Increased urbanization and industrialization has led to large amounts of toxic contaminants being released into the environment all over the world. Though mining of solid minerals has enormous social and economic benefits to the nations, but the long term adverse effects in terms of waste generated and the environmental problems associated with its activities cannot be overlooked.
The various steps involved in the mining industry are endangering processes with great impacts on health, socio-economic and the environment. These impacts are felt throughout the whole phases of the mining activities and after mine closure (Akabzaa, 2000).
The three principal activities of the mining industry; mining, mineral processing and metallurgical extraction
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It entails lots of destructive multistep processes which can result in displacement of communities, pollution of water and land with toxic chemicals such as mercury, devastating effects on workers’ health and destruction of virgin environments. The use of the cyanide leaching technique in extraction has resulted in series of negative environmental impacts. Large quantities of water and energy are being used up and there is distinct changes in topography, hydrology, stability of the landscape and accumulation of pollutant in the environment. Emission of hydrogen cyanide, global warming and generation of hazardous wastes that endangers the health of people and ecosystems (Hilson, 2002 ; Bakatula et al. 2012). Mining involves production of large quantities of waste, especially from gold mines, which account for more than 99% of the ore extracted as waste (Adler & Rustler, 2007). Disposal of such large quantities of waste poses tremendous challenges for the gold mining industry and may significantly impact the …show more content…
There is also limited capacity to move large quantities of material and the waste generated are discarded to several meters of the mine opening or pit. Shallow open-pits are usually created as a result of the removal of thin overburden over the deeper parts of the ore body adjacent to the exposed surface. To get access to the lower grade ores, open –pit or underground methods are employed at greater depths to reach the deposits. The ore is then crushed into finely ground tailings for processing with various chemicals and separating processes to extract the final product. Open-pit mine produce 8 to 10 times as much waste as underground mines. This results in a large amount of wastes being generated because a greater amount of topsoil, overburden and barren or waste rock has to be removed. Large deposit of these wastes has accumulated over the centuries and has lots of negative impact on the environments (BRGM, 2001; Dold,
Giant mine: social impacts and remediation Over the fifty-four years of operation, Giant Mine produced over seven million ounces of gold worth a massive two billion dollars. Located just outside Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Giant Mine, mined and processed gold, which entailed several processes that leaves behind a very toxic chemical dust called arsenic trioxide (Sandlos, J., & Keeling, 2012). However, with many growing cities, recourse extraction was the most beneficial way to turn what they had into money. Mining can provoke serious change within a community; while this can help fund local infrastructure such as building roads and schools, mining will always leave the land devastated when the resource runs dry. Before Giant Mine was
Manure and chemical filled lagoons are a common component of industrial farming. A colossal amount of waste is produced from COFAs, therefore it has to go somewhere. That somewhere would be the prior mentioned lagoons which are then sprayed or leaked into the soil. Contaminated soil can affect both ground and surface water. The runoff can go in two directions; either absorbed into the ground or washed into rivers or lakes in the surrounding area.
This waste must be kept up, observed and watched to keep the materials from falling into the wrong hands and causing problems. These administrations and included materials cost cash – on top of the high expenses needed to put together a plant, which may make it less desirable to invest in. d) Uranium is Finite - Uranium is finite and exists in few of the countries. It is pretty expensive to mine, refine and transport uranium. It produces considerable amount of waste during all these activities and can result in environmental contamination and serous health effects, if not handled properly.
Sometimes our waste overflows into the trenches and we have to live with it. This can lead to various conflcitions such as diseases and other
However that does that help with the obvious problem which is excess consumption that leads to environmental and human hazards. Waste Land shows how the rich exploit the poor for their own
There have been many dilemmas with America with continuous problems today. In the progressive era there were many problems that we had to deal with like unsanitary meat, child labor, and voting rights for women. Those have been fixed with the Meat Inspection act of 1906, child labor laws, and the 19th amendment. Unlike those, conservation is still a problem. Conservation, the action of conserving something, in particular, can be confused with environmentalism which is the concern about and action aimed at protecting the environment.
Environmental racism Have you ever heard of or considered the concept of environmental racism and what role it plays in the lives of Afro Americans? Well many colored families live in a ring of oil refineries because they have no choice based on their income. Many people such as Henry Clark, who would cover his nose run in his house because of refineries would burn off excess gases sending energy waves and black smoke in the air. This might describe as environmental racism, which is placement of low income or minority communities near pollution sources in hazard environment which can be displayed by the fact that it is detrimental to health, have an impact by income and proximity to pollution.
The negative results of mining proves that it posed a threat towards Canada’s environment. The effects resulted in the Environmental Movement in Canada to target mining processes that could be harmful of the environment. Mining in Canada created an environmental challenge that Canada had to posses because of the harmful side effects produced in the process. This resulted in Canada rethinking the mining process in order to conserve the natural
In turn, this causes serious health implications. This paper focuses on the social, economic and environmental conditions such as the impacts
The mine wastes were deposited along the 620 stretch of the river, leading to great loss of animal life and vegetation. The pollution is regarded as the most destructive environmental disaster. The main type of depletion at the mine is the loss of minerals and other natural resources such as vegetation. Compare and contrast the views of (a) an ecological ethic, (b) Blackstone's ethic of environmental rights, and (c) a utilitarian ethic of pollution control.
In “The Hidden Life of Garbage,” Heather Rogers writes about the waste disposal in the United States and how dangerous is getting. Land dumping has been the main disposal method for many years because of the low cost. She writes how landfill is a designed construction in which the trash is far away from the environment. Therefore, isolation is accomplished with a bottom liner and a daily covering of soil. She also says that a sanitary landfill uses a clay liner to isolate the trash from the environment.
5 Discussion Questions 2).What is public health to you and what role does public health play in your life? Public health refers to all the formulated methods to preclude diseases, nurture health and perpetuate life amongst the community as whole. World health organization (WHO) is a world’s largest health organization whose main objective is to keep the world population healthy and blooming (Crockett et al., 2003). This organization makes people aware about the need of healthy life in rural areas as well as the areas which are most prone to epidemics.
When coal and other minerals were extracted from underground, they emited several metal waste which was harmful for the water. It is evident that the Indutrial Revolution caused a lot of evnviromental problems for individuals. Without social protest it is doubtful politicians would have responded to the environmental crisis…in the late 1960’s and ealry 1970’s (Halbert, par. 1). Individuals were conserned about their health and congress decided to pass the Clean Water Act of 1972 to reduce water
Animal rights has been controversial and the most debatably issue since time memory till date. This issue can be arguable trace since the genesis of civilization. How should we treat non-human animals? We sometime find strong moral status in them, but we usually repudiate them any kind of moral prestige. Are they not deserved any rights?
The reading assignments for this week has been very educative about the environment and making it a better place for living. In this written assignment, I will examine some of the ethical issues related to population growth and their effect to the environment. Also, I will propose solutions to these problems base on the reading material available for this Unit. But before I continue, I wish to introduce us to environmental ethics and its definition which I think it is very important for us to understand so as to know our role to play in this beautiful planet. Environmental ethics is the discipline in philosophy that studies the moral relationship of human beings to, and also the value and moral status of, the environment and its non-human contents