Mining plants are one of the factors having major negative impact on the area where they are situated. In the case of Mirkovo floatation plant, located in the outskirts of Stara Planina Mountain in the middle of Bulgaria, the pollution comes from two major sources – dust from milling shop and waste water from floatation shop. The investigations are carried out deal with determination of the impact on the soils and vegetation in the neighborhood areas using reflectance information from multispectral data and supporting hyperspectral in-situ measurements. During the research preliminary information about mineral content of the ore material coming from the mine and soil type is also considered.

Numerous studies have analyzed the variance of spectral reflectance of rocks, soils and vegetation in response to their cover using remote sensing. The goal of the study is to show land cover changes detected through vegetation indices as NDVI, RVI, SAVI and the soil line concept in remote sensing. On the next step change detection methods are used to support local authorities in preparation of short-term reclamation plans and as well to recommend farmers in planting suitable vegetation spices in assisting the rehabilitation of the top soils. In this research the data from Landsat TM/ETM+ combined with in-situ measured data are used. The obtained results show that the analyzed data and the implemented approach are useful in environmental monitoring and economically attractive for the company responsible for the ecological state of the region.