S34I Project: Secure and Sustainable Supply of Raw Materials for EU Industry

Abstract

<p>The Secure and Sustainable Supply of Raw Materials for EU Industry - S34I project is researching and innovating new data-driven methods to analyze Earth Observation (EO) data, supporting systematic mineral exploration and continuous monitoring of extraction, closure, and post-closure activities to increase European autonomy regarding raw materials (RM) resources, and to use EO not only for the management of technical and environmental issues for a green transition but also to support public awareness, mining's social acceptance, and better legislation. S34I uses data from satellites, airborne, unmanned aerial vehicles, ground-based sensors, underwater hyperspectral imaging and conventional in-situ techniques/methods and fieldwork. The S34I project is supporting the technical experiments and pilot validations/demonstrations for the six pilot use cases and at different phases of the mining life-cycle to address the challenges of the topic: Onshore exploration (Aramo in Spain); Shallow water exploration (Ria de Vigo in Spain); Extraction (Gummern in Austria); and Closure/post-closure (Lausitz in Germany, Aijala and Outokumpu in Finland). The S34I project involves 19 partners from 12 European countries. The project started in January 2023 and ends in June 2025.</p>