Romania has a major strategic advantage in the global fight for artificial intelligence control, stated the Minister of Economy, Radu Miruță.
It’s about the graphite from Baia de Fier, an extremely valuable mineral that „everyone is frantically searching for”.
"You have a deposit, a mineral that everyone is frantically searching for. And it's not small businesses looking for it, but... it's a subject that, in my opinion, will be of the utmost importance after World War II. The biggest battle will be over artificial intelligence control. And the limit of artificial intelligence is not the big companies, not having a lot of money to hire the best engineers and researchers in the world, but it's the mineral resource... because it's made from something. That something is very rare. That something is in Romania in one place, the graphite from Baia de Fier. In Europe, it's still in few places and of lower quality," stated Miruță on Antena 3.
The License, the First Step for Exploitation
The Minister specified that the license for exploiting the deposit has already been extended, which represents a decisive step.
"The great advantage is the purity of this graphite that we have there. And yes, I am extremely concerned and the first step has been taken. (…) We have the license. In the Oltenia region, we have the know-how, the expertise of people who have been involved in lignite mining. Cross the hill, you have people who know how to do this. Next is the financing because it's not funded. And I've been exploring various avenues for a month now to find the most advantageous method for Romania to bring this product to the table," explained Miruță.
Graphite, Essential for AI Development
The Minister of Economy emphasizes that Romania has a huge advantage in the global development of artificial intelligence.
"If we have it on the table, we know how much it is, we know what it's like, we know its label, we know its cost. The technology exists in many places, the deposit does not. We have the deposit and through the use of this deposit, we attract technology. To extract the graphite from there, we have the technology. To exfoliate the graphite and obtain graphene, we don't have the technology. But the mill doesn't come to the sack, the sack goes to the mill, and my challenge is, as quickly as possible, to identify the most advantageous method for Romania to add value to this mineral, which will never have the value in history that it has now, and there is no other product in history, I don't know, maybe oil, which in a period of 10-12 years has gone from a low value to an exponentially higher value," said Radu Miruță.
The Value of the Deposit Increases Every Day
Asked about the value of the resource from Baia de Fier, Miruță mentioned that the evaluation is difficult, but the value is constantly increasing.
"Its value is through processing, about processing costs, about the fact that we currently don't have the technology to exfoliate the graphite and obtain graphene, I can't make such a calculation. But it's an easily imaginable thing. If it's scarce in the world, if among that scarcity ours is the purest and if nevertheless graphite itself is valuable, ours is among the most valuable," explained the Minister of Economy.