By Sean Donegan, President and CEO, Satelytics
Mining operations are complex environments and the ability to identify potential threats before they escalate is paramount. The territories that mining companies oversee are both geographically vast and topographically diverse. Identifying concerning changes across such vast terrain – particularly when that terrain is remote – can present a number of vexing problems and small but important details have a tendency to go unnoticed.
These problems are endemic to any industrial operation of a sufficiently large scope, such as oil and gas, agriculture, electricity, and forestry. It is no surprise, then, that each of these industries – as well as mining – has turned to a technology laser-targeted to the problems of the large-terrain industry. Geospatial analytics and using advanced AI-powered algorithms to analyze satellite imagery to monitor mining assets and infrastructure. It is revolutionizing the mining industry.
The challenge of monitoring mines
Before delving into the benefits of geospatial analytics, it is worth examining the challenges afflicting the mining industry.
Every stage of the mining process contains its share of risks, but it is the maintenance of generated waste that – if improperly managed – presents perhaps the biggest opportunity for disaster. The tailings ponds that store the byproducts of the mining process require vigilant monitoring. Mining concerns must keep constant track of levels of chemical and biological factors of concern (such as dissolved metals and suspended solids); as important, they must ensure the integrity of the physical dams that protect these tailings from the surrounding environment.
Despite the resources devoted to this monitoring, small changes of dire significance are often overlooked – missed by human personnel and even by conventional survey tools. These oversights can often have immense, compounding consequences in the form of leaks or spills, which can harm the environment, threaten public health, and bury the responsible business in fines and litigation.
The reclamation process, too, is fraught with potential peril. Mining companies are tasked with keeping constant track of environmental restoration, with close attention paid to the growth or decline of vegetation (as this can affect the fragility of dams and embankments). But here, too, many aspects of this process are resistant to manual or otherwise conventional monitoring. Very small instances of land movement or erosion may go unnoticed for weeks or longer – by which point the problem may have spiraled out of control.

How AI-powered geospatial analytics can help
Monitoring difficulties have frustrated the mining sector for decades, but AI-enhanced geospatial engineering may finally be putting some of those concerns to rest.
Here is how it works. First, there is data acquisition: advanced technology like satellite imagery, elevation models, and LIDAR scans digitally reproduce the entirety of a mining concern’s territory on a multi-dimensional level. This data is then analyzed by advanced algorithms which provide mine owners with concise, actionable insights into their properties.
This technology is a game-changer. Issues with tailings ponds can be instantly flagged, with concentrations of heavy metals like arsenic, barium, and iron precisely measured. The stability of tailings dams can be closely measured, with everything from landslips to landslides to the movement of the earth around critical facilities accounted for. All this applies, as well, to the surrounding area: geospatial analytics can map soil and water areas down to the square foot, ensuring the rapid detection of acid mine drainage (AMD) and even carbon dioxide emissions.
In fact, the applications of this technology in a mining context appear endless as it can detect specific materials as well as measure their concentration. Additionally, the technology can help locate potential mineral deposits. This has significant implications for the rare earth elements (REE) sector, which has struggled to identify new opportunities owing to geopolitical and supply chain challenges. Geospatial analysis can drastically reduce the resources needed for such exploration, and point exploration leaders directly to promising locations.
Another significant application is suggested by the recent experience of a prominent East African mining concern. Not only was the organization able to comprehensively monitor mine reclamation efforts for compliance purposes – but they were also able to identify (and remove) illegal encroachments on their territory, and to take steps to reinforce rapidly moving surface soils.
In mining, as in any large industrial sector, information is power. The more mine owners know about their territory, the better able they are to monitor its safety and act on potential threats. In this respect, few new technological solutions appear as promising as geospatial analytics.

About Sean Donegan
Sean Donegan is the President and CEO of Satelytics. He brings over thirty years of technology and software development experience to the company. A dynamic leader, Sean’s career has been focused on building companies through creativity and innovation, recruiting highly effective teams to solve customers’ toughest challenges. Sean founded or owned four successful software companies, most recently Sean Allen LLC which was focused on predictive analytics in the oil & gas marketplace.
With his energetic leadership style, Sean has always believed in building talented teams whose members are laser-focused on problem-solving, results, and financial objectives. These qualities were illustrated during his 15-year tenure as CEO of Westbrook Technologies, Inc. where he transformed a failing enterprise into a highly profitable document management software global leader with customers in 52 countries. Sean earned an undergraduate degree from the University of London and a postgraduate professional qualification from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Sean lives in Hunting Valley, Ohio

About Satelytics
Satelytics is a software company producing geospatial analytics for early detection, location and — in many instances — quantification of our customers’ most pressing challenges. The Ohio-based company uses science, software and technology to deliver valuable services to customers to identify problems before they become disasters – environmentally, financially, or otherwise. Learn more about Satelytics here.