Copernicus Data to boost raw materials source management: Illustrations from the RawMatCop Alliance project

A crucial challenge for the transition to a carbon neutral economy is the high demand for mineral resources. In addition, embracing circularity and reducing the environmental impacts lead to focus on developing and using advanced tools to improve the mineral resource management, both technologically and economically. Earth observation (EO) can come into play, and specifically the Sentinel satellites of the Copernicus program. Many satellite sensor types (multispectral and hyperspectral) are commonly used in different sectors such as agriculture and climate. However, utilization in mineral resource exploration and management is less well developed. The reason is partly linked to that EO techniques are not an integral part of geoscience and engineering education at many universities. RawMatCop Alliance has the ambition to become the pertinent kit to transform the advanced scientific knowledge integrated with the industrial expertise to fill this gap. The course modules’ cover the whole mining life cycle, including exploration and new source prospecting mapping using machine learning and geological feature extraction studies; acid-mine drainage detection and time-series monitoring; mine monitoring using SAR imaging and ground deformation mapping. The adoption of the methods with free-access data, (e.g. Copernicus data) will inspire various stakeholders to uptake the satellite technology, within and beyond the raw materials industries.