Given Yunnan's exceptional importance as a biodiversity hot spot for flora and fauna, Pan underscored that their exploration plan was designed with a strong commitment to green exploration principles. This involves strictly adhering to the red lines that protect permanent basic farmland, conserve ecological areas, and respect urban expansion boundaries. To further minimize environmental impact, shallow drilling is chosen over the more disruptive trenching method, with careful attention paid to the disposal of waste oil and rock reagents.

"The altitude here is relatively high, which means that natural restoration of vegetation faces significant challenges. Therefore, we hope to minimize the extent of environmental disturbance as much as possible," Pan said.

The sun hung high in the sky at noon when geologist Zeng Liang and his local partner tightened the lids of their thermoses, put the empty compressed biscuit wrappers into their backpacks, and prepared to start the remaining half of their work — they were required to return to the base before 6 pm, when it got dark.

"For each geological exploration project, we generally team up a local villager with a geologist, as locals are more familiar with the mountain conditions and can look out for each other to ensure safety," Zeng said.