This month GeOCHemISTea talks with Oscar Benavente, an environmental geochemist at SRK Consulting, about using satellite imagery to monitor mine drainage and environmental change. They dive into how Google Earth Engine, Python, and machine learning are transforming geochemical monitoring—mapping water bodies, tracking sulfide oxidation, and improving mine site remediation.

Oscar shares insights from his career spanning geothermal exploration, environmental geochemistry, and consulting. They also discuss the importance of fieldwork, communicating complex science effectively, and the surprising connections between planetary and mining geochemistry.

Tune in for a lively conversation filled with geochemistry, remote sensing, and some unexpected tangents—including volcanic adventures, music, and the tight-knit world of geochemists.

For this episode we read:

Monitoring of mine drainage related processes through satellite imagery - Dynamic Mapping of Sulfide Oxidation (Benavente, 2024)

Dynamic Mapping of Water Bodies using Google Earth Engine (Benavente, 2024)