November 2025
The MINEYE consortium met in Heraklion, Crete in November for the bi-annual project meeting. The two-day event was hosted and organised by project partner ETAM SA – a consulting company based in Crete and leader of Work Package “Dissemination, Communication and Exploitation.” The project partners gathered to review progress, exchange insights, and celebrate both the 4-year project’s second anniversary and the substantial results achieved so far.
Throughout the meeting, partners presented the advancements made within each Work Package, along with the latest findings from the three pilot sites: SO.RI.CO.M.’s Ternove mine in Bulqizë, Albania, Tharsis Mining’s exploration areas in Spain, and mineralization areas in northern Norrbotten, Sweden. Over the past two years, intermediate milestones have been reached, including the successful collection of field data across all project pilot sites, analysis of results, and the planning of next steps for validating MINEYE technologies.
The project once again had the honour of welcoming members of its Industrial Advisory Board, Dr. Eric Pirard (University of Liège) and Dr. Jef Caers (Stanford University). Their expert scientific and industrial perspectives provided valuable feedback on the presented results and helped identify key challenges and opportunities for the next phases of the project.
MINEYE is supporting Europe’s need to increase access to domestic critical and strategic minerals and metals. The project is developing innovative and competitive digital tools that use Earth Observation data and address the mining value chain—from exploration to operation, and post-closure.
Looking ahead, the next phase of the project will focus on further developing digital technologies that leverage data from various satellite constellations and subsurface imaging techniques. In addition, several data collection campaigns are being planned to support various parts of the value chain; including an exploration campaign at Tharsis’s mining areas, and a multidisciplinary field campaign to characterize and generate 3D models of the secondary raw materials from mining residues.
MINEYE’s multi-disciplinary approach combines techniques to map the surface in mine exploration areas, to identify potential mineralization and environmental impacts of existing and historic mining activities, and the subsurface to generate 3D ore deposit models. The project is collaborating with industry stakeholders to identify key priorities that support efficient and responsible mining in Europe.
The MINEYE consortium consists of 13 partners from 9 European countries and is coordinated by the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI). The consortium provides a diverse set of competences with partners from the mining industry, Earth observation service providers and technology developers, as well as research and academia.
