Derivation of Indices of Landscape Function Analysis (lfa) from Hyper- Spectral Reflectance Data: a Case Study on Four Types of Grassland in the Witwatersrand Basin Gold Mining Region of South Africa

The Minerals and Petroleum Resources Act (MRPDA) no 28 of 2002 of South Africa states that the holder of a mining permit remains liable for environmental damage until a closure certificate has been issued, but does not stipulate the environmental standards required to obtain such a certificate. Monitoring of surface mining environments requires a consistent, repeatable and efficient method that is applicable to heterogeneous landscapes on large properties. To this end, we describe the first stages in the testing of a remote-sensing method to assess the condition of gold mine land in a highly seasonal, summer rainfall region of the Grassland biome in South Africa.