The objectives of this work were to develop a soil CO₂ flux survey protocol for assessing reclaimed mine land for construction purposes and an approach to delineate high CO₂ flux fields for making decisions on post-mining land uses. The research involved CO₂ chamber accumulation flux surveys; stable carbon isotope ratio analysis; statistical techniques hypothesis testing to examine correlation between CO₂ flux and soil temperature and moisture as well as spatial dependence; and geostatistics to map CO₂ and delineate high flux zones. Soil temperature was observed to have a positive, monotonic correlation with fluxes while soil moisture was observed to have a negative, monotonic correlation. Spatial dependence of CO₂ fluxes on reclaimed mine land was observed on one of the two study sites. The research suggests that macro-porosity and gas permeability may be important factors that explain CO₂ migration in mine spoil. A flux survey protocol has been developed, based on these results, for reclaimed mine lands. The work demonstrates the capability of geostatistical methods to delineate high flux fields. Further research will be required to determine suitable thresholds for such analysis
