Satellite based synthetic aperture radar and optical spatial-temporal information as aid for operational and environmental mine monitoring

A sustainable society is a society that satisfies its resource requirements without endangering the sustainability of these resources. The mineral endowment on the African continent is estimated to be the first or second largest of world reserves. Therefore, it is recognised that the African continent still heavily depends on mineral exports as a key contributor to the gross domestic product (GDP) of various countries. These mining activities, however, do introduce primary and secondary environmental degradation factors. They attract communities to these mining areas, light and heavy industrial establishments occur, giving rise to artisanal activities. This study focussed on satellite RS products as an aid to a mine’s operations and the monitoring of its environment. Effective operational mine management and control ensures a more sustainable and profitable lifecycle for mines. Satellite based RS holds the potential to observe the mine and its surrounding areas at high temporal intervals, different spectral wavelengths and spatial resolutions. The combination of SAR and optical information creates a spatial platform to observe and measure the mine’s operations and the behaviour of specific land cover and land use classes over time and contributes to a better understanding of the mining activities and their influence on the environment within a specific geographical area. This study will introduce an integrated methodology to collect, process and analyse spatial information over a specific targeted mine. This methodology utilises a medium resolution land cover base map, derived from Landsat 8, to understand the predominant land cover types of the surrounding area. Using very high resolution mono- and stereoscopic satellite imagery provides a finer scale analysis and identifies changes in features at a smaller scale. Combining these technologies with the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) applications for precise measurement of surface subsidence or upliftment becomes a spatial toolbox for mine management. This study examines a combination of satellite remote sensing products guided by a systematic workflow methodology to integrate spatial results as an aid for mining operations and environmental monitoring. Some of the results that can be highlighted is the successful land cover classification using the Landsat 8 satellite. The land cover that dominated the Kolomela mine area was the “SHRUBLAND/GRASS” class with a 94% coverage and “MINE” class of 2.6%. Sishen mine had a similar dominated land cover characteristic with a “SHRUBLAND/GRASS” class of 90% and “MINE” class of 4.8%. The Pléiades time-series classification analysis was done using three scenes each acquired at a different time interval. The Sishen and Kolomela mine showed especially changes from the bare soil class to the asphalt or mine class. The Pléiades stereoscopic analysis provided volumetric change detection over small, medium, large and recessed areas. Both the Sishen and Kolomela mines demonstrated height profile changes in each selected category. The last category of results focused on the SAR technology to measure within millimetre accuracy the subsidence and upliftment behaviour of surface areas over time. The Royal Bafokeng Platinum tailings pond area was measured using 74 TerraSAR-X scenes. The tailings wall area was confirmed as stable with natural subsidence that occurred in its surrounding area due to seasonal changes of the soil during rainy and dry periods. The Chuquicamata mine as a large open pit copper mine area was analysed using 52 TerraSAR-X scenes. The analysis demonstrated significant vertical surface movement over some of the dumping sites. It is the wish of the researcher that this dissertation and future research scholars will continue to contribute in this scientific field. These contributions can only assist the mining sector to continuously improve its mining operations as well as its monitoring of the primary as well as the secondary environmental impacts to ensure improved sustainability for the next generation.Environmental SciencesM. Sc. (Environmental Science

Internet of Things for Sustainable Mining

The sustainable mining Internet of Things deals with the applications of IoT technology to the coupled needs of sustainable recovery of metals and a healthy environment for a thriving planet. In this chapter, the IoT architecture and technology is presented to support development of a digital mining platform emphasizing the exploration of rock–fluid–environment interactions to develop extraction methods with maximum economic benefit, while maintaining and preserving both water quantity and quality, soil, and, ultimately, human health. New perspectives are provided for IoT applications in developing new mineral resources, improved management of tailings, monitoring and mitigating contamination from mining. Moreover, tools to assess the environmental and social impacts of mining including the demands on dwindling freshwater resources. The cutting-edge technologies that could be leveraged to develop the state-of-the-art sustainable mining IoT paradigm are also discussed

