jiajia Sun, assistant professor of geophysics at University of Houston’s Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences.

“It is apparent that the full potential of machine learning has yet to be reached by the mineral exploration community to meet the world’s demand for minerals in 2020s.”

Sun, with co-organizers Ed Biegert, Sarah Deveriese, and Aline Melo, is leading efforts to organize a machine learning workshop with a focus on mineral exploration, the first of its kind in the history of Society of Exploration Geophysicists annual meetings. The workshop will take place virtually on October 15, 2020.

The workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to:

  1. Showcase the recent successful applications of machine learning/AI to mineral exploration,
  2. Stimulate discussions among participants and create dialogues between academia and industry, and
  3. Identify relevant problems and open questions that can be addressed by machine learning/AI.

Twelve speakers from Canada, U.S., Australia, Brazil and China will present their latest work on the application of machine learning/AI to mineral exploration. They will also participate in discussions on how to make the best use of machine learning/AI for mineral exploration.

Information and Registration

More information about the workshop and SEG Annual Meeting registration is available on seg.org/AM/2020/.