In response, the Australian Mining Industry Association has lobbied to the contrary, and endeavoured to demonstrate with public education programs, just how environmentally responsible the mining industry has become.

This lobbying and public education activity is also regarded with suspicion. After all, some of the material made available by components of the forestry lobby has been found to be inaccurate. Couldn't this also apply to the mining industry? Doesn't an industrial lobby group always present a biased picture?

How can we make a path through this difficult area? Let's ask a more relevant question:

Can satellite data make a useful and objective contribution to the debate about mining and the environment?

I think it can. That is why I have included the study of the impact of mining as a landuse on landcover.

The first point that we can establish is that mining itself as a landuse influences a minute area of land. The area is so trivial that there are no national estimates of its size. Therefore no matter what mining does to the land involved, the amount involved is absolutely inconsequential, and relatively insignificant compared with the areal extent of the other landuses we have considered.

Nonetheless, the influence of mining on landcover should not be too readily dismissed. Several aspects of the issue need to be explored further.