Delineation of Land use Land cover Dynamics in Mining areas by Remote Sensing and GIS, the case of Buzwagi Gold mine, Kahama, Tanzania

The present study aimed at studying dynamics of land use land cover (LULC) in Buzwagi gold mine project by using remote sensing and GIS. The project is in the North East of Tanzania in Shinyanga region. The dynamics of the LULC was studied by using satellite images which were downloaded from United States Geological Survey (USGS) website. The satellite images used were of the years 1993 (which represents the study area before mining commenced), 2013 (which represents the study area during the operation phase) and 2023 (which represents the study area after closure of the mining activity). The images were classified by using unsupervised classification. The results showed that the vegetation cover decreased from 5887 hectares (61% of the total area) in 1993 (before the mining commenced) to 1531 hectares (approximately 16% of the total area) in 2013 (during the operation phase). On the other hand the built up area increased from 429 hectares (4.45% of the total area) in 1993 to 2673 hectares (27.75% of the total area) during the operation phase and the barren land increased from 2663 hectares (approximately 28% of the total area) in 1993 (before the mining activity commenced) to 4760 hectares (approximately 49% of the total area) during the operation phase. The transition between the operation phase and the post operation phase showed a decrease in the barren land from 4760 hectares (approximately 49% of the total area) to 3016 hectares (approximately 31% of the total area). On the other hand the built up area decreased from 2673 hectares (approximately 28% of the total area) to 2056 hectares (approximately 21% of the total area) during the transition. During the transition from operation phase to post operation phase the vegetation cover increased from 1531 hectares (approximately 16% of the total area) to 3455 hectares (approximately 36% of the total area). Based on the results obtained it was concluded that all vegetation, built up area and barren land showed significant change while water body did not show a significant cover change.