The limited availability of raw materials within European territories, the dependency from external markets for supplying European industries and the potential environmental impact from mining activities require the industrial and scientific communities to find solutions that can aid the mining industry in improving their extraction and processing efficiency and reduce their environmental footprint. 

The objective of the project is to develop multi-scale and multi-temporal remote sensing technologies and methods that allow the acquisition, processing and analysis of data from mining and tailing sites to help improving the mining value chain and mitigate the environmental impact of commercial mining activities.

Within the mining life cycle, the current project contributes to the operation of open pit mines and post-closure activities. The goal of sustainable extraction and safe closure in mining environments will be monitored through systems employing earth observation data acquired from drone and satellite platforms. A key part of the proposed work is related to closing the temporal and resolution gap between mine site scale, typically covered by satellite or nadir-looking drone imagery at lower spatial and temporal resolution, and individual mine faces, where close to real-time assessment of material distribution and content is needed for monitoring minable tons, stockpiles and waste, as well as predicting future updates. This will be realized through two interlinked approaches connecting multi-sensor 2D-3D UAV and satellite hyperspectral datasets, both integrated into an analysis and visualization system for decision makers at different stages of the operations and post-closure life cycle.