An update on global mining land use.

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 

SUBMITTER: Maus V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9307859 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature