Natural resources and green economic growth: A pathway to innovation and digital transformation in the mining industry

Sustainable development goals are increasingly being pushed for the mining sector, which has a significant energy use and severe environmental effect. The situation in China, particularly in its 276 prefecture-level cities, has become more severe as a result of the fast industrialization and urbanization that occurred between 2010 and 2020. This has placed significant pressure on natural resources. This research examines how mining sector innovation and digital change may foster sustainable economic development. Technology to maximize natural resource use, limit environmental impacts, and promote sustainable economic development in China's 276 prefecture-level cities during the last decade is the key focus. Information was gathered from several sources, encompassing governmental reports, industrial surveys, and scholarly publications. Complex relationships between natural resource utilization, industrial outputs, and environmental repercussions were analyzed using Advanced Big Data analytics. The analysis found that IoT, AI, and Blockchain may reduce the industry's environmental effect. Concretely, the analyzed cities had a quantifiable enhancement in their utilization of water, management of trash, and reduction of carbon emissions. Moreover, cities that proactively implemented digital transformation plans demonstrated a direct relationship with indices of environmentally sustainable economic growth. Environmentally sustainable economic growth, according to the study, can only be achieved if the mining industry embraces innovation and digital transformation.