Mining Issues

1. Mining Issues “Digging up Trouble”

2. The Stakes MINING = $$$$

3. Financing War • In many locations around the world mining is used to produce raw materials that are sold in order to finance War Examples include: • Congo – Coltan and Cassiterite for use in electronics (tantalum) • Sierra Leone – Diamonds • Angola – Diamonds • Zimbabwe – Diamonds • Nigeria – Oil

4. Creating Conflict • Mineral Resources are often the source of conflict in many regions of the world. It is not uncommon for internal conflict to arise over the control of a particular mining resource. • In the Colonial Period of human history much of the world was settled and “conquered” in order to attain control over mining resources…. Most notably GOLD • In more recent times these conflicts have more commonly been centered around oil and gas deposits (Gulf War) and conflict minerals (parts of Africa) • Afghanistan – Saudi Arabia of Lithium???

5. Group Mini Activity… • Using the class Ipads of your own technology identify a location somewhere in the world where mineral resources are currently, have recently or may soon instigate conflict. Answer the following and create a quick graphic using pic coallage: • Where? • Who? • Resource? • Solution/Resolution?

6. Displacing Indigenous Peoples • Around the world indigenous people continue to occupy many remote locations of our planet • Some of these areas are becoming sought after because of their mineral wealth • Many examples around the world can be found where traditional cultures, language and social structures are threatened by mining resource development • In extreme circumstances entire populations are displaced due to mining in an area **Lets look at “The Real Avatar”

7. Environmental Degradation • Mining can have a tremendous impact on natural systems. • As and extractive industry it by definition means a removal of material from the ground • In its most extreme iterations large tracts of natural vegetation are removed in order to allow for the large scale economic extraction of desired resources. • Open Pit mining and Mountain Top Removal are two of the most damaging mining techniques. • These practices have the potential to devastate ecosystems to the point where they are no longer able to sustain productive ecosystems leading to a loss of biodiversity and loss of wildlife habitat. These landscapes will NEVER be the same…..

8. Physical Impacts • Depending on the type of mine the actual extraction of the metals will impact an area in the following ways: • removal of vegetation and topsoil • the displacement of fauna, • sedimentation of streams, rivers, wetlands, lakes, estuaries • Dust emissions (may be toxic)

9. Water Pollution – Mine Tailings • The toxic mixture of debris left over after mining and mineral processing • Can have serious impact of local ecosystems and specifically ground water quality

10. Water Pollution – Tailing Ponds • In many mines pools of water contaminated with mine tailings create toxic reservoirs that threaten water security and if near major waterways can threaten the ecological integrity of large areas • These ponds are so toxic that flocks of migrating birds have been knows to die due to simply landing on their surface • Sometimes all that separates these toxic artificial lakes from natural waterways is a man made damn • If this damn leaks contaminants enter natural ecosystems • If this damn breaks large scale environmental destruction is iminent and may spread hundreds of kilometers from the source.

12. Water Pollution – Acid Mine Drainage • Acid Mine Drainage occurs where minerals disturbed by mining begin to oxidize once exposed to air and water • Pyrite (fools gold) is a common mineral that will oxidize into Sulfuric Acid • Acidic water can then free up other heavy metals in the mine and create a toxic soup of pollution • The polluted acidic water in a flooded mine will leach or run off into a local stream • AMD is often rusty brown in colour because of its high concentration of oxidizing iron.

13. The Sudbury Story…. • During construction of the CPR blasting and excavation reveal high concentrations of Nickel-copper ore • Once the railway was complete extraction of the resource from this remote area became economically feasible • Since the late 1800s the Sudbury area has been one of the most significant mining areas in North America

14. Sudbury Geology • Ore deposits are part of a large geological structure called the Sudbury Basin believed to be the remnants of a 1.85 million year old meteorite impact crater • Nickel and Copper are the main metals extracted from the ore of the Sudbury Basin • Smaller amounts of cobalt, platinum, gold, silver, selenium and tellurium can also be found

15. The Sudbury Tragedy • The mining that occurs in Sudbury has significant ecological impacts • The most severe has stemmed from the fact that the ore bearing minerals are typically high in Sulphur • During the separation of metal from the ore (Smelting) large amounts of Sulphur dioxide are pumped into the atmosphere • Sulphur Dioxide then creates highly concentrated ACID RAIN!!!

16. ACID Precipitation • Acid precipitation devastated the local ecology early on and much of the area surrounding Sudbury effectively became a wasteland. • In 1972 INCO on of the largest mining companies in the area thought they had a solution to the problem • Build a super high smoke stack and send the pollution away from Sudbury • “The Solution to Pollution is Dilution”

17. What Happened Next… • It worked! • Once the INCO Super Stack was in place and ecological recovery in the are immediately surrounding Sudbury began • Unprecedented “regreening” began, including liming of the soil, planting of 8.7 million trees and other natural vegetation • The pollution just went farther away and impacted a larger area • In 2010 only 3300 hectares of over 30000 hectares have been effectively regreened.

18. Types of Mining • Open Pit – minerals close to the surface essentially scraped away/dug up

19. Types of Mining • Strip – shallow deposits are mined by removing overburden and cutting away the mineral seam. Common method for coal mining

20. Types of Mining • Placer – The mining of alluvial deposits, usually uses water to separate minerals/gems/precious metals from the sediment

21. Types of Mining • Underground – used when minerals are not close enough to the surface to utilize other extraction methods.