In mineral exploration, pressure is growing to develop innovative technologies and methods with a lower impact on the social and physical environment. To assess the performance and impact of these technologies and methods, test sites are required. Embedded in the literature on sustainable development, this paper explores how social and environmental measures can be implemented in the design of test sites and what industry stake can learn from sustainable test sites. Through qualitative research, two value networks were developed, one for a sustainable test site approach and another for the existing business practice in mineral exploration. Respondents include public sector officials as well as experts in the social, environmental, business, geoscience, and industry fields. The analysis identifies key drivers for the development of socially and environmentally accepted test sites, thus drawing up actionable points for the mineral exploration industry to increase sustainability. The findings of this paper suggest that the integration of experts and partners from social, as well as environmental, sciences drives sustainability at test sites. For industry application, this results in the need to adapt the activities performed, align resource use with sustainability indicators, and also reconfigure the network of partners towards more socially and environmentally oriented business practices.

This paper presents a bibliometric study on patents and scientific publications related to airborne electromagnetic methods used as less invasive technologies in mineral exploration. A statistical analysis of the documents reveals the main players, technology trends, and collaboration patterns via bibliometric techniques. The article aims to analyse the gap between the model of sustainable less invasive innovations and the concrete implementation of the technology pull. Special attention is paid to the enablers of sustainable development and their presence in the technology landscape for less invasive exploration technologies.

Drastic measures are required to meet the standards of the Paris Agreement and limit the increase of global average temperatures well below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels. Mining activities are typically considered as unsustainable but, at the same time, metals such as cobalt and lithium are essential to sustain the energy transition. Several sustainability goals defined by the United Nations (UN) require large quantities of raw materials. Exploration and extractives activities are required in order to contribute to meeting sustainability standards. Future sourcing of metals will need to implement procedures that go well beyond current ecological, economic, and social requirements and practices. In this paper we assess the usual sustainability criteria and how they apply to the extractives sector. Sustainability can only be achieved if one accepts that the natural capital can be substituted by other forms of capital (so called weak concept of sustainability). Sourcing the raw materials increasingly demanded by our societies will need transparent and inclusive stakeholder participation as well as a holistic understanding of the impact of extractives activities to reach this weak sustainability status. Our analysis shows that the sustainability of mining cannot be reached without harmonized political instruments and investment policies that take the three pillars of environmental, economic, and social sustainability as a major priority.

In natural sciences, mineral exploration has a high network centrality. For industries with high technological- and knowledge proximity, transfer effects are an important function for innovation. Despite the high level of proximity between mineral exploration and other natural sciences, scholars hardly examine transfers from and to mineral exploration. This paper analyzes obstacles and mechanisms of transfer effects in and from mineral exploration and finds answers on how to institutionalize knowledge and technology transfer (KTT). The study employs a qualitative research design. The underlying database consists of 16 expert interviews, from the fields of natural science. The results show that KTT between areas as diverse as mineral exploration, healthcare, and arts are possible. A lack of interdisciplinary exchange and rigid scientific structures is the main inhibitor of KTT. Before this study, evidence for KTT from and to smaller industries is mostly anecdotal. The study is among the few, which investigates KTT concerning functional transfer opportunities.

IntroductionPerformance uncertainty and switching costs often hinder novel technologies, methods, and tools (Guerin, 2000). Regulatory, scientific, engineering, and investment communities require proof of concepts to overcome adaptation reticence (Kreijns et al., 2018). Test sites are physical places where public or private entities allow technology developers and their