Introduction:
Mineral contamination effects waters with its effect on fresh water. The best way to mitigate this will be to use the “In Situ” mining technique when mining for ores. In this report, I will address what is mineral contamination, the impacts and solutions to mitigate this.
What is mineral contamination?
Mineral contamination is something we must face. Mineral contamination is where pollution diverts from mining operations and affects aquatic life, nature and the land around it. This may also contaminate any water supplies or recreational water usage. For certain minerals, they directly cause environmental hazards in the area. These range from air and water pollution in the area to contamination within residential communities. Through mining it can affect fresh water through the contamination. An example of fresh water contamination is how near the mines, fresh water in Canada was becoming contaminated. Mineral contamination can also happen because of the heavy use of water in processing ore, and through water pollution from discharged mine effluent.
When did mineral contamination start affecting the environment?
Mineral contamination started affecting the environment when mineral extraction began. Mineral extraction started developing 20,000 years ago in south Africa. From that point, mining never became a real industry until advanced civilisations developed 7,000 years ago. Within 150 years of Maori settlement in New Zealand, quarries started forming across the land. When the mineral industry in New Zealand began, so did the start of mineral contamination as the machines used started producing acid rock drainage. Acid rock drainage is where an outflow of acidic water happens because of metal/coal mines. During the 1850’s - 2000’s, there was acid rock drainage building up causing mineral pollution to start affecting the water around it.
What impacts can mineral contamination due to the environment?
There are very damaging causes of mineral contamination causes. Mining exploration, construction and operation can cause deforestation,erosion, and contamination to the wetlands, local streams. Mineral contamination can also make an increase in noise level and dust in the mines. Mineral contamination causes diseases that spread through the wildlife and the lives of people that live near the wildlife or mines. This can also cause damage to streams, making them contaminated and contributing to global warming. Mineral contamination affects a lot of streams throughout the world. More than 40% of stream reaches in western watersheds are contaminated by acid rock drainage and heavy metals. Mining has contaminated drinking water wells in rural western towns like; Mexico, San Luis, Colorado, Questa, etc. Underground mining can produce toxic compounds that head up into the air affecting all life around the areas, infecting them with the toxins. Water becomes a contaminant when it comes in contact with harmful concentrations of minerals and heavy metals from the mining. Contaminated water can pollute the nature that surrounds the water making the wildlife catch diseases from the pollution.
What possible solutions could be used to mitigate mineral contamination?
Although mineral contamination is really bad, there are ways to mitigate it. We can mitigate mineral contamination by preventing acid rock drainage from happening as it plays a big part in mineral contamination. To prevent acid rock drainage, we could seal exposed surfaces in underground workings. We can seal it with a coating of material that is non-reactive to inhibit the oxidation process. We could mitigate the effects mineral contamination causes by ensuring the chemicals miners use to extract ores don't leak, infecting the rocks. If the chemicals do leak, it could contaminate the atmosphere, water and life around the mines. It should be ensured through an inspector checking if no chemicals were spilt. We can mitigate mineral contamination by having lower impact mining techniques. Through traditional mining techniques, it can have a severe impact on the environment. A low impact mining technique used is called “In Situ Mining”. In Situ Mining involves leaving the ore where it is in the ground and recovering the minerals from it. We do this by dissolving them and pumping the pregnant solution to the surface where the minerals can be recovered.
What would happen if mineral contamination continues in the future?
In the future it could be better or worse for the earth. If mineral contamination continues, it could lead to most of our air and water becoming very toxic and polluted. This contamination will harm animals, humans and habitats. Most dangerous of all, it will permanently scar natural landscapes around the world. The modern mines and abandoned will all be responsible for all of this. In the future, Artificial Intelligence will become a big part of mining operations across the world. Miners will use this AI to help them with interpreting data from smart sensors and machine interconnection. This will improve operational safety and overall efficiency through unmanned. With AI, it shifts raw material mining from a people oriented operation to a process oriented one. With this, it ensures miners' lives will be alright and they won’t be at risk for their health from the mines.
Conclusion:
I have discussed mineral contaminaton, the impacts and the way to mitigate. I believe the best solution would be, to make all miners use the In Situ technique. With this technique it has minimal noise, dust and greenhouse gas emissions. In conclusion, In Situ Mining would be a great solution and would mitigate the problem of mineral contamination.
Bibliography:
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About Rinkesh
A true environmentalist by heart ❤️. Founded Conserve Energy Future with the sole motto of providing helpful information related to our rapidly depleting environment. Unless you strongly believe in Elon Musk‘s idea of making Mars as another habitable planet, et al. “Causes, Effects and Solutions to Mining Pollution.” Conserve Energy Future, 17 Dec. 2021, www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-mining-pollution.php.
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