Natural Resource Governance Institute: Illegal Mining Detection

This project includes using machine learning to identifiy mining activities outside contractual boundaries using LANDSAT data.

Project Lead:

Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), helps people to realize the benefits of their countries’ endowments of oil, gas and minerals. We do this through technical advice, advocacy, applied research, policy analysis, and capacity development. We work with innovative agents of change within government ministries, civil society, the media, legislatures, the private sector, and international institutions to promote accountable and effective governance in the extractive industries.

Detailed Project Description:

We have data on contractual geo-spatial boundaries for 10,000 of mines. We have good reasons to believe that some share of these have illegal mining activities *outside the contractual boundaries*.

Using machine learning we are interested to identity:
– rules and patterns that can help us identify illegal mining activities in landsat data
– what amount of mines can be identified as having potentially illegal activities

Technical Components:

I need assistance completing this section: data mining and machine learning. 

Specific project components include:

1) Data cleaning of mining concession data
2) Machine learning / analysis of landsat data using the mining concessions
3) Iterations
4) Written report for publication

Data Set(s):

We have spatial data on mining concessions across countries which will need cleaning.

Skill/Expertise Requirement(s):
1) Advanced data analysis
2) Machine Learning
3) Understanding of geo-spatial and landsat data