Mining environmental impacts

Table 7. Environmental Impact of Surface Mining Operations...

Wliile some problems still exist, there is no question that coal mining operations are more efficient and safer for workers and leave less of an environmental footprint than operations several generations ago. As society s demand for energy from coal continues to increase and as coal s price declines (between 1978 and 1996 U.S. mine mouth prices fell from 47,118 to 18..S11 per ton in constant 1996 dollars), there is certain to be even gi eater efforts to limit the environmental impact of mining operations. 

In addition, these precious and special metals have very low concentrations in ores mining, smelting, and refining these metals therefore have a particularly large environmental impact. Recovering these metals from defunct electronic equipment would result in a fraction of the effect on the environment [20]. 

Eisler, R., D.R. Clark, Jr., S.N. Wiemeyer, and C.J. Henny. 1999. Sodium cyanide hazards to fish and other wildlife from gold mining operations. Pages 55-67 in J.M. Azcue (ed.). Environmental Impacts of Mining Activities Emphasis on Mitigation and Remedial Measures. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. 

Paktunc, A.D. 1999. Characterization of mine wastes for prediction of acid mine Drainage. In Environmental impacts of mining activities, emphasis on mitigation and remedial measures, Springer Verlag, Berlin, Hidelberg, New York, Azcue, J.M., 19-40. 

Furthermore, the extraction of non-conventional oil has other detrimental environmental impacts, such as water pollution and loss of biodiversity. Depending on the depth of the deposits, oil sands are either strip mined in open pits or heated so that the bitumen from which the non-conventional oil is extracted can flow to the surface (in-situ extraction). Both forms of oil-sands extraction require considerable amounts of energy (i.e., natural gas) and water, and lead to significant detrimental environmental impacts (Woynillowicz et al., 2005 see also Chapter 3). 

The U.S. Bureau of Mines-Spokane Research Center is conducting research on the environmental impacts of placing mine wastes underground as backfill. This work includes a review of residual cyanide in placed landfill, water quality monitorings at two mines and laboratory tests of cyanide fate in underground environments and permeability/leachate effects through cemented tailings. 

Hansel CM, Fendorf S, Sutton S, NewviUe M. 2001. Characterization of Fe plaque and associated metals on the roots of mine-waste impacted aquatic plants. Environmental Science Technology 35 3863-3868. 

Reducing the long-term environmental impact of wastes arising from uranium mining... 

Environmental impacts of coal mining and associated wastes a geochemical perspective... 

Outline the history of how perceptions of the environmental impacts of coal mining have evolved over the centuries ... 

Proffer a typology of the environmental impacts attributable to coal mining, distinguishing between those arising from bodies of mine waste and those arising from the mined voids themselves ... 

In terms of the environmental impacts of coal mine drainage, siderite plays an ambiguous role (see, for instance, Morrison et al. 1990, and works cited therein). On the one hand, the acidity released by pyrite oxidation can be... 

A typology of the environmental impacts attributable to coal mining... 

Table 4., 4 generalized typology of the external environmental impacts arising from coal mine raids... 

Buchanan, D. J. Brenkley, D. 1994. Green coal mining. In Hester, R. E. Harrison, R. M. (eds) Mining and its Environmental Impact. Royal Society of Chemistry, London, 71-95. 

Grayson, R. L. 1999. Mine health and safety industry s march towards continuous improvement - the United States experience. In Azcue, J. M. (ed) Environmental Impacts of Mining Activities. Emphasis on Mitigation and Remedial Measures. Springer, Heidelberg, 83-100. 

Helios, Rybicka, E. 1996. Environmental impact of mining and smelting industries in Poland. In Appleton, J. D., Fuge, R. McCall, G. J. H. (eds) Environmental Geochemistry and Health. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 113, 183-193. 

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