This data set provides spatially explicit estimates of the area directly used for surface mining on a global scale. It contains more than 21,000 polygons of activities related to mining, mainly of coal and metal ores. Several data sources were compiled to identify the approximate location of mines active at any time between the years 2000 to 2017. This data set does not cover all existing mining locations across the globe. The polygons were delineated by experts using Sentinel-2 cloudless (https://s2maps.eu by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2017 & 2018)) and very high-resolution satellite images available from Google Satellite and Bing Imagery. The derived polygons cover the direct land used by mining activities, including open cuts, tailing dams, waste rock dumps, water ponds, and processing infrastructure.