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Remote sensing is a powerful tool already benefiting a broad range of professional companies in sectors including agriculture, city planning, and mining. Wherever an industry uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing is a more advanced process that increases the capability of any GIS user. Atlantech Environmental Graduate Joshua Pawson explores the use of remote sensing in mining in more detail.
What is remote sensing?
Remote sensing is the process of detecting emitted radiation from a satellite or drone. Remote sensing software uses this captured data and analyses the reflectance and absorption patterns in different frequencies of electromagnetic radiation to identify physical characteristics on the ground. This means that remote sensing – when coupled with standard GIS techniques – can provide meaningful data to any user and reduce the requirements for on-site data collection.
How is remote sensing used?
Remote sensing has many different applications across many different industries. In the mining and resources sector, remote sensing complements on-ground works and observations, allowing the user to gain more valuable field data than they would have previously.
It has applications in civil and agriculture works, for example it can be used to create high accuracy land surveys that provide detailed figures showing land use distribution and statistics. It can also be used to monitor and map the impacts of fire or destruction of forests, as well as the regenerative progress of these areas.
Remote sensing technologies can provide high accuracy data sets which inform the user about many different features of the land such as vegetation health, water quality, topsoil composition, and more.
Picture of a false colour image for analysing vegetation health created by our Graduate Environmental Consultant Joshua Pawson
How is data collected?
The United States Geological Survey, or USGS as it is known, is a science bureau within the United States Department of the Interior. It provides science about the natural hazards that threaten lives and livelihoods such as the water, energy, minerals, and other natural resources that people rely on.
USGS provides free access to high spatial, temporal resolution images sourced from the LandSat 8 satellite. LandSat 8 can capture multispectral images containing eleven varying wavebands. Three of which cover the visible light part of the electromagnetic spectrum, whilst the others capture ultra violets, near infrared, and thermal radiation emitted from the ground. LandSat 8 is currently in an eight day out of phase orbit, meaning it captures remotely sensed data over the entire globe every sixteen days.
- The USGS website contains more interesting information about band combinations for Landsat 8 here.
What are potential uses for remote sensing in mining?
Multispectral and hyperspectral sensors, used in remote sensing, collect bands of light across the electromagnetic spectrum, along with those in the visible range. Multispectral and hyperspectral sensors assist engineers with improving biodiversity offset monitoring and efficiency and can provide further insight into identifying minerals or deposits of geological materials. This provides miners with the intel needed to better plan and analyse potential sites for extraction.
Hyperspectral images capture imagery in much smaller wavebands though (involving about 200 much smaller wavebands). This technique is significantly detailed. These images can provide surface composition analysis, mapping the distribution of minerals and topsoil components using spectral signatures or profiles.
Hyperspectral image: Sourced from a website talking about identifying mineral deposits for mining: https://possibility.teledyneimaging.com/hunting-new-mining-deposits-hyperspectral-imaging/
What might the future of mineral exploration look like?
Remote sensing technologies are evolving rapidly. In future, these technologies will further enhance mineral discovery and analysis. Higher resolution satellite sensors will capture more detailed images with a broader spectral band range, and the technology will one day integrate with geophysical, geochemical, and geological data to provide a more thorough understanding of the earth subsurface.
The use of drones and Unarmed Aerial Vehicles (UAMs) with remote sensing capabilities and equipped with LiDAR and hyperspectral cameras is expected to increase. This will help localise remote sensing activities. There may also be a more automated approach to mineral exploration as data may be analysed by AI systems with only minimal human intervention required.
- For related reading, please view our blog: Why GIS software is becoming highly desirable in mining and resources.
An example land classification image. Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348901101_The_use_of_Landsat-8_and_Sentinel-2_imageries_in_detecting_and_mapping_rubber_trees
Picture of LandSat 8 Satellite. Source: https://www.caryinstitute.org/news-insights/feature/landsat-8-tool-monitoring-algal-blooms