Mining and extractives
A mine cannot expand quietly.
Permits are drawn on paper. Benches are cut in rock.Open-pit mine expansion monitoring
Multi-temporal very-high-resolution imagery reveals whether an open-pit mine is growing within its permitted boundary, by tracking bench cuts, haul-road extensions and waste-dump spread across successive satellite passes.
Sentinel-2 MSIPlanet SuperDoveMaxar WorldView-3
Trucks cannot hide. Quarterly reports can.Mine production activity inference from truck and equipment counts
High-revisit optical and SAR imagery lets analysts count haul trucks and excavators to estimate ore throughput before any disclosure. Production slowdowns, surges and idle periods become visible days or weeks ahead of official reporting.
Planet SkySatMaxar WorldView-3Capella Space SAR (X-band)
Miners move fast. Multispectral archives move faster.Illegal and artisanal small-scale mining detection
Freshly disturbed laterite and turbid river plumes leave unmistakable spectral fingerprints in open satellite archives. Sentinel-2, Landsat and Planet imagery, read together, can date the onset of illegal ASM activity and track its spread week by week.
Sentinel-2 MSILandsat 8/9 OLIPlanet SuperDove
Embankments move before they fail. InSAR catches the movement.Tailings dam surface deformation monitoring with InSAR
Interferometric SAR detects millimetre-scale surface displacement on tailings storage facility embankments, providing early warning of precursor deformation weeks or months before visible distress. Sentinel-1 supplies the long archive; ICEYE and Capella add resolution and revisit where it matters most.
Sentinel-1 (C-band SAR, ESA)ICEYE X-band SAR constellationCapella Space X-band SAR
Rocks cannot hide their chemistry. Pixels can read it.Hyperspectral mineral mapping for exploration targeting
Spaceborne hyperspectral sensors resolve mineral absorption features invisible to broadband cameras, mapping alteration halos that guide drill-targeting for porphyry copper and epithermal gold systems.
ASI PRISMANASA/JPL EMIT (aboard the ISS)DLR/ESA EnMAP
The pit gets deeper. Satellites notice before the weighbridge does.Quarry volumetric change detection using stereo and SAR DEM differencing
DEM differencing from stereo optical and SAR acquisitions converts elevation change into cubic-metre volume estimates per reporting period, giving quarry operators, regulators and royalty auditors an independent production record.
Airbus Pléiades NeoMaxar WorldView-3TanDEM-X / TerraSAR-X
Regulators want green. Satellites can tell the difference.Mine rehabilitation and vegetation recovery verification
Progressive mine rehabilitation is a legal obligation, but ground inspection is slow and intermittent. Multi-sensor time series from Sentinel-2, Landsat and GEDI lidar can verify genuine vegetation recovery against approved plans, season by season.
Sentinel-2 MSILandsat 8/9 OLINASA GEDI
Miners move earth. Radar sees it through the clouds.Conflict-minerals supply chain monitoring via site activity tracking
Satellite SAR and optical imagery can track pit expansion, track formation and equipment presence at artisanal 3TG mining sites, giving compliance teams verifiable, dated evidence to meet EU and US due-diligence obligations.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)Sentinel-2 MSI (ESA)Planet SuperDove
The water turns orange. Satellites read the chemistry from orbit.Acid mine drainage detection in receiving water bodies
Multispectral indices sensitive to iron-hydroxide precipitation, turbidity and pH-correlated colour shifts can flag acid mine drainage in rivers and lakes at 10–30 m resolution. Detection is indirect: satellites see optical proxies, not pH meters.
Sentinel-2 MSILandsat 8/9 OLIPlanet SuperDove
The ground moves millimetres. The liability moves millions.Ground subsidence mapping over underground mines
InSAR time-series analysis turns Sentinel-1 and ALOS-2 radar archives into precise maps of surface subsidence above longwall, block-cave and room-and-pillar workings, detecting displacement rates and spatial extents that ground-based survey networks routinely miss.
Sentinel-1 C-band SAR (ESA/Copernicus)ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 L-band SAR (JAXA)COSMO-SkyMed X-band SAR (ASI)
Coal fires hide underground. Their heat cannot.Thermal anomaly detection for spontaneous combustion in coal stockpiles and waste dumps
Spontaneous combustion in coal stockpiles and waste dumps is a safety, financial and air-quality hazard that conventional inspection misses. Thermal infrared satellites detect the surface expression of subsurface heating before visible smoke appears.
Landsat 8/9 TIRSASTER TIRVIIRS I5 band (Suomi NPP / NOAA-20 / NOAA-21)
Dust disperses invisibly. Physics and photons say otherwise.Dust plume and particulate emission tracking from mine operations
Satellite sensors detect fugitive dust from haul roads, blasting events and tailings surfaces using aerosol optical depth retrievals and visible plume mapping. Daily synoptic coverage from MODIS and VIIRS tracks regional transport; Sentinel-2 and Planet resolve individual source areas.
MODIS MAIAC (Terra/Aqua)VIIRS EDR (Suomi-NPP / NOAA-20)Sentinel-2 MSI
The fault is visible from orbit. The ore body is not.Structural geology and lineament mapping for mineral exploration
Satellite SAR, optical and elevation data expose fault traces, dyke swarms and lithological contacts across terrain that would take field crews years to walk. The method builds structural frameworks that sharpen drill-target selection, with honest limits on depth projection.
ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 (JAXA)Sentinel-1 A/B (ESA)TanDEM-X / SRTM DEM
Clouds block daylight. They cannot block a lit camp at midnight.Night-light intensity monitoring of remote mining camp activity
VIIRS and commercial low-light sensors detect radiance from remote mining camps nightly, giving operational-status signals where cloud and access deny conventional observation. Radiance is a proxy, not a headcount, and flare contamination is a real problem.
VIIRS Day/Night Band (DNB)Landsat 8/9 OLI PanchromaticPlanet SkySat
Dry zones waste reagent. Saturated zones collapse pads.Heap leach pad moisture and saturation mapping
Uneven moisture distribution across heap leach pads signals wasted lixiviant, reduced metal recovery, and structural risk. Sentinel-1 SAR backscatter, Landsat-9 SWIR reflectance, and ALOS-2 L-band penetration map saturation gradients that ground sensors miss.
Sentinel-1 C-band SAR (ESA)Landsat-9 OLI-2 SWIR bands (USGS/NASA)ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 L-band SAR (JAXA)
The wall moves millimetres before it moves tonnes.Open-cast highwall slope displacement and failure precursor detection
Persistent scatterer InSAR detects sub-centimetre creep on open-pit highwalls weeks before visible failure. Combining Sentinel-1 ascending and descending passes decomposes line-of-sight motion into true horizontal and vertical components, separating thermal expansion from progressive shear.
Sentinel-1 IW SLC (C-band, ESA)COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation (X-band, ASI)TerraSAR-X / TanDEM-X (X-band, DLR)
The plant says nothing. The heat and the pile say everything.Processing plant throughput inference from thermal and stockpile change
Combining Landsat-9 thermal radiance over crushers and mills with stereo-derived stockpile volume changes produces a credible, independent estimate of ore processing rates, without setting foot on site.
Landsat-9 TIRS Band 10Planet SuperDove (PlanetScope)Maxar WorldView Legion
Brine turns colour before it turns profitable. Satellites notice first.Evaporation pond brine chemistry estimation for lithium operations
Spectral reflectance of lithium evaporation ponds shifts measurably as brine concentrates. Sentinel-2 and Landsat-9 time series let operators track pond-by-pond chemistry progression remotely, though ground-truth calibration remains non-negotiable.
Sentinel-2 MSILandsat-9 OLI-2Planet SuperDove
Brine pools absorb radar. Halite crust reflects it. Physics does the mapping.Salar lithium brine surface extent and seasonal change mapping
SAR backscatter and optical indices distinguish brine pools, halite crust and clay margins on lithium salars through cloud and seasonal flood cycles, giving operators and regulators a consistent surface-extent record.
Sentinel-1 C-band SAR (ESA)Sentinel-2 MSI (ESA)ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 (JAXA)
Tailings look inert. Their spectra disagree.Rare-earth element tailings spectral characterisation
Hyperspectral imaging identifies REE-bearing mineral phases at tailings surfaces through diagnostic absorption features across 400–2500 nm. PRISMA and EMIT now make this possible from orbit, without a drill.
ASI PRISMAEMIT (VSWIR imaging spectrometer, ISS)AVIRIS-NG (airborne)
Mines dewater at night. The river remembers by morning.Mine water discharge turbidity plume mapping in river systems
Satellite-derived turbidity indices track suspended sediment plumes from mine dewatering and runoff events in river systems, using red and near-infrared band ratios at 3–10 m resolution. Timing and spatial origin distinguish mine-sourced pulses from background fluvial sediment loads, within the hard constraint of cloud-free overpasses.
