Detection of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Activities and Their Transformation Using Earth Observation, Nighttime Light, and Precipitation Data

The rapid growth of artificially constructed mining camps has negatively impacted the camps’ surrounding environment and the informal communities that have developed inside the camps. However, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is generally informal, illegal, and unregulated; thus, transformations of the mining activities and potential social-environmental problems resulting from these changes are not revealed. This study assesses the transformation of mining activities in camp-type ASGM sectors in Gorontalo, Indonesia, during 2014–2020 using remotely sensed data, such as Landsat series, nighttime light, and precipitation data obtained through Google Earth Engine. Results show that the combined growth of the built-up areas increased 4.8-fold, and their annual mean nighttime light increased 3.8-fold during 2014–2019. Furthermore, diverse increases in the sizes of area and nighttime light intensity were identified from the mining camps. Among the studied camps, since 2017, Motomboto camp 3 showed a particularly rapid change in activity regardless of the season of the year. Hence, these approaches are capable of identifying rapid transformations in the mining activities and provide significant insight into the socio-environmental problems originating from the closed and vulnerable camp-based ASGM sector. Our results also contribute to developing rapid and appropriate interventions and strengthening environmental governance.