Tailings: Identification and Characterization
Our project, Tailings: Identification and Characterization, is focused on helping researchers locate sites that store mine waste, or tailings, in the Southwest United States, so that they can remine them to extract critical minerals, as well as restore them to prevent environmental disasters.
Using satellite imagery and USGS mining and mineral databases, we are applying classification and segmentation to identify unknown tailings, then visualizing our results in a Google Earth Engine web application.
We will launch our MVP to Regeneration, a tailings-focused social enterprise, and to USGS research geologists by 8/3/2022.
Course
What are mine tailngs?
Waste material created during mining operations (after target mineral is extracted from the ore)
Tailing risks
Tailings can create significant health hazards through contamination or tailing dam ruptures and they also can be environmental hazards for the surrounding ecosystem
Tailing opportunities
Tailings are now seen as a significant opportunity to access "critical minerals" (metals deemed critical for both national security and our transition to low carbon economy). The critical minerals market size is estimated to be ~$400B and the Bipartison Infrastrucure Law recently passed provides ~$75M annual investment through USGS to identify more critical minerals, one avenue is by re-mining tailings.