Sentinel-2 MSIPlanet SuperDoveLandsat-9 OLI
Mercury is invisible from orbit. Its footprint is not.Artisanal gold mining mercury contamination proxy mapping
Direct mercury detection from satellites is not feasible. Combining active ASGM pit mapping with downstream turbidity and NDVI anomalies gives governments a practical proxy for contamination spread across river systems.
Sentinel-2 MSILandsat-9 OLIPlanet SuperDove
A shaft exhaust cannot hide its temperature from orbit.Underground mine ventilation shaft thermal signature monitoring
Ventilation shafts betray underground mine activity through thermal infrared anomalies detectable by Landsat-9 TIRS and ECOSTRESS. The contrast is sharpest at high-latitude or high-altitude sites where ambient swings are large, but the method has real resolution and revisit limits buyers should understand before commissioning it.
Landsat-9 TIRSECOSTRESS (ISS-mounted)ASTER TIR
Trucks cannot lie. Satellite geometry can count them anyway.Mine access road traffic density and haulage route monitoring
Very-high-resolution optical imagery from constellations such as WorldView Legion and Pléiades Neo can detect and count individual haul trucks, giving analysts a production-correlated traffic signal that sits entirely outside company reporting chains.
Maxar WorldView LegionAirbus Pléiades NeoPlanet SkySat
The ore tells you its grade. Most sensors cannot hear it.Iron ore stockpile grade estimation from spectral reflectance
Iron oxides absorb strongly near 900 nm and redden the visible slope. Hyperspectral satellites now read those signals from orbit, giving port and mine operators a non-contact grade proxy for surface stockpiles.
ASI PRISMANASA/JPL EMITSentinel-2 MSI
Regulators want proof of recovery. The archive goes back fifty years.Post-closure land cover trajectory and compliance verification
Closed mine sites carry financial bonds and legal rehabilitation milestones that can span decades. Time-series classification of Landsat and Sentinel-2 imagery turns the satellite archive into an independent, auditable record of land cover change from bare ground through to forest canopy.
Landsat TM / ETM+ / OLI (USGS / NASA)Sentinel-2 MSI (ESA Copernicus)Planet SuperDove
The pond grows quietly. Physics notices before the inspector does.Tailings dam supernatant pond extent and freeboard estimation
SAR backscatter and optical water indices map the supernatant pond on tailings storage facilities at 6-day repeat, flagging rapid expansion before it reaches the embankment crest. The method supports risk triage, not survey-grade freeboard measurement.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band)Sentinel-2 MSIPlanet SuperDove
The rock tells you where to drill. The satellite reads the rock.Copper oxide and alteration zone outcrop mapping
SWIR and TIR spectroscopy from ASTER, EMIT and PRISMA identifies porphyry copper indicator minerals at outcrop scale, cutting field sampling costs in arid terrain where exposure is good but access is expensive.
ASTER (Terra)EMIT (ISS)ASI PRISMA
The ground is warm. The question is whether geology or a generator explains it.Geothermal heat flux mapping for epithermal mineral system targeting
Nighttime thermal infrared imagery from ASTER and ECOSTRESS reveals anomalous ground heat flux linked to hydrothermal systems that host epithermal gold and silver deposits, separating geological signal from industrial noise.
ASTER TIR (Terra satellite)ECOSTRESS (ISS-mounted)Landsat-9 TIRS
A blast leaves two clocks running. We read both.Mine blast event detection and production rhythm mapping
Correlating high-revisit optical imagery with public seismic and infrasound catalogues lets analysts time blast events, map bench exposure, and infer production rhythms at open-pit mines anywhere on Earth.
Planet SuperDovePlanet SkySatSentinel-2 MSI
Mining companies dredge in the dark. Ocean colour sensors do not.Deep-sea and shallow seabed mining sediment plume detection
Satellite ocean colour sensors detect suspended sediment plumes from seabed mining and dredging by resolving blue-green reflectance anomalies tied to elevated particulate matter. Coverage is global and near-daily, but the method is physically bounded by the photic zone.
NASA PACE OCISentinel-3 OLCIMODIS-Aqua
The fire is underground. The evidence is not.Subsurface coal seam fire extent and progression mapping
Underground coal seam fires betray themselves at the surface through thermal anomalies and millimetre-scale ground subsidence. Combining thermal infrared imagery with Sentinel-1 InSAR makes it possible to map fire extent, track the burn front, and estimate void growth without entering the ground.
