An update on global mining land use

Maus, V. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7385-4723, Giljum, S., da Silva, D.M., Gutschlhofer, J., da Rosa, R.P., Luckeneder, S., Gass, S.L.B., Lieber, M., & McCallum, I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5812-9988 (2022). An update on global mining land use. Scientific Data 9 (1) e433. 10.1038/s41597-022-01547-4.

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Abstract

The growing demand for minerals has pushed mining activities into new areas increasingly affecting biodiversity-rich natural biomes. Mapping the land use of the global mining sector is, therefore, a prerequisite for quantifying, understanding and mitigating adverse impacts caused by mineral extraction. This paper updates our previous work mapping mining sites worldwide. Using visual interpretation of Sentinel-2 images for 2019, we inspected more than 34,000 mining locations across the globe. The result is a global-scale dataset containing 44,929 polygon features covering 101,583 km2 of large-scale as well as artisanal and small-scale mining. The increase in coverage is substantial compared to the first version of the dataset, which included 21,060 polygons extending over 57,277 km2. The polygons cover open cuts, tailings dams, waste rock dumps, water ponds, processing plants, and other ground features related to the mining activities. The dataset is available for download from https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.942325 and visualisation at www.fineprint.global/viewer .

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