Bender, Adrian M. (ORCID: 0000-0001-7469-1957) 20240917 vector digital data Anchorage, Alaska U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center Suggested Citation: Bender, A.M., 2024, An inventory of past mine production footprints in Alaska, including land disturbance and potential above-ground resources, derived from 2018-2023 World Imagery: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P1UQYBDV https://doi.org/10.5066/P1UQYBDV This data release contains two vector polygon shapefile datasets that delineate footprints of land surface disturbance and waste that may represent potential above-ground resources resulting from past mining in Alaska. These footprints were mapped on 2023 World Imagery at the location of currently inactive Alaska Resource Data File sites of past mining production. This dataset was acquired to map and inventory physical byproducts of past mining on Alaska's landscape, including land surface disturbance and waste that may represent potential above-ground mineral resources. The derivative map data can be used in conjunction with the Alaska Resource Data File to quantitatively characterize the abundance and spatial distribution of, for example, legacy mine tailings piles that may retain un-recovered mineral commodities. 20180601 20230801 observed Complete None planned -167.95 -130.04 67.60 54.91 USGS Metadata Identifier USGS:66e9decdd34e0606a9dba4a0 ISO 19115 Topic Category GeoscientificInformation NASA GCMD Earth Science Keyword Thesaurus Land use/Land cover Disturbance Landscape Management USGS Thesaurus Geospatial datasets Land surface characteristics USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Alaska No access constraints. No use constraints. These data are marked with a Creative Common CC0 1.0 Universal License and are in the public domain. It is requested that this USGS data release be cited for any subsequent publications that reference or utilize these data. Users are advised to read the dataset's metadata thoroughly to understand appropriate use and data limitations. U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center Mailing and Physical

