(6) Local support is necessary, and the best way to obtain it, is to take prudent steps
to minimize harm and maintain a good relationship with the local people.
(7) Environmentally clean practices by a company increases its reputation and
credibility that help it sometimes to obtain a competitive advantage in obtaining
contracts.
(8) Oil companies have learned that it is far cheaper to build a clean facility
incorporating environmental precautions at the outset, than to retrofit that facility
later when government standards become tightened. The companies have come
to expect that, if a country in which they are operating is not environmentally
aware now, it is likely to become so within the lifetime of the facility.
4.3.2 The Hardrock Mining Industry
Although the hardrock mining industry resembles the oil and gas industry, it has
evolved differently, for three reasons:
(1) different economics and technology,
(2) different attitudes within the industry itself, and
(3) different attitudes of the public and government towards the industry.
The environmental problems caused by hardrock mining are of several types. The
land surface is affected (surface mines and open-pit mines), when the ore lies near
the surface and is reached by scraping away the earth over it, contrary to oil drilling,
where only a small area is disturbed. There are also some mines where the ore body
does not lie deep underground, and the tunnels, which disturb only a small surface
area, are dug down to the ore body.
Hardrock mining also creates water pollution by the metals themselves,
processing chemicals, sediment and acid drainage. Metals and metallic elements in
the ore itself – especially arsenic, antimony, cadmium, copper, mercury, lead,
selenium and zinc – are toxic and likely to create pollution by ending up in nearby
streams and aquifers following mining operations. Some of the chemicals employed
in mining, e.g., cyanide, mercury, sulphuric acid, and nitrate produced from dynamite, are also toxic. Sediments conveyed out of mines in runoff water may harm
aquatic life, for instance by covering up fish spawning beds.
The next environmental issue relates to the residues from mining:
(1) the “overburden” – soil overlying the ore and scraped away,
(2) waste rock containing too little mineral to have economic value,
(3) tailings – the ground-up residue of ore after extracting the minerals,
(4) the residues of heap-leach pads after mineral extraction.
The last two types of residue are usually stocked in the tailings impoundment or
pad respectively, while the overburden and waste rock are left in dumps. Depending
on the national laws, where the mine is located, the disposal of tailings (a slurry of
water and solids) include:
114
4 Infrastructure Vision for Sustainable Development
to minimize harm and maintain a good relationship with the local people.
(7) Environmentally clean practices by a company increases its reputation and
credibility that help it sometimes to obtain a competitive advantage in obtaining
contracts.
(8) Oil companies have learned that it is far cheaper to build a clean facility
incorporating environmental precautions at the outset, than to retrofit that facility
later when government standards become tightened. The companies have come
to expect that, if a country in which they are operating is not environmentally
aware now, it is likely to become so within the lifetime of the facility.
4.3.2 The Hardrock Mining Industry
Although the hardrock mining industry resembles the oil and gas industry, it has
evolved differently, for three reasons:
(1) different economics and technology,
(2) different attitudes within the industry itself, and
(3) different attitudes of the public and government towards the industry.
The environmental problems caused by hardrock mining are of several types. The
land surface is affected (surface mines and open-pit mines), when the ore lies near
the surface and is reached by scraping away the earth over it, contrary to oil drilling,
where only a small area is disturbed. There are also some mines where the ore body
does not lie deep underground, and the tunnels, which disturb only a small surface
area, are dug down to the ore body.
Hardrock mining also creates water pollution by the metals themselves,
processing chemicals, sediment and acid drainage. Metals and metallic elements in
the ore itself – especially arsenic, antimony, cadmium, copper, mercury, lead,
selenium and zinc – are toxic and likely to create pollution by ending up in nearby
streams and aquifers following mining operations. Some of the chemicals employed
in mining, e.g., cyanide, mercury, sulphuric acid, and nitrate produced from dynamite, are also toxic. Sediments conveyed out of mines in runoff water may harm
aquatic life, for instance by covering up fish spawning beds.
The next environmental issue relates to the residues from mining:
(1) the “overburden” – soil overlying the ore and scraped away,
(2) waste rock containing too little mineral to have economic value,
(3) tailings – the ground-up residue of ore after extracting the minerals,
(4) the residues of heap-leach pads after mineral extraction.
The last two types of residue are usually stocked in the tailings impoundment or
pad respectively, while the overburden and waste rock are left in dumps. Depending
on the national laws, where the mine is located, the disposal of tailings (a slurry of
water and solids) include:
114
4 Infrastructure Vision for Sustainable Development