Bhutan’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has completed the country’s first nationwide airborne geophysical survey, revealing promising geological anomalies linked to copper, tungsten, rare earth elements, and geothermal resources.
Conducted by the Department of Geology and Mines (DGM), the survey used two helicopters fitted with magnetic, gravity, and LiDAR sensors. Flying below 3,000 metres, the teams logged 43,893 line-kilometres—slightly more than the contracted target—and mapped roughly 15,410 square kilometres, or about 40 percent of Bhutan’s land area. Coverage focused on the Lower Southern Belt and the Thimphu-Paro region.
Director General Phuntsho Namgyal stressed that airborne anomalies indicate only that the underlying geology differs from its surroundings; they do not confirm economic deposits. “For fifty years we did not know what lay beneath us,” he said. “This survey moves Bhutan from a position of searching to a position of knowing.” The data, collected using internationally accepted terrain-following methods, has identified greisen and skarn rock formations considered favourable for mineralisation, marking the country’s first systematic assessment of metallic mineral potential.
Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay described the preliminary results as promising but cautioned that favourable anomalies remain hypotheses until verified. Ground validation is already underway in priority zones through geochemical sampling, ground geophysics, and detailed geological mapping. Any future development, he emphasised, will be guided by Gross National Happiness principles, environmental protection, and sustainability.
The survey, funded at Nu 700 million, also detected geothermal potential that could provide steady clean energy independent of seasonal hydropower fluctuations. Copper, tungsten, and rare earths are critical for electricity networks, semiconductors, permanent magnets, and the global energy transition. While commercial viability is still to be established, the findings open a new chapter in Bhutan’s resource exploration.
