Bhutan now has a detailed picture of what lies beneath most of its mountains. The Department of Geology and Mines (DGM), under the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (MoENR), has completed the interpretation of the country’s first nationwide airborne geophysical survey, an aerial study that identified areas favourable for minerals across terrains never mapped before in detail. But officials stressed a crucial distinction: these are indications, not discoveries. A funded programme to verify the findings on the ground has already begun.
“It is promising and good news. However, knowing what a country holds is not a decision to dig it up,” Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay shared.
What the survey found
What the survey produced are, as the DGM describes, ‘anomalies’, showing where to look, and the shape of what may lie below.
“For 50 years we did not know what lay beneath us. This survey moves Bhutan from a position of searching to a position of knowing,” said Phuntsho Namgyal, Director General of the DGM.
The findings point, in particular, to signs of favourable conditions for copper and tungsten, alongside indications of rare earth elements, other base and precious metals, and geothermal structures. Officials said the rare earth potential is an inference drawn from the type of rock the survey detected. It found granitic intrusions and carbonate settings, the two rock types that host most of the world’s rare earth production.
According to a press release from the department, “the survey has done what it was designed to do: narrow an entire landmass to a defined set of targets.”
Why these minerals matter now
The timing of the finding is striking. The world is entering a scramble for precisely the kinds of metals the survey has indicated.
Copper is the backbone of electricity networks, and demand is being pushed higher by the global build-out of data centres for artificial intelligence. Going by the International Energy Agency (IEA), electricity use by data centres could roughly double, from about 415 terra-watt hours in 2024 towards 1,000 terra-watt hours by 2030, and the build-out could add roughly 2 per cent to global copper demand over the same period.
Tungsten, used in precision tooling, semiconductors and defence, sits on the critical-minerals lists of most major economies. So do rare earth elements, which are essential to the high-performance magnets inside motors, cooling fans and other components. The IEA counts tungsten and magnet rare earths among the materials facing the highest supply risk, given their strategic importance, limited substitutes, and concentrated production.
A discovery of heat, too
The survey’s second finding may prove as significant as the first. Alongside the minerals, it mapped deep fault systems and zones consistent with hot water circulating underground. These are signs of geothermal energy that align with the locations of Bhutan’s known thermal or hot springs (tshachhu).
Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay said that this finding opens up an opportunity for Bhutan.
“We already have hydro and solar power energy. Now, if we can tap geothermal energy, it will immensely contribute to Bhutan’s energy self-sufficiency and security. Besides, these are green, clean, and renewable energy which can help power and meet the requirements of the Gelephu Mindfulness City.”
The DGM added that while Bhutan already runs on clean energy, anchored by hydropower, the source of energy is seasonal.
“Geothermal heat does not change with the seasons. Together, the two could give Bhutan a steady, round-the-clock base of clean power.”
Global reports highlight that Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) could unlock vast untapped potential, with an estimate of meeting 3-5 per cent of the world’s electricity demand by 2025. Besides, it is environmentally friendly with minimal emissions and a small land footprint. However, the reports highlight upfront costs and geological risks as the impediments to achieving the target.
How it was done
The survey covered roughly 15,410 square kilometres, around 40 per cent of the country’s land area, across the lower southern belt and the Thimphu-Paro region.
Two helicopters, flown by an international geophysics’ specialist, completed more than 40,000 line-kilometres of flying, carrying magnetic, gravity and LiDAR sensors that read the rock below and modelled the terrain above. Flights were kept below 3,000m to navigate the mountains safely and capture the sharpest data. It was those very mountains, the department noted, that had stalled systematic study since the 1970s, making this the first modern geophysical dataset for this part of the eastern Himalayas.
What happens next
Speaking at a press briefing in Thimphu, Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay set out the government’s next steps. Geochemical studies, he said, will validate the survey’s findings and establish the extent and quality of any deposits. Only once those details are known will the government decide how to proceed.
The department has signalled that Bhutan may, in time, consider international partnerships to develop resources, but on its own terms and only after the evidence is complete and a national framework is in place.
Knowledge, not extraction: PM and DGM
Identifying what lies beneath, the Prime Minister and the DGM reiterated, is not the same as deciding to extract it.
The press release from the DGM stated, “Bhutan has chosen to understand its own resources before forming a policy on them, rather than after.”
The Prime Minister said, “any future development would be guided by the principles of Gross National Happiness, with the country’s people and environment at the forefront.”
The DGM also added that future development on the findings would “occur only if required, when the time is right, through public process, and within the Constitutional and environmental commitments already in force.”
The Constitution requires that at least 60 per cent of the country remain under forest cover for all time, a threshold it comfortably exceeds, with around 72 per cent forested. It is also one of the world’s few carbon-negative states, with its forests absorbing far more carbon than the country emits. The DGM said that the survey represents no departure from that position.
For now, Bhutan knows, far better than before, what lies beneath it. What it chooses to do with that knowledge is a decision it has deliberately left for another day.
Sonam Wangdi
