Becca Hedges
Dr. MacLean
Geo 3010-01
3 Feb. 2017
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Reflection 5
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Mining in the world today is a very important part of the economic balance worldwide. Much like the never ending cycle of birth, taxes, and death; so will there be mining. Before a mine can begin operating a few things must happen first. This begins with the exploration for the ore deposit. This process can create some impact by way of clearing out vegetation and use of some heavy machinery. The next step is the development stage. There is typically no impact involved here. The third step is site preparation. Construction of access roads, clearing of vegetation, and construction of any buildings that will be used through the project will take place. This will create many impacts that should be included in the reclamation plans. Most of these steps could have their own EIA assessments to be required (Overview, 1-4).
There are different type of active mining processes. Open-pit, placer, and underground. Each one will have their own unique environmental impacts as well as some similar impacts. Some of the most important impacts involve air, and water quality, wildlife habitat, vegetation, soil disturbances, and waste (Overview, 4-7).
Water is by far the most important resource that needs to be protected from the impacts of mining. From the initial exploration to the closing and reclamation of the mine, any water source has the possibility of being contaminated. Water contamination can be severe and occur in many ways. Acids like arsenic, selenium could leach through to the ground water through the tailings pond. If the tailings pond which has the potential to hold many toxic materials is breached it could flow into nearby water ways like the event with the Gold King mine in Colorado. Any contamination also directly effects aquatic life. If a mine contains pyrite, certain chemical reactions could release things like lead, copper, and sulfuric acid into the area. If the mining site is located within waterways erosion and soil disturbance could choke the water with sediment for many miles away (Overview, 8). There is also the fact that mining consumes a lot of water to aid in prevention of dust born particulates and extraction of the ore itself.
Air quality can be impacted by driving heavy machinery on a dirt road kicking us particulates into the atmosphere. The air currents have the potential of sending the material many miles away. Emissions form the used of heavy machinery releases CO2. The machinery used to extract the ore can also release emissions (Overview, 12).
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Mining operations during some stages are not quiet. Blasting and machinery can disturbed any nearby communities and wildlife. While no harm may come to any living creature due to this it is annoying and may disrupt sleeping, eating or migration patterns (Overview, 13).
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Humans are not the only ones susceptible to the impacts if mining, wildlife can be effected by the loss of habitat via loss of vegetation. Clear cutting is the major cause of this. Local vegetation can be the major food source for many animals in the area, it could even be their homes. If this is removed the animals will need to relocate in order to survive. This is not always possible depending on the local climate or altitude. If the water or soil becomes contaminated it could also aid in the departure of wildlife (Overview, 13-14).
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Soil quality is also important to look at. Much like the water quality and contaminants, the same thing could potentially occur with the soils. Removal of vegetation can also impact soil quite a bit because this aids in the possibility of invasive species taking hold thereby altering the soil chemistry (Overview, 14).
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Impacts of mining can also affect communities. The heath of nearby residents can be altered by contamination of water, soil, and air. Economically unless the communities are fairly diverse there could be potential of a bust and boom cycle. There is also the protection of cultural artifacts as well as noise pollution (Overview, 15-17). If proper measures are not insured throughout the entire mining operation as well as if proper reclamation of the mine area does not take place, all impacts discussed could have long lasting effects.
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All over the world the unequal distribution of wealth is contributed to many different factors. A large part of that is with resource deposits like oil, natural gas, and minerals. Some countries just have more than others. The acreage of each individual country really plays no part in the wealth or development but the countries that have large mineral deposits have a large advantage. Mineral deposits are considered as asset (Davis, 1). Despite such assets being available a question which has arose within the last couple of decades is whether or not developing countries should mine for such assets and if it actually contributes to or deters from economic development. There are two trains of thought regarding this topic; the traditional view and the new view. The traditional view is on the side of yes, mining for mineral deposits for the most part helps developing country’s economy. The new view says no, it does not help with developing countries economy. Various studies have been conducted on this since the field of economics was created (Davis, 2-5).
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The traditional view believes that mineral wealth, agricultural land, forest and other natural resources are the countries natural capital. The more of this type of capital they have the better off they will be so long as they are utilizing all of it. This means if they are not mining their deposits, it is not doing them any good to have them. It is well known that the market for minerals will fluctuated based off of demand so it will see times of high and low profits. This is true for the global economy as a whole (Davis, 5-7).
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The new view believes that even if the country is mining its mineral deposits there can be little to no economic growth and in some cases growth was negative. This is pretty much an opposite stance from the traditional view. There are many reason this could be the cause. Declining terms of trade can happen over time where commodities cost less than manufactured goods. Volatile markets describe the natural rise and fall of demand. The Dutch disease is a fast, large rise for a particular resource. This type is particularly bad for agriculture and manufacturing. The nature of mining is about the overall cost of mining in general. The use of rents is related to the profits of mining and income disparities already seen in developing countries (Davis, 8-12).
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While both ideas agree on some of the aspects their basic beliefs differ. Traditionally mining is good for everyone. The new says that developing countries see more problems with mining. There are exceptions to each side and other factors I felt were overlooked by both sides. Overall I believe that if the resources are available they should mine but, they should mine responsibly by taking into consideration all impacts and risks. I think the economic portion should come with proper management of the material once it is mined. If the market is on the low end they should not sell as much. When the market is on the high end they should sell more. There also needs to be a balance between mining operations, agricultural practices, and manufacturing. With proper management the risks vs rewards or economic gains and losses can be balanced.