Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Sites in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Are Not Associated with Nighttime Light Emissions

Christopher C. M. Kyba, Grégory Giuliani, Florian Franziskakis, Klement Tockner and Pierre Lacroix
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Christopher C. M. Kyba: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Grégory Giuliani: Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, GRID-Geneva, Bd Carl-Vogt 66, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Florian Franziskakis: Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, GRID-Geneva, Bd Carl-Vogt 66, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Klement Tockner: FWF Austrian Science Fund, Sensengasse 1, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Pierre Lacroix: Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, GRID-Geneva, Bd Carl-Vogt 66, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland

J, 2019, vol. 2, issue 2, 1-10

Abstract: Maintaining records of artisanal and small-scale mining sites in developing countries requires considerable effort, so it would be beneficial if Earth observation data from space could assist in the identifying and monitoring of such sites. Artificial light emissions are common at industrial-scale mining sites and have been associated with small-scale illegal mining in some contexts. Here, we examine whether known artisanal and small-scale mining sites in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are associated with observations of night light emissions by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite Day/Night Band (DNB). Light emissions from the mining sites were not observed: the radiance observed from the sites was near zero and nearly identical to that observed for a set of randomly-chosen locations in the same region. While it is the case that DNB night lights’ products provide useful data in other resource extraction contexts, they do not appear to be useful for identifying artisanal mining sites in the DRC.

Keywords: artisanal mining; Democratic Republic of the Congo; night lights; remote sensing; VIIRS DNB (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I10 I12 I13 I14 I18 I19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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