Introduction
In our days, mining for resources is inevitable. The resources we need are valuable in everyday life. Such resources mined up are coal, copper, gold, silver, and sand. However, mining poses environmental risks that can degrade the quality of soil and water, which can end up effecting us humans if not taken care of and many of the damages are irreversible once they have occurred.
History and Case Studies of Mining and the Effects on the Environment
Mines pose a threat to the environment. They can degrade soil and water quality if left untreated. The United States Environmental protection Agency (USEPA)'s Region 9 assessment of state data states that there are approximately 420,000 abandoned mines in the states of California, Arizona, and Nevada with 13,242 of them being considered "abandoned mines with potential environmental hazard" (arizona.edu, 2008).
Left behind are tailings, which are large piles of crushed rock left over when minerals have been extracted from rocks that once contained them. These tailings are then left prone to wind dispersion and water erosion. This wind dispersion occurs since the sand-like tailings are easily swept up by the atmosphere by wind and spread throughout the environment as dust particles. Figure 1 shows the wind erosion of a mine tailings pile being blow up into the air, creating dust. These tailings contain metal contaminants like arsenic, lead, and cadmium, which creates a problem for the environment and they can persist for decades due to the low pH levels and can cause problems in soil stabilization (arizona.edu, 2008).
As a result of this process, the mine sites "do not develop normal soil structure or support the establishment of a plant cover". Many mine sites have...
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...sues with environmental concerns with mining and smelting, the economic issue is one of them that tops the list. Something needs to be done to drive the cost of environmental control equipment down. Should this be how the equipment is manufactured differently, made more efficiently, or created with lower cost material.
Works Cited
Coil, D., McKittrick, E., and Higman, B. (2010, December 16). Acid Mine Drainage. Ground Truth Trekking. Retrieved February 12, 2011, from http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Issues/MetalsMining/AcidMineDrainage.html
Mine Tailings. (2008). The University of Arizona Superfund Research Program (SBRP). Retrieved February 12, 2011, from http://superfund.pharmacy.arizona.edu/Mine_Tailings.php
Warhurst, A. (1999). Mining and the environment: case studies from the Americas. Ottawa, ON, Canada: International Development Research Centre.
In the beginng of try to answer the ethical question of was mountaintop removal mining right or wrong for West Virginia, I decided to look at the environmental hazards first, exploring all the possible...
Hartman, Howard L., and Jan M. Mutmansky. "Introduction to Mining." Introduction to Mining Engineering. 2nd ed. N.p.: Wiley, 2002. 1-22. Print.
Strip mining( the cheapest method of mining) is one of the most controversial because it jeopardizes the environment that causes the strip-mined land to either be very expensive or impossible to reclaim.
Minerals play an important role in our day-to-day life but we often not contemplate how the minerals are obtained. Minerals are scattered all over the world just like any other resources. Due to the natural processes of magma flow, hydrothermal gradients, sedimentation, and evaporation, Minerals are concentrated in various areas of the Earth’s crust. Obtaining these minerals for human use involves four general steps:
Mountaintop removal mining has been around for several decades—it started to become prevalent in Appalachia in 1985. 1,2 The general overview of the process of mountaintop removal mining goes as follows: Miners select a mountain to extract coal “seams” from, and clear its surface of major obstructions, mainly trees. 3 Next, either by explosives or machinery, the surface rock and soil of the mountain is removed. As the coal begins to become visible throughout the mountain, miners scoop out the coal. Throughout the process, many tons of rock and dust are displaced into neighboring areas, most often called “valley fills”. As the title implies, valley fills are what once used to be a peaceful vegetated valley that has now been filled with rubble. The coal itself goes through a cleaning process to remove some materials which make for a cleaner burn cycle. After all of the coal is extracted, the mountain goes through a reclamation process which is intended to stabilize and re-vegetate the now-crippled peak. 3 Unfortunately, coal companies tend to s...
...end up in lakes, streams, groundwater, for the city to drink, and in the air (Wisconsin Governor Walker signs iron ore mining law). Materials that cause “acid mine drainage” are found in the mine waste as well as hazards such as mercury and arsenic (Gogebic Taconite Mine). All around, Taconite mining will be absolutely terrible for human health.
The processes required for mountaintop removal include clear cutting, blasting, digging, waste dumping, processing of coal, and reclamation. Taken individually, each of these elements of mountaintop removal constitutes serious environmental harm. When considered in aggregate, the steps of mountaintop removal coalesce into a process that does irreparable damage to ecosystems and residential communities. Old-growth forests are clear-cut, killing wildlife and damaging the natural landscape. Ridges are blasted as little as 300 feet from homes and neighborhoods, frequently cracking wells and foundations. Digging machines, called draglines, are brought in, replacing the natural landscape with machines up to 22 stories tall. The removed rock and soil, dysphemistically called “spoil” or “overburden” by coal companies, is dumped into valleys, burying streams and further harming remaining wildlife. Mined coal is processed on-site, creating leaking ponds of sludge or slurry that further damage the water table.
