- Fugitive greenhouse gas emissions were seen leaking from mines in Kazakhstan, Central Asia
- Combined CH4 emissions of c.27,500kg per hour recorded – which could power 726,000 homes [ref]
31st October 2021, Montreal, Canada – Methane emissions from an opencast coal mine have been observed from space for the first time. High-resolution satellites operated by GHGSat, an environmental monitoring company, recorded large quantities of the gas leaking from mines in the Ekibastuz region of Kazakhstan, on 20th October 2021. This breakthrough capability comes at a time when countries are being urged to sign up to the Global Methane Pledge, a US-European initiative to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
Capture 1 emission: 12,000 kgCH4/hr
Capture 2 emission: 15,553 kgCH4/hr
Methane is an unavoidable bi-product of coal mining, with gas released as seams are opened. In 2019 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that 11% of all man-made methane emissions came from coal mining.
As a build-up of methane can cause explosions in underground mines, operators monitor gas levels for reasons of safety. This data is not generally used for environmental reporting purposes and is seldom made public. 40% of all mines are open cast or surface types, and they release methane over wide areas. For this reason, it was thought unlikely that satellites could see sufficient quantities of fugitive gas to make accurate measurements.
The captures demonstrate both the remarkable sensitivity of GHGSat’s high-resolution sensors and the practical application of space technology to provide persistent, reliable emissions monitoring across the coal mining sector.
Kazakhstan has 2.2% of global coal reserves. The Ekibastuz region is home to one of the largest opencast coalfields in the world, estimated to contain 13 billion tons of coal [ref].
GHGSat – Global Emissions Monitoring
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