ASTER TIR (Terra)Landsat-9 TIRSSentinel-1 C-band SAR (InSAR)
The pit floods. The chemistry evolves for decades. Satellites watch.Pit lake water quality evolution after mine flooding
Decommissioned open pits that flood can produce stratified, acidic, metal-laden lakes whose surface chemistry shifts over years. Multispectral and hyperspectral sensors retrieve pH proxies, dissolved iron, turbidity and algal indicators without a boat.
Sentinel-2 MSILandsat 8/9 OLIAVIRIS-NG (airborne)
The machine never stops moving. Its shadow tells you how hard.Dragline and shovel cycle counting from shadow geometry
Sub-metre optical imagery captured at sub-daily revisit can resolve the shadows cast by large draglines and rope shovels, allowing swing cycles to be counted and correlated with published equipment specs to estimate tonnes moved per shift.
Maxar WorldView LegionPlanet PelicanAirbus Pléiades Neo
The dam looks dry on the surface. The toe tells a different story.Tailings dam toe and downstream seepage wetness anomaly detection
Seepage through a tailings embankment is a documented precursor to dam failure. C-band and L-band SAR backscatter change and thermal infrared surface temperature depression can reveal anomalous wetness at the toe or downstream face weeks before visible signs appear.
Sentinel-1 C-band SAR (ESA)ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 L-band SAR (JAXA)Landsat 8/9 TIRS (USGS/NASA)
Dust carries a mineral receipt. Spectroscopy reads it.Mineralogical fingerprinting of windblown dust sources at mine sites
Windblown dust from mine waste and tailings carries spectral fingerprints that hyperspectral sensors can resolve. Mapping exposed mineral assemblages at source provides the attribution evidence regulators and operators actually need.
ASI PRISMANASA EMIT (ISS)HyMap (airborne)
Sand leaves no invoice. Elevation change does.Illegal aggregate and sand extraction from borrow pits and riverbeds
Unlicensed sand and aggregate extraction reshapes riverbeds and borrow pits faster than ground inspectors can follow. DEM differencing and multi-epoch planform analysis turn publicly available and commercial imagery into volume accounts.
Airbus Pléiades Neo (tri-stereo)PlanetScopeSentinel-2 MSI
The cave tells you nothing. The surface does not lie.Block cave subsidence crater and draw-zone surface expression mapping
Block-cave mining creates a measurable surface signature months before breakthrough. Time-series InSAR on Sentinel-1 and COSMO-SkyMed maps subsidence velocity, crater extent, and tension-crack propagation to give early warning where underground sensors cannot.
Sentinel-1 A/B (C-band SAR)COSMO-SkyMed (X-band SAR)ICEYE X-band SAR
Plants absorb heavy metals silently. Their spectra do not.Phytoremediation progress monitoring via metal-stress spectral indices
Metal-stressed vegetation on mine tailings shows distinct red-edge chlorophyll depression and SWIR reflectance shifts that differ from drought or nutrient stress. Sentinel-2, PRISMA and EMIT can track these signatures over time, providing auditable evidence of phytoremediation progress for regulators.
Sentinel-2 MSI (ESA)ASI PRISMANASA EMIT (ISS-mounted)
Miners clear forest before they dig. That clearing is the signal.Artisanal mining deforestation frontier advance rate mapping
Artisanal mining expands through forest clearance that precedes bare-earth excavation by days to weeks. SAR coherence loss and optical NDVI change, read at weekly cadence, map the advancing frontier independently of the pit itself.
Sentinel-1 SAR (C-band, ESA)PlanetScope (Planet Labs)Sentinel-2 MSI (ESA)
Stockpiles change shape. That change is a production ledger.Conveyor belt shadow and stockpile geometry flow-rate inference
Repeated stereo-derived surface models of mine stockpiles, combined with conveyor shadow geometry as an operational proxy, let analysts infer throughput flow rates between satellite passes without setting foot on site.
Maxar WorldView-3Airbus Pléiades NeoDLR TanDEM-X
Tailings leach into farmland. The SWIR bands do not lie.Soil salinisation mapping from mine waste leachate in surrounding farmland
Leachate from tailings facilities and heap leach pads elevates soil salinity in adjacent farmland in patterns visible in Sentinel-2 SWIR ratios and PRISMA hyperspectral data. Mapping salt-crust extent, severity, and seasonal wetting cycles builds the evidentiary record for liability attribution and remediation planning.
Sentinel-2 MSIASI PRISMALandsat 8/9 OLI-TIRS