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Talk9 min

The emerging science of finding critical metals

Mfikeyi Makayi · TED

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About

Your smartphone, computer and electric car all depend on one thing — critical minerals buried deep underground. But there’s a catch: the mining industry has gotten dramatically worse at discovering new deposits just when we need them most, says mining innovator Mfikeyi Makayi. She introduces new AI-powered technology that could fix this problem by predicting mineral locations 10,000 times faster than conventional methods and transforming an industry essential to a sustainable future.

The talk

  1. The emerging science of finding critical metals 9 min · TED's player

Credits and licence

Institution
TED
Department
TED Countdown Summit 2025
Speaker
Mfikeyi Makayi
Year
2025
Level
For everyone
Language
English
Subjects
Earth and environment
Source
TED
Licence
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, as TED states it. Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions. TED's terms
Attribution
TED Talks are licensed by TED under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International and are shown here in TED's own player, as TED's usage policy asks.
Who can watch
TED gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Tweens profiles and older, judged from what the source says about it. How courses are placed