What we believe to be a new optical approach for the identification of mines and explosives by analyzing the surface materials and not only bulk is developed. A conventional manually operated mine prodder is upgraded by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). In situ and real-time information of materials that are in front of the prodder are obtained during the demining process in order to optimize the security aspects and the speed of demining. A {\text{Cr}}^{4+}:{\text{Nd}}^{3+}:\text{YAG} microchip laser is used as a seed laser for an ytterbium-fiber amplifier to generate high-power laser pulses at 1064\text{\hspace{0.17em} nm} with pulse powers up to E_p=1\text{\hspace{0.17em} mJ} , a repetition rate of f_{\text{rep.}}=2–20\text{\hspace{0.17em} kHz} and a pulse duration of t_p=620\text{\hspace{0.17em} ps} . The recorded LIBS signals are analyzed by applying neural networks for the data analysis.