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Mining

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The forces that shaped the world’s mountains also made them rich in minerals and metals. Today, increasing demand and advances in technology have made even the most remote mountain areas accessible and profitable for mining. Mining can bring large benefits to mountain communities; but it can also be devastating to fragile mountain ecosystems, mountain cultures and the environments and communities both above and below. The challenge is to balance mining opportunities with environmental and social responsibility, and to ensure the protection of traditional mountain cultures.

Buried treasure

Hundreds of millions of years ago, massive movements of the continents reshaped the earth’s landscape, forming the Alps, Rockies, Andes, Appalachians, Pamirs, Himalaya and many more of the world’s majestic mountain ranges. These same forces created deposits of metals and minerals in the rocks beneath the surface of the earth. That’s why today’s mountain ranges are the major source of many of the world’s most important metals and minerals, including gold, copper, iron, silver and zinc – all vital to the global economy. Mountains are also especially attractive to prospectors because the topsoil and overlying rock in many areas makes it easier to determine what lies beneath the surface.

Rich pickings

As the global economy expands and demand for metals and minerals grows, mining companies are targeting the rich deposits in mountains more than ever before. Much of the extraction occurs in the developing world, but most of the products are used in the developed world. Half the world’s tungsten, used in special steels, is mined in the mountains of southern China. Huge quantities of mined minerals and metals are shipped around the world.

Developed countries are the biggest importers of metals and minerals. Often, they have depleted their own resources, or mining has been curtailed by environmental groups. The United States of America is the world’s largest importer of metals and minerals – 70 percent of its nickel, chromium and tin come from abroad.

Latin America is currently the top destination for international mining companies, accounting for 29 percent of global investment in exploration. The opening of mining to foreign companies in the 1990s, the emergence of relative political stability, rich reserves and large tracts of unexplored land have made the mountains and highlands of many Latin American countries particularly appealing.

Environmental consequences

Mining and the processing of minerals and metals can have dire environmental consequences for both highlands and lowlands. Moreover, because mountain ecosystems are exceedingly fragile, the degradation of mountain environments can be difficult and often impossible to rectify. The most serious environmental degradation issues in mining are: damage to water quality and quantity; loss of biodiversity and vegetative cover; and the atmospheric effects of pollution and global warming.

The visual effects of mining are the most obvious signs of environmental disturbance – surface dumps, slag heaps, valley fills, trenches and open pits. Before mining can start, trees and vegetation must be cleared. In more isolated mountain sites, trees are sometimes felled to provide fuel for smelting.

Deforestation and mining activities cause soil erosion, increasing downstream siltation, floods, mudslides and landslides in areas below. In the Khaniara area of India’s Himachal Pradesh, for example, nearly 1,000 small to medium-sized slate mines have stripped up to 60 percent of the forest and triggered countless landslides. In the Appalachian Mountains in the United States of America, so-called “mountain top removal”, caused by open access to coal seams, has resulted in subsidence and permanent damage to streams and watercourses in many areas. Accidental spills of toxic metals used to extract ores have deprived farmers of drinking and irrigation water in mine sites from the Andes to the islands of the Pacific.

Massive quantities of waste may be left behind after mining is completed. Contamination of water by mountain mine wastes can be especially serious because mountains supply most of our water for drinking and irrigating agriculture. Water pumped or drained from mines is often highly acidic and polluted with heavy metals and chemicals. Around the world, rivers have been pronounced biologically dead owing to the release of toxic minerals into their waters and the production of acid from the waste rock. In some mountain regions of Africa where mines are located, arsenic levels in water are 1,000 times the accepted standards.

Mining also causes atmospheric pollution. Surface mines can emit dust from blasting operations, haul roads and crushing during processing. Acid rain may be associated with the smelting of metals, while acid run-off from waste rock is a common consequence of mining. In the United States of America alone, an estimated 20,000 km of streams and rivers are considered to be affected by acidic mine drainage.

The human dimension

Mining is frequently a hazardous occupation. The health and safety of miners and their mountain communities are at risk from a variety of factors, ranging from the inhalation of fumes and dust to water contamination and poor safety procedures.