Advances In Remote Sensing Techniques For Monitoring Rock Falls And Slope Failures

Ground control problems at surface mining operations can occur for a variety of reasons. Stress, gravity loading, rock strength, geology, pore pressure, weather effects, underground workings, and many other factors contribute to slope instabilities that range from small rock falls to massive slides of material. While some of these failures can be predicted or controlled by preventive measures, each year many completely unexpected failures occur. Current methods for monitoring generally involve measuring displacements at a few, selected points in and around the suspected area of instability. While most of the displacements along these points will be in a downslope direction, freeze-thaw cycles of water-filled joints, horizontal stresses or pressure, buoyancy in saturated soils, human measurement errors, or other situations can produce deformation in almost any direction, even without any instability in the slope. Determination of which, if any of the observed movements represents a potential hazard is essential. Because of the enormous surface area of many large open-pit mines, several varieties and scales of instability can occur. Small, unexpected rock falls may indeed be more hazardous than a massive failure that involves slow displacement of material over a longer period of time. Complete vigilance to detect all small potential falling blocks is neither feasible nor economical and certainly is not attainable using today's most common point displacement monitoring techniques. As part of an on-going study at the Spokane Research Laboratory, several new methods for monitoring slope instabilities are being investigated. This paper describes the potential adaptation of systems such as interferometric synthetic aperture radar, imaging spectroscopy, and time-domain reflectometry, to slope monitoring and design

A review of remote-sensing unmanned aerial vehicles in the mining industry

The increased adoption of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may improve the productivity and costeffectiveness of remote sensing in the mining industry. This review’s objective is to enable stakeholders to identify possible application adoption, improvement, and innovation opportunities. The review merges a building block strategy and practical screening criteria to identify possible avenues of research to answer the review questions. After the screening process, 72 documents were included in the review. Papers were classified into four categories: exploration, development, exploitation, and reclamation. Fifteen applications were identified, the majority of which were in the exploration phase. The most often researched applications were topographic surveys, reclamation monitoring, and slope management. From the two UAV types identified, multi-rotor vehicles were the most favoured for all applications. From the eight remote sensing techniques identified, photogrammetry was the one most often used. Other techniques were limited because of complexity, cost, or the incompatibility of sensors and UAVs. The review was limited to published papers in academic journals. Future studies could aim to include empirical data on the latest UAV applications used in the mining industry.https://journals.co.za/journal/saimmam2023Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM

Impacts of mining on land use - A case (study) of Luanshya district, Zambia

Copper mining is the main driver of Zambia’s economic growth and development and plays a significant role in the global supply of materials for electrical, plumbing, heating and transport equipment among other benefits. However, primary production and beneficiation of copper pose serious risks to the mining districts such as environmental pollution, landscape alterations, land degradation and social economic challenges to the host communities. This research looks at the landscape alterations in the mining district of Luanshya, and how these alterations are related to mining and other land uses. Using remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the landscape alterations were mapped and analysed to identify the processes causing these alterations and their impacts on land use. Secondly, stakeholder interviews were conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the mapped landscape alterations, what the approach has been to land use planning and the stakeholder roles in this planning. Analysis of the findings identifies that landscape alterations in the district have been caused by different inter-related mechanisms stemming from a number of causes. These causes include high dependency on copper mining; inadequate enforcement of environmental legislation; lack of state involvement in land use planning of mining districts; and also global factors such as commodity market conditions. As a result, boom and bust commodity cycles have had significant impacts on the wellbeing of both mining communities and the environment. These impacts are not limited to the mine sites alone but extend to entire districts. This research also identifies that while mining plays a vital role in the economic development of Zambia, adequate enforcement of environmental legislation and adoption of inclusive land use planning may stimulate sustainable development of mining districts and foster sustainable land use patterns. Furthermore, this study recommends that future land use planning must be dynamic in terms of adopting postmining restoration of landscapes and infrastructure while also taking the direct and indirect impacts of mining into account

