Envisioning the Future of Mining, 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

The different scenarios that have occurred globally due to energy and digital transitions, and the increasing need for construction materials for growing urban populations, show the greater dependence on mineral raw material production, especially those considered critical or strategic. In the first edition of this Special Issue, the call for contributions in urban mining, submarine mining, ultradeep mining, extraterrestrial mining, and innovative advances in raw material processing ranged from artisanal to large-scale mining activities. The call also invited the inclusion of integrated sociotechnical approaches to address future challenges in sustainable and socially responsible ways. Most of the published articles were focused on health and safety issues, electrification, and digitalization from a technical point of view, while some papers introduced socio-technical approaches.

This second edition invites papers from these areas and new productive sectors with the goal of beginning to map the future of mining which can no longer be divorced from its environmental and social dimensions. Hence, we invite papers that show, for example, the socio-ecological dimensions of mining critical minerals for the energy transition to renewables, or the hidden linkages between urban mining (recycling electronic and construction and demolition waste) and the extractive mining for these minerals. We envision all papers to have a sociotechnical approach to their analyses. 

Prof. Dr. Juan M Menéndez-Aguado
Prof. Dr. Oscar Jaime Restrepo Baena
Prof. Dr. Juan C. Lucena
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Mining is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• critical raw materials
• sustainable mining
• urban mining
• sociotechnical approaches
• carbon capture, sequestration, and storage
• community engagement and participation in mining

• Envisioning the Future of Mining in Mining (11 articles)