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Quantum Simulation for Mineral Discovery and Geological Modelling

Quantum chemistry simulation for mineral property prediction and subsurface geological modelling.

Full day (6 hours)

Certificate on completion

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Course Overview

For exploration geologists and mining data science teams. Covers VQE for crystalline mineral simulation (iron oxides, copper sulphides, lithium pegmatites), quantum-enhanced seismic and gravity inversion, and QML for drill core image analysis. Includes honest NISQ assessments against DFT and classical geophysical methods.

Curriculum

Course content is structured into sessions below. Each session is configurable to your organisation's environment, threat model, and objectives.

#	Session	Topics
1	Quantum Simulation for Mineral Exploration Where quantum chemistry meets geology
2	VQE for Crystalline Material Simulation Quantum chemistry approaches to ore characterisation	Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE): simulating electronic structure of crystalline minerals (iron oxides, copper sulphides, lithium-bearing pegmatites) for ore characterisation Basis set and active space selection: how the number of orbitals modelled determines qubit count and whether a mineral system fits on NISQ hardware (10-30 qubits for small molecules) Classical comparison: density functional theory (DFT) and coupled cluster methods handle most mineral chemistry questions today. VQE targets strongly correlated systems where DFT struggles.
Break
3	Quantum-Enhanced Geophysical Processing Seismic data, gravity inversion, and drill core analysis	Quantum-enhanced seismic inversion: quantum linear algebra (HHL algorithm) for large-scale seismic tomography matrices that classical solvers handle through iterative approximation Gravity and magnetic inversion: quantum speedup potential for 3D geological model fitting from airborne geophysical survey data QML for drill core image analysis: parameterised quantum circuits for mineral identification in core photographs and hyperspectral logging data
4	Interactive Demonstration VQE simulation of a mineral crystal structure	Facilitator-led VQE calculation of ground-state energy for a small iron oxide cluster (Fe2O3) using Qiskit on a 16-qubit simulator Comparing VQE results against DFT (B3LYP functional) and experimental X-ray diffraction data for the same compound Assessing the gap: what molecular size and active space a fault-tolerant quantum computer would need to simulate a full unit cell of a target mineral
Break
5	NISQ Limitations and Exploration Strategy Honest assessment of quantum simulation readiness for mining	Current hardware limits: VQE on NISQ devices handles 10-30 qubit simulations (small molecules), while mineral unit cells typically require 100+ qubits with error correction Ore body modelling: integrating quantum-enhanced geophysical processing into existing geological modelling workflows (Leapfrog, Datamine, Vulcan) Research partnerships: how mining companies (BHP, Rio Tinto, Vale) are structuring quantum simulation pilot programmes with hardware providers
6	Q&A and Research Roadmap

Designed and Delivered By

Training courses are designed and delivered by QSECDEF in collaboration with subject specialists. All instructors have direct experience in quantum technologies and security.

QSECDEF brings expertise in post-quantum cryptography, quantum computing strategy, and defence-grade security assessment. Our membership spans 900+ organisations and 1,500+ professionals working at the intersection of quantum technologies and critical infrastructure security.

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Quantum Simulation for Mineral Discovery and Geological Modelling

Course Overview

Curriculum

Designed and Delivered By

Quantum Security Defence

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