Open-Cast Coal Mine, Southeastern Kalimantan, Indonesia
24 June 2008

Note: The area of coverage in this SPOT-5 image is approximately 20 km x 20 km.
The reduced resolution image on display has undergone compression and so does not represent the true resolution of the original satellite image.

Coal is mined near the Meratus Mountains in southeastern Kalimantan, midway between Banjarmasin and Balikpapan. The open-cast mine extends southwest-northeast, following the coal seams. Excavation at various depths is visible, as is the usual mining landscape - a mosaic of dumped overburden, ponds, old excavation scars, and filled depressions. A network of roads surrounds the mine from which the main link runs westward. A small airstrip has been built north of this road. The rest of the landscape consists of paddy fields, economic trees, cleared land, patches of remnant forest, and small settlements. A sediment-laden river meanders freely across the northwestern corner of the image.