All posts tagged: mining

Autoencoder for anomaly detection in hperspectral imagery

Autoencoder for anomaly detection in hperspectral imagery

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Leveraging spectral and spatial information to improve autoencoders, enhancing the identification of abnormal pixels Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) from spaceborne, airborne, and drone platforms has emerged as a transformative Earth observation technology and provides spatially distributed detailed spectral information across potentially hundreds of contiguous wavelength bands. By capturing the unique spectral signatures of materials, hyperspectral sensors enable the precise identification and characterisation of vegetation, soils, minerals, water quality, and man-made objects. Satellite-based systems offer large-scale and repetitive monitoring for global environmental and climate studies, while airborne sensors provide higher spatial resolution and flexibility for regional applications. Drone-mounted HSI cameras further enhance observation capabilities by delivering ultra-high-resolution data tailored to local-scale investigations. Together, these platforms support a wide range of applications, including precision agriculture, ecosystem monitoring, biodiversity assessment, mineral exploration, environmental pollution detection, disaster management, urban mapping, and infrastructure inspection. The synergy between space, air, and drone observations enables multi-scale analyses, fostering improved understanding and sustainable management of natural and built environments. A hyperspectral image is arranged by a three-dimensional (3D) data cube (Fig. 1) acquired by using …

Four More Miners Rescued From Flooded Cave in Laos

Four More Miners Rescued From Flooded Cave in Laos

Published by Sam Flores

new video loaded: Four More Miners Rescued From Flooded Cave in Laos Four more miners were rescued from a flooded cave in Laos on Saturday after being trapped for more than a week. Five miners in total have been rescued, and crews are still searching for two more. By Jorge Mitssunaga May 30, 2026 Source link

Inexpensive seafloor-hopping submersibles could stoke deep-sea science—and mining

Inexpensive seafloor-hopping submersibles could stoke deep-sea science—and mining

Published by Miika Tikkanen

But as with any sort of new type of technology, “there’s always growing pains,” recalls Orphan. Frigid temperatures and steep topography added unseen challenges, and it took the full three weeks for the sub to get high-resolution photographs of the seeps.  The setback didn’t dull Orphan’s excitement about the potential of these machines. “There’s a lot of real, unknown science right at that interface between the sediment and the ocean surface,” she says. “The Orpheus-type class of instrument, with the right kinds of sensors and samplers, could be a very enabling tool.” Russell envisions pairing the vehicles with specially designed payloads that can sense the heat of chemical seeps and detect plumes of sediment, DNA shed from ocean life-forms, or the magnetic tug of buried cables.  The vehicles are the “the best of both worlds,” says Andrew Sweetman, a deep-sea ecologist at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, who has not worked with Orpheus. While they can roam large areas like an AUV, they can also carry out precise sampling maneuvers like a remotely operated …

US Senators Unveil ‘Mined In America Act’ To Reshore BTC Mining, Codify Bitcoin Strategic Reserve

US Senators Unveil ‘Mined In America Act’ To Reshore BTC Mining, Codify Bitcoin Strategic Reserve

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Micah Zimmerman via BitcoinMagazine.com, Republican Senators Bill Cassidy and Cynthia Lummis introduced legislation Monday aimed at reshaping the U.S. digital asset mining sector, tightening supply chains, and embedding bitcoin into federal reserve strategy. The proposal, titled the “Mined in America Act,” would establish a federal certification program for domestic crypto mining operations while phasing out reliance on foreign-manufactured hardware. It also seeks to codify Donald Trump’s executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, placing the policy on statutory footing, according to a release on the matter. “Digital asset mining is a big part of our economy. We should be doing it here in America,” Cassidy said in a statement, framing the bill as a supply chain and manufacturing initiative. Lummis tied the legislation to a broader push to position the United States as a global hub for digital assets. “The Mined in America Act brings this industry home through forward-thinking initiatives to secure our financial future,” she said. The bill directs the Department of Commerce to create a voluntary “Mined in America” certification for mining facilities and pools that …

The Mysterious Devices Speeding Mining Exploration in Utah

The Mysterious Devices Speeding Mining Exploration in Utah

Published by Daniella Wilson

Bushwhacking through a stand of stunted aspens above 10,000 feet in Utah’s Tushar mountain range, the mountain guide Trevor Katz held his Garmin to the sky and pointed it south. “We should just look for an opening,” he said, glancing over at his colleague, Bailey Pugh, from under a ball cap he’d cut into a visor. He took a few steps steeply uphill, then down, careful not to slide on the scree. “It says it’s right below us, by probably 10 meters. Wait, five.” Wading through walls of branches, he and Pugh circled, eyes trained on the ground. Then, there it was. Stuck in the dirt, the hexagonal silver node looked like a device an alien could have planted. Its small antenna and carrying strap sat above the earth. A sharp spike below anchored it into the slope. It would be a strange thing to stumble upon this so high in the mountains, surrounded only by what can survive at such an elevation. This is just one of 200 nodes planted across the range in …

The Scramble for the Seafloor | Rebecca Egan McCarthy

The Scramble for the Seafloor | Rebecca Egan McCarthy

Published by Jenni Sidey

Since 1779 photosynthesis has been the standard-issue explanation for the continuation of life on earth: plants absorb sunlight, which fuels their metabolism, and create oxygen as waste. This is such basic, grade-school science that it normally wouldn’t bear mentioning, but in July 2024 a team led by Andrew Sweetman at the Scottish Association for Marine Science reported a startling finding in Nature. On the deep seafloor—where light never penetrates—oxygen is apparently being produced by rocks. These rocks are known as polymetallic nodules, which form over the course of millions of years when small debris like sharks’ teeth attract trace metals from the surrounding seawater. The seafloor is covered in a viscous ooze, composed of the compressed skeletons of dead marine life, and the nodules lie strewn atop it, packed closely together. Sweetman and his team were investigating the microbial life in this deep-sea environment by lowering custom-designed chambers into the depths, creating a seal around seafloor sediment. Generally, the oxygen within the chambers decreases as various organisms consume it. In the nodule fields, against all …

Have we found a greener way to do deep-sea mining?

Have we found a greener way to do deep-sea mining?

Published by Miika Tikkanen

A process to extract metals from their ore with hydrogen could make deep-sea mining for valuable materials more sustainable than mining on land, a new study claims. Swathes of the ocean floor are littered with nodules the size of tennis balls. These polymetallic nodules are comprised largely of manganese, with smaller amounts of nickel, copper and cobalt, as well as other elements. As the construction of solar power and electric vehicles booms, demand for these metals is increasing because they are vital components of batteries and wiring. But plans to mine for the polymetallic nodules are highly controversial because operations to collect them would potentially harm the deep-sea floor – one of the last pristine ecosystems on Earth. Even so, some researchers suspect that deep-sea extraction will eventually take place. “I think there is a good chance that someday people… will mine the nodules,” says Ubaid Manzoor at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials in Germany. “So better to have a good process [for extracting metals] after mining than to have one more dirty …