Space resources. Volume 1: Scenarios

A number of possible future paths for space exploration and development are presented. The topics covered include the following: (1) the baseline program; (2) alternative scenarios utilizing nonterrestrial resources; (3) impacts of sociopolitical conditions; (4) common technologies; and issues for further study

A lunar base reference mission for the phased implementation of bioregenerative life support system components

Previous design efforts of a cost effective and reliable regenerative life support system (RLSS) provided the foundation for the characterization of organisms or 'biological processors' in engineering terms and a methodology was developed for their integration into an engineered ecological LSS in order to minimize the mass flow imbalances between consumers and producers. These techniques for the design and the evaluation of bioregenerative LSS have now been integrated into a lunar base reference mission, emphasizing the phased implementation of components of such a BLSS. In parallel, a designers handbook was compiled from knowledge and experience gained during past design projects to aid in the design and planning of future space missions requiring advanced RLSS technologies. The lunar base reference mission addresses in particular the phased implementation and integration of BLS parts and includes the resulting infrastructure burdens and needs such as mass, power, volume, and structural requirements of the LSS. Also, operational aspects such as manpower requirements and the possible need and application of 'robotics' were addressed

Design of an IoT-based monitoring system as a part of prevention of thermal events in mining and landfill waste disposal sites: A pilot case study

This case study deals with the design of a hybrid system for the prevention of thermal events in mining waste disposal sites and landfills. The overall design, real imple mentation, optimization, and experimental verification of the functionality of the entire system are described in detail. Both experimental platforms are built on the Internet of Things (long range wide area network (LoRaWAN) and Sigfox) basis and meet the conditions for autonomous long-term on-site monitoring. The data collected are periodically transmitted wirelessly to a database repository, which processes relevant parameters for the operators of dispatching workplaces. The study is focused on a combination of surface and depth measurement methods. The experimental results clearly confirm the functionality of the proposed solutions, which will enable timely interventions and elimination of underground and surface combustions. Thanks to centralized data collection, a unique database has also been created, which can be used for the implementation of prediction algorithms (based, for example, on machine learning or artificial intelligence).Web of Science72art. no. 550011

MINEO Southern Europe environment test site : contamination impact mapping and modelling : final Report

Relatório final do projeto MINEO: Assessing and monitoring the environmental impact of mining activities in Europe using advanced Earth Observation techniques. Project funded by the European Community under the “Information Society Technology” Programme (1998-2002)ABSTRACT: Under the framework of the MINEO project, the abandoned S.Domingos mining area as been selected as representative of Southern Europe Environment to test methods and tools for assessing and monitoring the environmental impact of mining activities using hyperspectral data and other relevant data sets. The S.Domingos mining area, is characterised by a long-term mining activity, since pre-roman times till the 1960’s, and is included in the group of Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide deposits of the Iberian Pyrite Belt. The orebody contained Cu, and also Zn and Pb. Several facilities were developed for mining works and ore transportation, covering an area of 50km2, facilitating dispersion of related pollutants. The main environmental problems can be summarised as related to waste material and their pollutant content (Zn, Pb, Sb, Cu, As, Hg and Cd), acid waters (minimum pH value of 1.7) and associated dispersion, as well as landscape disruption. Hyperspectral images were able to identify mineralogical/chemical dispersion of waste material related to Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) following two approaches: one related to AMD waste material field spectra and the other based on AMD minerals, using standard spectral libraries. The processing techniques used were mainly based on the Spectral Angle Mapper classifier and Mixture Tunned Matched Filtering. Globally, both mapping results obtained, either in AMD waste material either in AMD minerals, were able to detect mineralogical/chemical characteristics of imaged ground data, which were validated by field data. The GIS geochemical modelling allowed the determination of effective AMD area of influence, based in water pH values, using geostatistical methods. The Indicator “Collocate-Cokriging” of the water pH using the distance to the highest correlated AMD waste material (mixed sulphur materials from hyperspectral classification) predicts the AMD dispersion in the area related to that material. This methodology achieved good results and could be applied in new areas using waste material hyperspectral image classification for AMD delimitation area.N/