How LoderaIQ turns observed extraction into a boundary-checked, dated, defensible compliance flag.
Detection & Compliance is the layer of the LoderaIQ platform that answers a single legal question: is this activity licensed, and is it happening where the licence permits? The mechanism is geometric. Observed ground disturbance is captured as an activity polygon and tested automatically against registered licence geometry and a dated imagery baseline. Where extraction appears outside a boundary, inside a lapsed or unregistered area, or on a licence that does not authorise it, the platform raises a flag with the evidence attached. This pillar is about legality and enforcement, not environmental impact; site rehabilitation, water and vegetation belong to Site & ESG monitoring, a separate pillar with a separate purpose.
Request a briefingFrom observed disturbance to a boundary check
Every flag begins with a shape, not an opinion. The AI layer measures where earth has moved between two dated observations and renders that change as an activity polygon on the shared map. That polygon is then intersected with the licence registry: the same registered geometry that governs the whole platform, so detection is checked against the legal record rather than a hand-drawn guess. The result is a spatial verdict that can be inspected, contested and re-run.
Activity as geometry
Ground disturbance and new extraction are captured as polygons with real coordinates, so the question of where is answered by geometry rather than a marker dropped by eye.
Tested against the registry
Each activity polygon is intersected with registered licence boundaries and their status, surfacing extraction that falls outside a boundary, inside an unregistered area, or on a licence that does not authorise it.
Change against a dated baseline
Detection is differential: the platform compares against a dated baseline image, so a flag reflects new or expanding activity in a known window, not a static pattern that may predate the licence.
Flagging illegal and artisanal extraction
Small, mobile and often unregistered activity, made visible at wide-area scale.
Illegal and artisanal (ASM) extraction is frequently small, fast-moving and entirely absent from any registry, which is precisely what makes it hard to police from the ground. The satellite layer provides wide-area awareness across a whole programme so that new pits, waste dumps and access tracks are surfaced wherever they appear, including inside licence areas where the licence holder is not the operator. Because the check is automatic and repeatable against the baseline, expanding activity is caught as it grows rather than discovered by chance during an inspection.
Potentially unauthorised extraction
Extraction detected beyond registered licence geometry is flagged for review, with the offending polygon and the boundary it crosses both shown.
Candidate illegal working
New activity in areas carrying no live licence is surfaced as a candidate for illegal or artisanal working, prioritised by how recently it appeared.
Trespass on a valid licence
Third-party working inside someone else’s registered area is separated from the licence holder’s own activity, so encroachment and trespass become visible.
Close-range ground truth
As the aerial drone-survey layer rolls out, flagged sites can be re-flown for close-range ground truth that tightens the polygon and strengthens the record.
How a flag becomes defensible evidence
Provenance, dating and an unbroken audit trail.
A compliance flag is only useful if it survives challenge. LoderaIQ builds each flag as an evidence record rather than an alert, so that what the platform asserts can be traced back to its source imagery and its moment in time. The standard of proof is designed to support enforcement action and regulatory review, where the origin and date of every observation matter as much as the observation itself.
Imagery provenance
Each flag carries the source and acquisition date of the imagery it was derived from, so an assessor can see exactly what was observed and when, rather than an unsourced conclusion.
Dated baseline comparison
The change is anchored to a dated baseline, establishing the window in which the activity appeared and separating new working from pre-existing ground.
One shared audit trail
Detections, licence status and any subsequent field or drone confirmation are recorded on one registry, one map, one audit trail, so the chain from observation to flag to action is continuous and reviewable.
Human sign-off
The platform presents evidence; a competent authority makes the determination. Flags support enforcement and investigation decisions rather than issuing legal conclusions on their own.
Honest limits of the detection layer
What a flag is, and what it is not.
Credibility depends on stating clearly where the method stops. Detection tells you that ground has been disturbed and where, relative to a licence and a baseline; it does not tell you who is working, under what agreement, or what is being extracted from the pit. Spectral imagery can indicate surface mineralogy and alteration, but it is an indication of what may be present, never an assay. Defensible questions of grade and tonnage move to the assay layer of the platform, where field-portable XRF and physical sampling apply.
A flag indicates, it does not adjudicate
An activity polygon outside a boundary is a strong prompt for investigation, not a finding of guilt; licences, exemptions and off-registry agreements are resolved by the authority, not the satellite.
Spectral is indication, not assay
Spectral indication points to surface mineralogy and alteration worth checking; it does not measure grade. Defensible grade and tonnage come from XRF plus physical sampling.
Legality, not environment
This pillar assesses whether activity is authorised and where. Environmental condition, rehabilitation and ESG performance are handled separately by Site & ESG monitoring.
Who uses this layer
Where detection and compliance meet the mission.
The mechanism on this page is built for the people who hold the enforcement mandate. The audience page explains the business case, workflow and outcomes in their terms; this pillar stays with the method.
See a live detection flag, end to end
LoderaIQ is live and in operation on a national mining programme, with the aerial drone-survey layer rolling out next. We can walk your team through a real boundary check, the evidence record behind a flag, and how it holds up under review.
Request a briefing