Impacts of Rock and Mineral Extraction

• Environmental impact assesment - a process which the probable effects on the environment of a development are assessed and measured
• Ecological impacts (environmental impact):

  • loss of habitat as the vegetation is cleared so plants do not have a place to grow, so the animals depending on them for food and shelter are affected
  • a long working deep mining shafts create a lot of waste that is stored above ground
  • large scale surface mine removes large areas of vegetations and large volumes of overburden
  • even if overburden is put back to the restore the site, the new vegetation grown will lack biodiversity compared to the original vegetation so plants and animals habitats are still lost
• Noise pollution (environmental impact) - machinery and explosives disturbs the behaviour of animal species near the mine and causes hearing problems for people

  • deep mining produces less noise pollution
• Water pollution (environmental impact):

  • water from mine shafts or drains through mine waste can change the population of living organisms in nearby bodies of water
  • water supplies may be polluted - unsafe for people to drink
  • water may become acidic and dissolve toxic metal ions and this combination kills many aquatic organism
• Water pollution (environmental impact):

  • bioaccumulation - organisms absorb and retain the ions in their body, reaching a concentration higher than that in water (build up in one organism)
  • biomagnification - the concentrations increase higher up in the food chain and cause the death of top consumers because they eat eachother so the toxic ions build up (build up in food web)
• Land pollution (environmental impact) - toxic nature of the waste doesn’t allow plant growth even years after the mining is stopped

  • mine waste in bad spots can collapse and cover more land
• Air pollution (environmental impact):

  • dust particles settle on the vegetation, not allowing sunlight to reach the leaves and thus reducing the rate of photosynthesis, reducing plant growth
  • dust may have toxic effects - reduce/stop plant growth and dangerous to humans
  • long-term exposure and breathing in of dust that then remains in the lungs can cause serious lung diseases, especially for children
  • harmful substances can be absorbed by the human skin
• Visual pollution (environmental impact) - the landscape is damaged

  • can be reversed if restoration process is detailed
• Economic impact:

  • jobs are created in the extraction and transporting of minerals
  • increase in the country’s economy and local economy
  • earn foreign exchange
  • income earned through taxes and mining licences can be used for buying goods and services and investing in infrastructure projects - improvements to transport
• Postive social impacts:

  • Better standard of life due to economic gain
  • Improvements to services, like healthcare and education
  • Investing in infrastructure projects can help the country in building more well-designed communities
• Negative social impacts:

  • It affects health of the labour workers
  • Affects health of civilians due to pollution
  • Lack of safety