Coal mining, in particular, strip mining has become the latest casualty of the growing green movement in the United States. What is strip mining? Encyclopædia Britannica Online defines strip mining as the removal of vegetation, soil, and rock above a layer of coal, followed by the removal of the coal itself (“strip”). Most Americans don’t realize the impact this material of biological origin that can be used as a source of energy (“fossil”), or fossil fuel, has on their everyday lives or the nation’s economy. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the mining industry directly employs some fifty thousand Americans with nearly half that number working in the more specific field of strip mining, or mountain top removal (“Average”). The Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change reports in their “Fourth Assessment Report” that coal derives half the electricity production in the U.S., with the U.S. exporting approximately six percent of the coal produced (Sims). Despite the positives, strip mining poses some serious consequences to the environment, portraying the industry in a negative light, some of which include deforestation and erosion, contamination of water, and wildlife poisoning and loss of habitat.
Throughout this mining process a byproduct is created called chat. The chat is leftover rock and waste from mining that did not contained the desired materials. The chat was left on the site because the Bureau of Indian Affairs thought it could be of value to the Quapaw tribe (1). This chat contained high levels of toxic lead and other harmful chemicals. It is estimated that there are 75 Million tons (150 billion pounds) of chat piles remaining exposed to the environment as well as numerous flotation ponds that haven’t been taken into account (4).
Water is a natural resource in the world and due to mining it is becoming scarce. Surrounding communities are forced to relocate due to the mining companies operating in their area and using their drinking water. Diamond mining uses large quantities of water and thus ends up polluting the water or dehydrating the environment around it; in turn causing soil erosion due to the dryness of the ground.
Mining has a great impact on aquatic ecosystems, like creeks,wetlands, and lakes. From the perspective of a ecological and recreational point of view, the impact mining has is significant. This mining affects all of its inhabitants whether it being the fish that supplement nutrients through creeks, to the people who drink it.(Klemow Effects of mining on aquatic ecosystems n.pg) Prior to the 1977 federal water pollution control act, Mining companies would proceed with the exercise of strip mining, and the removal of culm material would proceed, without regarding the destruction of the ecosystems.(Frelich, n.pg) Water goes through some mines, and can seep into fractured bedrock which in result can contaminate water when resurfaced down the watershed.(Frelich, n.pg) Stream channels are usually altered on mined sites due to the contaminated water because the bedrock can contain radioactive substances, which cause a lot of erosion and some species cannot handle the amount of sediment deposition.(Frelich, n.pg) Another concern is the destruction of wetlands. they have many benefits in regard to the environment, and are now in protection by the government.Wetlands trap sediments and dissolved pollutants. But due to Mining has caused dirty water to to block the absorption of the sediments and can cause flooding in forests. Mining also impacts forests and terrestrial ecosystems.dissolve other materials such as metals and they can leak
For hundreds, even thousands of years, human beings have mined for metals and stones, and with the advent of greater technology as well as greater needs, the demands for these resources continue to grow. While these resources benefit our lives in many ways, the effects of mining can be detrimental, and one such effect is the topic of this essay, acid mine drainage (A.M.D.). The causes of A.M.D. will be discussed, along with some of the physical and biological problems associated with it. Some prevention and remediation treatments will also be considered.
Though it has had many negative impacts on the environment in the past, mining is a vital industry completely necessary to our economy and lives. Nearly every item we use or encounter in our day to day lives is mined or contains mined products. Without the excavation of such materials things like computers, televisions, large building structures, electricity, and cars would not be possible. Virtually every technological and medical advance uses minded materials, without which millions would suffer. Some examples of minerals in the home include the telephone which is made from as many as 42 different minerals, including aluminum, beryllium, coal, copper, gold, iron, silver, and talc. A television requires over 35 different minerals, and more than 30 minerals are needed to make a single personal computer. Without boron, copper, gold and quartz, your digital alarm clock would not work. Every American uses an average 47,000 pounds of newly mined materials each year, which is higher than all other countries with the exception of Japan, which is a staggering figure representative of our dependence and need for mined minerals. Coal makes up more than half of nation’s electricity, and will continue to be the largest electrical supplier into 2020 & accounting for some 95 percent of the nation's fossil energy reserves – nine of every ten short-tons of coal mined in the United States is used for electricity generation. As the population of the world grows more mineral resources must be exploited through mining in order to support the rising demand for such products. Though it may present a hazard to the environment and those physically located nears the mines, the materials extracted from mines...
Some of the typical impacts that mining in South Africa has on the environment are that it can lead to a loss of biodiversity because of a transformation in the natural habitats and ecosystems. The mining industry also usually requires large amounts of water. Surface and groundwater pollution often happen due to the acid mine drainage.