The Pebble mine project is a copper and gold deposit in its progressive expedition phase. The area of this project is located near the Bristol Bay region in southwest Alaska. The West side of Pebble contains approximately 4.1 billion metric tons. The East location contains 3.4 million metric tons. This range altogether contains 7.5 billion metric tons of high quality minerals. The debate of this project lies on the dangers to the surrounding environment, and the economic boost for the community. Like everything, the pebble project has its positives and negatives. The pros of this situation mostly help out the economy in this area. If they were to go through with this plan many high-paying jobs would suddenly appear. This organization has worked in many other areas that have had a great outcome of the operations. Not only would it create many jobs, but it would bring a huge quantity of money into the surrounding village. This would eventually spread to a national level. This mining site is extremely packed with billions of tons of copper …show more content…
The standpoint on this view is that the mine could contaminate the water and hurt or damage the surrounding environment. Mining tends to rip up terrain and completely ruin the land and soil. Since the Bristol Bay region is very dependent on sockeye salmon for their way of survival, they are afraid of the consequences that might hurt the species, and other wildlife. If the mine damaged the salmon fisheries it could create a big economic problem, because many would lose their jobs. There choices lie between their current jobs, or not even guaranteed jobs. Even if the jobs were guaranteed, mining is dangerous. There are many problems that could possibly go wrong in the mining business. At this point in time, we still are not sure about earthquake activity in this region. Mining could potentially disrupt something and cause a catastrophic
Also, drilling in Alaska will not harm the wildlife. Take Prudhoe Bay for example. The Central Arctic Caribou Herd that occupies Prudhoe Bay has grown from a population of 6000 in 1978 to 27000 today. This is a 450% growth over 26 years at an average of 17.3% growth per year. (Arctic Power) That’s quite an increase.
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).
The opposition to this project is increasing because the people living in those areas are already feeling negative consequences. The large communities living in Boreal Forest and other Natives lands are being affected by the extraction and process of tar sands. Not only this people are being rushed away from their lands, but also, the rate of cancer, renal failure, lupus, hyperthyroidism and other decease, are higher than ever. This health conditions increased because of the air pollution and the high quantities of metals and chemicals in the drinking water. Yet, lots of precautions are being taken by the company, oil spills keep happening over and over. The external metal corrosion caused by extreme temperatures and the corrosive acid components of the bitumen are factors that contribute to accidents like explosions and oil
The subsoil is likewise a source of riches. An example of this is the world’s largest open cast coalmine, located on the peninsula of La Guajira, which pro...
In my opinion it should not be allowed to be so close to homes and farm lands. People are getting sick and are not able to drink the water that they have to wash their skin and cook with. Many families have had to leave their home towns to get away from the dangers of what fracking brings. “These … chemical compounds such as benzene, xylene and toluene, which have been found to have detrimental health effects – such as respiratory problems and birth defects” (Naveena). There are thousands of jobs on farms and in factories, we don’t need people digging and pumping chemicals into the earth.
Conflicting reports make it difficult to discern just how detrimental the practice is to the environment and people. What is known is that fracking uses phenomenal amounts of water, which is becoming a scarce resource in many parts of the country. There is no doubt that the fluid used in the fracking process contains chemicals, and when released into water supplies has negative effects on these sources. Injection of flowback materials into deep wells has been definitively linked to increased seismic activity. Damage to roads due to the high traffic of trucks shipping equipment and product is astronomical. Worldwide, four countries have outright banned the practice and others are waiting for more research to be done before they continue to allow it. A few states know the devastating side effects that come with the practice, and have banned hydraulic fracturing. While there is no doubt that fracking can produce resources that are used by Americans, there is a lot of doubt as to whether it is safe or not. Hopefully, the country will follow those that have banned the practice, and adopt other safer forms of energy
Another issuance with offshore drilling is that if there is an accident it can cripple the regional economy as it hinders the community
Copper mining has had a huge impact on Michigan throughout history. Copper mining has had such an impact that the Upper Peninsula of Michigan has a region referred to as “The Copper Country” because of its involvement in the copper-mining industry. The copper-mining industry has also led to technological developments necessary for hoisting and drilling as well as the development of towns and cities in the Keweenaw. In addition, it led to the creation of many potential jobs for residents of the towns that were developed to support these mines.
The people who are being asked permission to transform their land into drilling sites for natural gas have more reason to be concerned than most because it will affect them more directly than people who do not live in that specific area (although it does affect people who do not live in the vicinity as well). Although fracking may seem to concern to only a small group of people, it should also concern anyone who cares about doing what is safe for our country's citizens. The truth is, fracking is extremely dangerous, not only because of the negative effects on the environment, but also because it could make people ill.
Santhebennur, Malavika. "The Pros and Cons of Deep Sea Mining [INFOGRAPHIC]." N.p., 21 June 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. .
What comes to mind when you think of coal mining? If you're like me, coal mining means living in darkness and a cold hearted industry. Other words that come to mind are poverty and oppression. Coal mining is not a job that you dream about or get a degree for. People who are coal miners do not chose a life full of danger and repression, they get stuck with it. There are many dangers that come along with coal mining, not only for the workers, but for the environment. Coal mining and the coal industry have caused irreversible damage to our environment and has killed innocent miners.
Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. is a publically traded mineral exploration and development company that is part of the Hunter Dickinson Group based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Northern Dynasty’s only focus is the advancement of The Pebble Project, the world’s largest undeveloped gold and copper project in Alaska. With many more permitting milestones ahead, Northern Dynasty is well positioned with the support of a driving force within the mining industry, associate company, Hunter Dickinson. Within the group there are eight public companies. CEO, Ronald Thiessen, describes the group as an “incubator” of mineral resource companies. The group places one project within the company and looks after it for the shareholders for that company until they reach a decision to joint venture it...
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...
Mining is the process or industry of obtaining minerals from the earth. Topics in this paper I’ll be specifically discussing are pros and cons of mining, structures of a mine, mining in general, California gold rush, diamonds in Africa, and comparison of diamond and gold mines.
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.