Environmental impacts of mines

• Environmental impacts of Mineral Exploitation

  • The exploration, extraction and processing all cause significant environmental damage
  • Protecting the environment costs money
  • Profits are greatest if less money is spent on protection, but countries only grant permission for mining if the damage is minimised
• Environmental impacts - Exploration

  • marine seismic surveys - sound waves disrupt cetaceans communication and hunting
  • land clearance = vegetation and habitat loss
• Environmental impacts - Land take

  • conflicts with existing land use - it may be expensive to buy urban areas for mining
  • takes up a large area and can only be placed where the minerals are
  • Land is also needed for associated buildings, access routes, overburden dumping, and 'buffer' zone (minimise that impact of sound and looks etc on the local population)
• Environmental impacts - habitat loss

  • lose species
  • capture and transfer plants and animals to unthreatened habitats - rarely successful with animals - this creates more competition there, especially if the new area is already at maximum capacity so the animals die anyway
  • habitat restoration after mining - fill the mine back in - habitats take decades to form - the mine may be in use for extended periods of time
• Environmental impacts - Loss of Amenity

  • mines, associated buildings and spoil heaps cause loss of aesthetics making locals unhappy
  • need to keep mines away from populated areas or block the view of the mine with trees or advertisement boards
• Environmental impacts - Pollution

  • noise - explosions and vehicles in constant use - restrict blast times
  • looks - spoil heaps
  • Air - dust particles decrease photosynthesis and may cause health problems - use water sprays in blast areas
  • Increase in greenhouse gas emissions
  • Toxic leachates e.g. lead
  • Turbid drainage water - decrease photosynthesis in aquatic plants and needs more treatment before use

  Aberfan, Wales - extreme rain caused the giant spoil heaps to collapse onto the town killing many people including a primary school
• Environmental impacts - Transport

  • increased traffic due to lots of machinery and workers getting to the mine
  • noise pollution
  • air pollution - NOx, CO2, CO, tropospheric O3
  • increased risk of accidents
• Environmental impacts - Flooding

  • Precipitation floods the mine, water is pumped out to an area nearby, flooding the nearby land - habitat loss
  • Pumped into a new reservoir nearby - natural sedimentation - water can be used once chemically treated
  • could contain toxic leachates and poison habitats
  • high turbidity - impacts reservoir and habitats photosynthesis levels
• Environmental impacts - Subsidence

  • Deep Shaft mining often leads to subsidence - downward movement of the ground
  • Metal stabilisers can be used to reinforce the mine
• Reducing Env. Impacts - Landscaping

  • reduces local dissatisfaction/loss of amenity
  • Block the view of the mine with trees etc to reduce loss of amenity
• Reducing Env. Impacts - Water sprays

  • reduces air pollution by dust, as well as diming of the microclimate and lung diseases
  • Moisture causes dust particles to stick together and clump on the ground
• Reducing Env. Impacts - Baffle mounds/embankments

  • reduces noise pollution
  • use overburden built up around the edge of the mine as mounds to mask the sound of the mine
• Reducing Env. Impacts - Sedimentation lagoons

  • reduces turbid drainage water
  • stores drainage water from the mine - natural sedimentation lowers the turbidity
• Reducing Env. Impacts - Leachate collection

  • reduces water and general environment pollution - decreased photosynthesis in aquatic environments
  • use electrolysis to treat the water
  • toxic metals cause negative health impacts and push species out of their range of tolerance
• Reducing Env. Impacts - Acid neutralisation

  • reduces pollution of the environment by acidic drainage water due to chemicals used or acidic minerals and species pushed out of their range of tolerance
  • add crushed lime
• Reducing Env. impacts - Spoil compaction and drainage

  • reduces risk of landslide
  • compact spoil to stabilise spoil heaps
• Reducing Env. impacts - Transport type choice, routing and timing

  • reduces traffic, noise pollution and air pollution - NOx, CO2 etc
  • use alternative transport - electric vehicles
  • shuttle buses to reduces the number of vehicles on the roads
  • quiet times of the day
• Reducing Env. impacts - habitat restoration and species relocation

  • reduces habitat and species loss
  • When mining is complete, mines are filled in and plants are replanted - it takes decades for habitats to reform
  • Species are captured before mining and relocated. This increases competition in the new area and rarely works for animals
• Reducing environmental impacts:

  • Landscaping
  • Water sprays
  • Baffle mounds/embankments
  • Sedimentation lagoons
  • Leachate collection
  • Acid neutralisation
  • Spoil compaction and drainage
  • Transport type choice, routing and timing
  • Habitat restoration and species relocations