MINEYE, a European Project Based on Earth Observation for Sustainable Mining (with SPACEBEL Participation)

Import dependence exposes the EU to major geopolitical risks and forces it to take measures to secure its supplies.

Europe’s industrial competitiveness strongly depends on Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) and Strategic Materials (SMs), that play key roles in the green and digital transformation. However, Europe has limited raw material value chains, and the depletion of easy-to-access raw materials makes it dependent on several third countries which challenges the security of supply, especially in times of economic uncertainty and geopolitical turmoil. The competitiveness of the European mining industry is also being challenged by production costs going up, and the increasing stringency of environmental rules.

The key to overcoming these challenges and enabling Europe’s raw material value chain to be competitive, more autonomous, and resilient, is to develop ways to make it more sustainable, from a financial, but also environmental and social standpoint. There is thus a need to increase the knowledge of the state of European resources and to support mining and exploration companies in making better informed decisions when it comes to exploration and exploitation of resources. New technologies will play an important role.

Mineral exploration relies on geophysical and geological surveying to identify mineral deposits and determine their viability for exploitation. New Earth Observation technology using satellite mapping methods can support exploration efforts by saving costs and reducing environmental impacts of exploration drilling.

The MINEYE project aims to develop new technologies and provide the mining industry with proven and validated solutions for the uptake of Earth Observation data and technology. The challenge of reducing the environmental impacts of mining will be achieved by developing new methods and tools for the entire mining value chain. Thus, MINEYE aims to develop innovative and competitive technologies for mineral exploration, extraction and processing, waste management and mine closure and reclamation. The project will demonstrate the benefits from increased use of Earth Observation data, which is not yet well acknowledged within the sector.