The annual China Prospectors Conference kicked off on Thursday in Urumqi, Xinjiang, with industry experts calling for the adoption of artificial intelligence to streamline mineral exploration.

"To achieve unmanned workflows, intelligent technology research and development must be accelerated across geophysical surveying, aerial remote sensing and drilling operations," Mao Jingwen, a Chinese Academy of Engineering academician, said in his report.

Mao stated that technological innovation is expected to ignite a fresh wave of breakthroughs in mineral exploration, urging expanded surveys in northern Xinjiang and on southern blocks, where vast resources remain largely untapped.