A method for heavy metal estimation in mining regions based on SMA-PCC-RF and reflectance spectroscopy

•SMA was used for the first time for the selection of hyperspectral wavebands.•A novel algorithm of SMA-PCC-RF is proposed to invert heavy metal concentrations.•The algorithm was applied to inversion of heavy metal concentrations in mining area.•Spectral transformations can enhance heavy metals and spectral curves correlation.•SMA-PCC-RF algorithms offers the better inversion accuracy for all heavy metals.