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Group members: Alfie and Lachlan
Background Information on our Mine
The Argyle diamond mine is located in Argyle, Western Australia and is specifically focused to mine diamonds. The size of the mine is around 1600 metres long and 150 to 600 metres wide. The Argyle diamond mine was opened in 1983 Due to the noticeable large amount of diamond in the area when discovered. The organisation that owns the mine is Rio Tinto Group, a British-Australian company who also has been recorded as the second-largest metals and mining corporation in the world.
Diamond Formation
Diamonds are formed in a situation called the mantle process. During this process; the diamonds form far below the earths surface, approximately 100-200 km under the crust. During this process, the diamonds are crystallised by a high temperature and pressure environment. These crystals are made of carbon atoms that have been allowed to crystallise in this high heat and pressure environment. After the mantle process, the diamonds are picked up by magma and transported upwards to the position where they are found and mined by humans. After being mined, Diamonds are typically used for jewellery, tools, various powders and used in industrial methods to cut hard materials.
Mineral Extraction Method
The Argyle mine is an open-pit diamond mine. An open pit or surface mine is a type of mining method which works by removing all the dirt and rock in the way of the mineral that is sought after, therefore making a big crater or hole. This method is usually used when the mineral ore is close to the surface also, when it is in big clumps. The open pit mine is the most common mineral extraction method in the world and is extremely common to see in Australia among many sites across the country.
Economical Effects of our Mine
The Argyle diamond mine is one of the most efficient diamond mines in the world, with an estimated $7 US per carat of diamond. In the mine's history, 865 million carats were mined, which equals to around 6 billion dollars worth of diamonds, a very successful mine. The Argyle mine brought most employees from Perth, which populated the local area, giving typical local jobs a purpose due to the population increase which ran the town well. But, the closure of this open pit mine would severely impact its neighbouring towns among its closure, loosing population with jobs being removed. Therefore, the town loosing money, but going back to its original state before the mine was in business.
Social Effects of our Mine
Just like every other open pit mine, the Argyle diamond mine got very deep very fast, so if you were to drive or fall off the edge of the pit you would genuinely just face either death or life-threatening injuries. Working on an open pit mine like the argyle faces, the employees with this danger due to these conditions. Machinery, flying debris, or falling injuries like listed before also all give a high percent chance of death and if not dead will easily put any worker in a critical condition if not wearing the protective gear provided. Luckily, no deaths have been recorded from the Argyle diamond mine, just a few machine related injuries from miss-use that have ended up resolving fully.
The Miriuwung, Gidja, Malgnin and Wularr people
The original first nations people of Argyle mine are the Miriuwung, Gidja, Malgnin and Wularr people. These indigenous groups have lived in the east Kimberly region for tens of thousands of years, owning the land with it. The Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) and Argyle Management Plan Agreement (AMPA) made an agreement with the traditional owners of the land to form a settlement that enabled them to mine. This process worked extremely well and collaboratively, and both parties were happy. The conditions of the agreement were very comprehensive among the 2 parties, and the mine was forwarded and accepted as a Good Neighbour Agreement from the years 2005–2018 which enabled the mine to take place.
Environmental Effects of the Argyle diamond mine.
The Argyle diamond mine, much like all the other open pit mines, needed a massive amount of land to be cleared and mined away to become functional. Because of these events, after the earth is mined there are obviously going to be massive piles of dirt, rock, etc and if not deposited at the specific point will be just left lying around. This debris and dust will blow into the towns. This is obviously not good for the townsfolk and the town itself, leaving poor air conditions for periods of time until it clears away. But, back to the land cleaning topic mentioned prior, once the mine has been populated with workers and the nearby town with their families, the town will need to upgrade to cope. This includes much more native habitat areas being cleared for the humans needs which include residence and shops but removing the native wildlife’s necessities at the same time.
Rio Tinto’s Strategies to Protect the environment
The Rio Tinto group has taken out their mine closure plan since the recent closure of the Argyle mine. Their action has given the land back to the traditional custodians and has rehabilitated the environment after their agreement when first using the land to start the mine many years ago. Rio Tinto’s entire plan was to give the land back to the indigenous after their closure in late 2020 and help bring the area back to its natural status, like noted before. The company has not had to go back over a problem that has taken place in their plan due to their effort in the process as a whole and the success it has had so far.
Interactive match on the Argyle Diamond mine
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