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Anchorage Alaska 99508 USA 907-786-7000 gs-ak_asc_datamanagers@usgs.gov Adrian Bender (USGS) mapped the footprints and produced the data release with technical reviews by USGS colleagues Keith Labay, Alan Pongratz, and John Reed. Bender, A. 2025 journal article Scientific Data 12:699 online Springer Nature Bender, A., 2025. Footprints of past mining in Alaska (USA) derived from high-resolution satellite imagery. Scientific Data 12:699. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05039-z https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05039-z Real-world location accuracy of the footprints is expected to be within meters as of the 2023 World Imagery access date and consistent with both mapping scale and sub-meter imagery resolution. The footprints were mapped at a dynamic scale no coarser than 1:20,000 scale based on visually identified waste piles, trenches, disturbed ground and/or vegetation. In cases where footprint polygons share sides, boundaries were interpreted based on human-made features including, for example, breaks in vegetation, roads, or tailings piles. Attribute values fall within expected ranges. The dataset contains no duplicate records, but does contain some repeat "Site" entries reflecting multiple usages of the same site name at unique locations across the state of Alaska. Although this dataset contains a complete record of visually identifiable evidence for past mining production (i.e., waste piles, trenches, disturbed ground and/or vegetation) identified on 2023 World Imagery within 10 km of Alaska Resource Data File sites filtered by the definition query Site_status < > 'Active' And Production < > 'None', I suggest that it represents a minimum estimate of the total footprint of disturbed ground and waste associated with past mining in Alaska. At the maximum 1:20,000 scale of mapping, the horizontal positional accuracy of the mapping is expected to be within meters, consistent with the sub-meter resolution of the World Imagery on which the features were mapped. U.S. Geological Survey 1996 tabular digital data Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF) ver 2.0, February 2024 Anchorage, Alaska U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center U.S. Geological Survey, 1996, Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF) (ver 2.0, February 2024): U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P96MMRFD [accessed December 2023; query parameters: Site_status < > 'Active' and Production < > 'None'] https://doi.org/10.5066/P96MMRFD online database 2024 access date ARDF Database used to identify sites for examination the presence of past mining production. Esri 2023 raster digital data online Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. Esri, 2023. ArcGIS World Imagery https://services.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/World_Imagery/MapServer online database 20180401 20230401 ground condition World Imagery World Imagery was used to visually identify and map evidence of past mining production at 698 of the 2,125 queried ARDF sites. This mapping effort was intended to target sites in Alaska where past mine production occurred and is no longer underway. To define these sites, the Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF) was filtered using the definition query: Site_status < > 'Active' And Production < > 'None'. This yielded a sub-set of 2,125 ARDF records that were each visually checked for evidence of past mining production (i.e., waste piles, trenches, disturbed ground and/or vegetation) within a 10 km radius on down-to 0.37 m-resolution World Imagery accessed as an ArcGIS Online web service at dates between March and December of 2023. Visual evidence of land surface disturbance associated with past mining production was identified and mapped at 748 of the 2,125 ARDF sites on the World Imagery. The 748 footprint sites include some multi-part polygons, and are attributed with "Site" and "ARDF_no" information from the ARDF as well as mapped surface area calculated for each site in square kilometers. This first process step produced "disturbanceFootprints.shp" which was used to define visible above-ground waste piles in the second process step. ARDF World Imagery 20231015 disturbanceFootprints.shp The 748 land surface disturbance sites mapped in "disturbanceFootprints.shp" were each visually re-checked for the presence of above-ground mine waste, including tailings piles and rare ponds, on down-to 0.37 m-resolution World Imagery accessed as an ArcGIS Online web service at dates between December of 2023 and April of 2024. This check represents the second process step, and produced a sub-set of 560 polygons that were refined to delineate the extent of the waste within the larger land surface disturbance footprints and are provided in this data release as "potentialAboveGroundResources.shp". This shapefile includes some multi-part polygons, and is attributed with "Site" and "ARDF_no" information from the ARDF as well as surface area calculated for the mapped extent of waste at each site in square kilometers. ARDF disturbanceFootprints.shp 20240523 potentialAboveGroundResources.shp Vector G-polygon 698 0.0196509633 0.0401480249 Decimal seconds World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS84) World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS84) 6378137 298.257223563 disturbanceFootprints.shp Vector polygon geospatial file with footprints of past mining in Alaska. Sites include single and multi-part polygons. Presented in Esri shapefile (SHP) formats. Author defined FID Internal feature number ESRI Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. Shape Feature geometry ESRI Shape type Site The name or names for the site as documented in the ARDF. Author defined The name or names for the site. ARDF_no The Alaska Resource Data File number, a unique alphanumeric identifier for each site record in the ARDF. It consists of the two-letter 1:250,000 scale quadrangle code followed by a three digit number. Author defined The Alaska Resource Data File number for the site. area_km The area in square kilometers of the disturbance footprint (or footprints if the site includes multi-part polygons) mapped at the site. Author defined 0.0003 41.2709 Square Kilometers 0.0001 potentialAboveGroundResources.shp Vector polygon geospatial file with waste footprints of past mining in Alaska. Sites include single and multi-part polygons. Presented in Esri shapefile (SHP) format. Author defined FID Internal feature number. ESRI Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. Shape Feature geometry. ESRI Shape type. Site The name or names for the site as documented in the ARDF. Author defined The name or names for the site. ARDF_no The Alaska Resource Data File number, a unique alphanumeric identifier for each site record in the ARDF. It consists of the two-letter 1:250,000 scale quadrangle code followed by a three digit number. Author defined The Alaska Resource Data File number for the site. area_km The area in square kilometers of the waste footprint (or footprints if the site includes multi-part polygons) mapped at the site. Author defined 0.0003 9.8206 Square kilometers 0.0001 U.S. Geological Survey USGS ScienceBase Team Mailing and Physical

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Denver Colorado 80225 USA 1-888-275-8747 sciencebase@usgs.gov The U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center is the authoritative source of these data, distributed by ScienceBase (a USGS Trusted Digital Repository). Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data for other purposes or on all computer systems, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. SHP Vector geospatial data in SHP format; FGDC metadata in XML and HTML formats. https://doi.org/10.5066/P1UQYBDV None 20250430 U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center Mailing and Physical

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Anchorage Alaska 99508 USA 907-786-7000 gs-ak_asc_datamanagers@usgs.gov FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM) FGDC-STD-001-1998