Throughout the ages, the metals and minerals in mountains have been considered national assets, with little regard being given to the rights and needs of local people. Although mining can bring economic benefits to mountain dwellers, the benefits are often short-lived because mines are eventually depleted. Moreover, as mining has become more sophisticated, fewer jobs are available for low-skilled local workers. Too often, mining companies have failed to invest profits in local mountain communities, and sometimes people are deprived of their land, leading to increased poverty and food insecurity. Coal mining operations in the Appalachian Mountains a century ago, for example, forced thousands of farmers to abandon their homelands.

In many parts of the world, mountains are sacred sites and, especially their summits, have a spiritual significance for ethnic mountain communities. To some cultures, mining seems an act of sacrilege. More than a dozen World Heritage sites identified by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization are currently considered to be threatened or potentially threatened by mining operations and proposals.

Mining in remote areas can lead to serious social disintegration and disruption. Food, fuel, timber, machinery and other goods are often imported. And as mountains are generally sparsely populated, or lack the highly skilled human resources needed for modern mining, labour also needs to be brought in. The influx and presence of immigrant workers and goods can upset the social and cultural balance in traditional mountain communities. For immigrant miners the high altitudes, lower temperatures and often damp or excessively dry conditions make a dangerous job even more arduous. Many immigrant miners work long shifts for weeks or even months on end, far from their families who may live hundreds of kilometres away. For local communities, large numbers of transient workers often bring new and serious diseases and social problems, as well as distortions to the local economy.

Protecting future resources

Rehabilitation of land damaged by mining is a relatively recent notion, and one that has been slower to take hold in mountain areas which are far from the public spotlight. But as the rate of exploitation of the world’s mineral wealth increases, so too does pressure to protect mountain ecosystems.

The adoption of new practices and technologies is also helping to reduce the waste generation and environmental degradation caused by mining and the processing industry.

Some improved policies, practices and legislation have had positive effects, especially in areas mined by large transnational companies.

Some successes:

In most of the world’s modern mines, using ammonium nitrate blasting agents has helped to reduce environmental damage.

New processes have been developed that use fewer chemicals during extraction and processing and make leaching ponds safer.

At the Exxon mine in Los Bronces, Chile, acidic water is recycled through low-grade copper material in a bacterial leaching plant to lower the risk of polluting the Rio Mataro, the source of Santiago’s drinking-water.

New smelters introduced by Kennecott Utah Copper have cut toxic emissions, as well as reducing fuel costs by 60 percent. This subsidiary of Rio Tinto, one of the world’s biggest mining houses, is the third largest copper producer in the United States of America.

Codelco of Chile, ranked as the world’s third largest mining company, is investing US$680 million in cleaner smelters and other new technologies.

The United States National Mining Association and the United States Department of Energy have forged a partnership to research and develop new technologies that will improve environmental performance in the mining industry.

In 1998, 17 multinational mining companies formed the Industrial Network for Acid Prevention, which undertakes research and development to reduce the effects of acidic drainage.

Smaller mining companies, many of them operating in the developing world, have a poorer track record in protecting and preserving sites than some of the large transnationals. Many also have fewer financial resources to restore mined areas. Once a mine’s reserves are depleted, the company frequently goes out of business, leaving the mess for others to deal with. Abandoned mines can pose considerable threats to community and environmental health if closed inadequately.

Environmental mining disasters are not confined to the developing world. In 1986, cyanide from a gold mine in the Rocky Mountains above Summitville, Colorado, leaked into the groundwater. The mining company could not afford the necessary remedial work and filed for bankruptcy in 1992. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has taken over management of the site, at a cost to taxpayers of US$40,000 a day.

Mountain mining around the world could benefit from improved regulation and more independent monitoring to enable interventions before environmental and social problems spiral out of control. The result would be savings for companies, countries and communities.

Representatives of many of the world’s leading mining and mineral companies adopted the Toronto Declaration (Global Mining Initiative Conference, Toronto, May 2002), which heralds a new era for the mining and metals industry. The Declaration outlines key areas in which the industry will be developing future programme initiatives, ranging from developing best practice protocols to creating an emergency response register for the sector and forging partnerships to address community development and issues related to mining in protected areas.

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