Optimisation of Land Use and Sustainability in Open-Cast Mining: A Case Study of Manganese, Limestone, and Granite Granted Mining Leases in India.

Effective utilization of mining lease areas is vital for sustainable opencast mining. However, there is limited quantitative evidence to determine if lease size sufficiently accommodates both a mineral deposit and land-use objective. This study offers a comparative land-use analysis of adequacy and spatial efficiency in leased mining, based on differences in models across granted leases in three open-cast mines: metallic manganese, non-metallic limestone, and other dimension-stone granite areas. While focused on India, the findings are applicable beyond national regulations and have broader relevance to open-cast mining. The approach combines statutory mine plan data with spatial analysis techniques to estimate land use, mining activities, waste dumps, environmental buffers, and remaining land. Land-use metrics are employed to compare geometric and mining methods, assessing their impacts on spatial demand and reclamation potential. Results reveal a notable difference: limestone mining demonstrates the highest land-use efficiency, whereas manganese and granite require more land for waste disposal due to the discontinuity of ore bodies and poor block recovery, respectively. Moreover, lease adequacy is more closely associated with land-use efficiency and waste footprint than with lease size. The study introduces a transferable model for evaluating mining lease design based on land-use efficiency rather than fixed-area standards. The method enhances mine planning and progressive reclamation and supports land management strategies that promote sustainable practices, thereby benefiting regulators and mining professionals across various geological and institutional settings.