Mining Can Cause Great Damages to the Environment

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Mining can cause varying amounts of damage at all stages due to different aspects of the mining project, such as the type of ore, the technology, methods and on-site processes used as well as how sensitive the local environment is. Mining effects not only the local physical aspects it can also lead to air, land and water contamination. Damage can be caused during exploration of the minerals in the soils as ground work involves bore holes, transect lines, excavation pits and support equipment can leave traces behind. Mining operations also impact the environment through establishment of the mines, ore extraction, high concentrations of minerals, transport and infrastructure. Waste is also generated during the life of mines, it consists of mostly rocks and is considered non-toxic.
The other type of waste that is produced during processing is call mine tailings and the concentration levels of minerals is significant enough that it needs to be disposed of safely. Mine tailings require tailing dams which are lined with a special lining and when the dam has been used or is full this is then capped and revegetated to keep any harmful materials from getting into the environment. Water and air pollution is also waste products from mining, air contaminants can include dust, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide [1]. Mining projects create quite a lot of dust during mine construction and during hauling of ores from the mine to the processing area, the dust during transportation is minimised by building road (even though they are often dirt) to a high quality with surface additives to prevent more dust in dry seasons as well as ongoing maintenance [2].
Water pollution affects the quality of the water from the mine sites su...

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... get into groundwater [6].
Biological- Bioremediation is the use of biological organisms which can break down organic matter or pollution (such as oil or acid) is soil or water. It is used in either places that already have the organisms living at the site and their growth is optimised for more/faster breakdown or the microbes are added to a site [8]. It uses a natural process that occurs in nature so this method of clean up can also be safer and less expensive than alternatives (incineration or landfill) and can save the effort of having to dig up large quantities of soil, sediment and pumping water out of the ground for treatment. One major advantage is that it eliminates the waste permanently so there are no long term liabilities, but it may not be feasible if there is too much toxic chemicals in high concentrations that are toxic to most microorganisms [8, 9].

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