Mining the archive: a global audit of inactive-mine records for siting water-cooled AI data centers
Amr Kamel Khalil Ahmed
Abstract
Highlights:
1- This study characterizes the documentary coverage of an openly deposited inactive-metal-mine dataset and presents a reproducible workflow for identifying sites that may subsequently be screened for persistent surface water and potential cooling relevance.
2- There is website for as engine for access easily for any mine at any country: www.mine2ai.com
3- For location of any mine copy the google earth link and paste at google earth website
Abstract
Artificial-intelligence computing has become a system-planning problem involving electricity supply, land, grid connection and heat rejection. Legacy mine sites may address part of this problem, since they can combine disturbed land, existing access and retained water. He et al. (2026) modelled an abandoned-mine pool in Pennsylvania as a data-centre cooling resource and reported substantial capacity under both air and liquid cooling. Whether comparable sites can be identified elsewhere depends first on the coverage of inactive-mine inventories. We analysed the openly deposited Water and Planetary Health Analytics (WAPHA) global metal mines database. Its 150,309 inactive-mine records reduced to 115,216 unique coordinate pairs in 103 countries. Coverage was highly concentrated: four countries held 95.8% of documented sites, ten held 98.0%, and 54 countries held fewer than ten each. Africa contributed 0.16% of the record across 24 countries. A complete regional inventory for Africa, the Arab States and . covered 69 entities, of which 27 held at least one record and 42 held none, for a total of 192 documented sites. Density-based clustering grouped the global point set into 2,546 districts plus 16,962 isolated sites, a 5.9-fold reduction in screening units under the primary parameters. We specify an evidence-graded workflow that links mine records to satellite water persistence, applies protected-area and heritage exclusions before scoring, and suppresses cooling estimates until water detections are manually validated. In the present evidence state the gate returned no site with a permissible cooling estimate, a result about evidence readiness rather than about whether the sites hold water. The principal barrier to
2
global mine-reuse screening is documentary coverage. The WAPHA deposit is a valuable open starting point, but it is not a complete inventory of inactive mines, mine pools or cooling-suitable water.
Keywords
artificial intelligence; data centres; abandoned mines; mine pools; pit lakes; cooling capacity; Google Earth Engine; open data; Africa; Middle East
Highlights
• 115,216 unique inactive-mine coordinates derived from the open WAPHA deposit
• Four countries hold 95.8% of documented sites; Africa contributes 0.16%
• The regional module covers 69 entities and contains 192 documented sites
• DBSCAN clustering cuts screening units 5.9-fold under the primary parameters
• No cooling value is issued without validated water evidence