There has been an explosion in mining claims lately; the Environmental Working Group’s U.S. Mining Database uses the Google Maps API to show active mines and claims on federal lands in the western United States. (There’s also a Google Earth option.) My, there are a lot of them. Using satellite imagery to show the effects of mining makes sense to me, given the awesome size of modern-day mining (look for the Athabasca tar sands or the Powder River coal basin in Google Earth some time). Thanks to Matthew Fried for the link; see also James Fee.