(a) unloading them into a river or ocean,
(b) stacking them up on land, or
(c) stacking them up (most often) behind a dam.
Unfortunately, tailings dams fail in a quite a number of cases, given that they are
often cheaply designed, and cheaply built from the wastes themselves rather than
with concrete. As they are constructed over extended periods, it is difficult to have a
final inspection, certifying a safe and final completion. It is judicious that they are
regularly monitored. There is, on average, a tailings dam failure, every year, around
the world.
Within the mining industry, opinions differ. Coal mining practices include land
reclamation as mining proceeds, while the hardrock mining practises an opposite
strategy, i.e. to clean up and restore after closing the mine. This last policy is
probably not the best one, because it costs much more than expected, and very
often, hardrock mining companies, when confronted with such cleanup costs, evade
those costs by proclaiming bankruptcy and reassigning their assets to other companies managed by the same directors.
When mining companies declare bankruptcy, the burden of cleaning up the mess
falls on the tax payers, and this has left a very bad public image of the industry as a
whole.
The hardrock mining industry is a very good example of an industry business
favouring its own short-term interests over possible long term benefits by harming
public interests and, therefore, driving itself into extinction through self-defeating
practices.
One possible or plausible explanation for this reluctance to adopt clean environmental policies as in the oil or other industries, lies in the low rates of return of the
industry, barely meeting the cost of capital. While it is possible for customers to
identify oil or coal suppliers and pinpoint them if there is an environmental disaster,
very few consumers are aware which metal they are using or have bought and where!
Apart from steel in one’s car, what other metals is one using (and in what proportions) becomes a very difficult question for practically everybody. One engineer
claimed that a smartphone contains elements comprising half of the periodic table.
Thus, if the price of one smartphone goes up – because the metal producers have
adopted good environmental practices, against extra expenses – the customer will
swap to a cheaper one, instead of shouting against the metal producers who have not
adopted such good practices!
On the physical side, hardrock mines produce far more wastes, needing much
more expensive cleanup costs, compared to oil wells. Typically, for oil wells, the
waste-to-oil ratio is around one (mostly water), while the ratio rises to 400 for a
copper mine, and 5,000,000 for the gold sector. And, it is real dirt, instead of just
water! With such quantities of material to cleanup, the mining industry faces huge
costs which consumers are reluctant to bear. Metal ore travels – from the mine to the
customer – through a very long supply chain comprising refiners, warehouses, Asian
jewelry manufacturers and European wholesalers before reaching a retail jewelry
store. Sometimes, there is an extra intermediary, a smelter. That long supply chain
4.3 Extractive Industries Causing Environmental Concerns
115
(b) stacking them up on land, or
(c) stacking them up (most often) behind a dam.
Unfortunately, tailings dams fail in a quite a number of cases, given that they are
often cheaply designed, and cheaply built from the wastes themselves rather than
with concrete. As they are constructed over extended periods, it is difficult to have a
final inspection, certifying a safe and final completion. It is judicious that they are
regularly monitored. There is, on average, a tailings dam failure, every year, around
the world.
Within the mining industry, opinions differ. Coal mining practices include land
reclamation as mining proceeds, while the hardrock mining practises an opposite
strategy, i.e. to clean up and restore after closing the mine. This last policy is
probably not the best one, because it costs much more than expected, and very
often, hardrock mining companies, when confronted with such cleanup costs, evade
those costs by proclaiming bankruptcy and reassigning their assets to other companies managed by the same directors.
When mining companies declare bankruptcy, the burden of cleaning up the mess
falls on the tax payers, and this has left a very bad public image of the industry as a
whole.
The hardrock mining industry is a very good example of an industry business
favouring its own short-term interests over possible long term benefits by harming
public interests and, therefore, driving itself into extinction through self-defeating
practices.
One possible or plausible explanation for this reluctance to adopt clean environmental policies as in the oil or other industries, lies in the low rates of return of the
industry, barely meeting the cost of capital. While it is possible for customers to
identify oil or coal suppliers and pinpoint them if there is an environmental disaster,
very few consumers are aware which metal they are using or have bought and where!
Apart from steel in one’s car, what other metals is one using (and in what proportions) becomes a very difficult question for practically everybody. One engineer
claimed that a smartphone contains elements comprising half of the periodic table.
Thus, if the price of one smartphone goes up – because the metal producers have
adopted good environmental practices, against extra expenses – the customer will
swap to a cheaper one, instead of shouting against the metal producers who have not
adopted such good practices!
On the physical side, hardrock mines produce far more wastes, needing much
more expensive cleanup costs, compared to oil wells. Typically, for oil wells, the
waste-to-oil ratio is around one (mostly water), while the ratio rises to 400 for a
copper mine, and 5,000,000 for the gold sector. And, it is real dirt, instead of just
water! With such quantities of material to cleanup, the mining industry faces huge
costs which consumers are reluctant to bear. Metal ore travels – from the mine to the
customer – through a very long supply chain comprising refiners, warehouses, Asian
jewelry manufacturers and European wholesalers before reaching a retail jewelry
store. Sometimes, there is an extra intermediary, a smelter. That long supply chain
4.3 Extractive Industries Causing Environmental Concerns
115