Env Problems

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Environmental problems associated with mining

Environmental problems associate with mining are diverse in nature.


Some of them are easily quantifiable in nature and compared with some standards objectively.
Some others are not easily quantifiable and can be assessed only subjectively.

Subsidence:
• How subsidence happens?
• Impacts of subsidence
• Subsidence control

Ground vibration and air blast:


Blasting operation gives rise to ground vibration.
Air blast waves can cause structural damage.
The damage potential diminishes rapidly with distance from the site.

Nuisance and loss of amenity


Nuisance and loss of amenities are concerned with the quality of life and disruption of normal human
activity.
There is an element of subjectivity in their assessment and thus difficult to quantify.
A continuous noise which makes speech communication difficult would be regarded as unacceptable.

Visual intrusion:
Every aspect of mining from excavation to waste dump, tailings dams can cause visual disruption.
Visual intrusion is related mainly to the degree of visibility and the nature of the local landscape.

Noise and vibration


Noise generated by heavy earth moving machineries, crushing / grinding equipment etc.
Blast vibration generated by blasting operation.
Both can easily be measured.
The nuisance potential is related to a number of factors, principally intensity, frequency, duration, time
of day, type of locality and individual susceptibility.

Dereliction
In certain type of mining, it is difficult to avoid creating land areas of either total dereliction or very
limited land use potential.
Surface excavation, solid waste disposal dumps, tailings dams and subsided areas can sterilize land to
the extent that it is seldom possible to find new land uses.

Conversely underground mining may create new space capable of a wide range of after uses.

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Factors influencing the nature and extent of environmental impact
1. The size of the operation
It is obvious that the larger the operation, the impact will be larger and vice versa.

2. Geographical and location factor:

The more important site factors are:


i) Population density
ii) Topogrpahy
Hilltop installations are usually visually obtrusive for quite long distances while those in a valley are
often visible for a small distance only.
Noise, and airborne dust may travel for long distance from a high location.
Similarly the streams usually move faster in an upland area and have higher carrying capacity compared
to streams flowing at slower speed in a flat area.

Opposition to mining is more intense in regions of high scenic values.

iii) Climate: precipitation, temperature, humidity, wind and other climatic factors affect the mechanisms
by which pollution is transported from a mine site to the surrounding environment.
Their main effect is on the intensity of pollution and the distance up to which it is discernible.

iv) Economic, social and cultural factor:


The attitude to mining is also dependent on the state of local economy and economic conditions of the
local population.

Tribals may have cultural and religious importance in some sites, structures, or they may depend on
forest, streams, for their living and if mining, affects these they may oppose it.

3. Method of mining
Open cast mining, open pit, underground mining, dredging, or other methods.
Nature of intensity of pollution may be different.

4. Type of the mineral and mineral characteristics

VISUAL IMPACTS

The aesthetic aspect of mining and environment is difficult to measure/quantify.


Operations related to mining may present displeasing appearance and scenic features. This is known as
the visual disruption or visual impacts.

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This may not be so important in underdeveloped countries, where they are more interested for the
economic benefit over the adverse environmental impacts.

However in developed countries, these are points of concern, and people may not like the aesthetic
degradation due to mining.

Sources of visual impacts

1. Surface excavation
The nature of the excavation, the surrounding landforms and the relationship between two are main
factors.
Rock exposures created by surface mining are highly visible. The color contrast created by exposed ore
against the background rock. For example, in case of iron ore mines, you will see a red excavation, in
case of limestone or chalk mines, the excavation is light against a darker background.
For coal mines, a black excavation

2. Waste disposal
Conventional techniques of tipping solid waste, and impounding slurries often result in visual intrusions.
Remedies are not available until cessation of the dumping, so impact persists throughout the life of the
tip.
In tailings dams, usually height of the dam is increased from time to time. In tailings dam, you may see
pool of discolored water with sand, silt and scattered with remains of dead vegetation.
The magnitude of the problem varies according to scale of operations, minerals mine, location etc.

A special case of visual impact of waste disposal is over burden dump devoid of any vegetation. These
are one of the least attractive feature of a mine.

3. Plants and Buildings


For hard rock mining, there are plants for crushing, conveying, screening, and bunkering equipment,
chimneys .
In case of metal mining, processing plants and facility.
Road and rail layouts facilities.
In u/g mines, head frames, haulage and winding equipment.
Often these various components and abandoned parts are disposed over a wide area many times in a
haphazard way.
Near a workshop, you may see large tyres, dumped here and there.

It is very common for the fixed installations to assume the color of the mineral being processed due to
accumulation of dust and dirt.
Another important factor is the height of the plant, equipment, chimneys, and the headframe at the
underground mines. The height makes them conspicuous and forces the attention of the people.

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4. Air and water pollution
Aerial emissions, and liquid effluents can cause aesthetic nuisance. Discolored or turbid streams, dust
plumes etc are very unsightly and act as long range visual indicator of the mineral workings.
Landscape Planning
Planning of landscaping has the purpose of necessary to reduce the visual impact of an existing
operation, or to minimize the impact of a new mine.
A landscaping plan is normally intended to enable one or more of the following objectives:
1. Minimum undesired visual impact throughout the life of the operation.
2. Maximum benefit in respect of other environmental impacts such as noise or dust pollution.
3. Economical and effective rehabilitation of the closed mine site to a productive after-use.

It is essential to take into account every environmental, technical, and economic factor (relevant to
mining and mineral workings) and not merely aesthetic considerations in design and execution of
landscaping works.

Time is one of the important factors. Since mining is a dynamic and the landscaping planning has to
make provisions for any future expansion, addition of plants etc.

The planning process includes:


a. general survey and information gathering
b. detailed planning

General Survey
It must take into account the broad features of the actual or proposed mining operations in relation to
its surrounding.

(i) Landscape character:


The type of landscape in which the operation is set. The scenery may be treeless, wooded, or corpses
with hedgerows.
Rugged, rolling or flat with or without natural rock exposures.
Settlements, townships, or isolated houses may exists.

(ii) topography, contours and levels:


Elevation of the mine site in relation to its surroundings.
The abruptness with which changes in levels occur influences the design of artificial screening mounds
as well as the extent to which they can be effective.

(iii) Ecology:
A survey of the local ecology- that is, the components of main plant and animal communities – can
provide much valuable information.
Types of vegetation which exist naturally in the area are likely also be the best surviving plants for
landscaping purposes.

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Treeless landscapes for example, are unlikely to harmonise with landscaping plans requiring extensive
tree plantations.

The fact that natural landscape is treeless, indicates that, for climatic or soil reasons, artificial tree
plantings are unlikely to thrive without extensive maintenance.

(iv) Hydrology:
Subsurface water influences the working of the pit and, the landscaping possibilities at closure.
Availability of Surface water offers considerable landscape opportunities.

(v) Habitations

(vi) Boundaries:
Ownership boundaries naturally limit the extent of the mining operation.
With large land holding, ownership boundaries do not usually affect landscaping.
However, if the site is confined, opportunities for aesthetic improvement may be circumscribed by legal
boundaries.
Co-operative landscaping schemes can be devised, if owners of adjoining land are also mine operators.

(vii) Mining plans:


Details of the mineral to be worked, and the mining method and plans are required to enable to
anticipate any toxicity problems and to assess any revegetation possibilities.

Likelihood of any serous subsidence occurrence as in the case of under ground mining
Detais of any mining plants, their locations,
Extent of waste production , nature of waste
Surface disposal facilities,
Transportation facilities needed
Services to be installed.
Numerous other aspects of mine planning are also to be studied.

All of the information obtained

Vegetation screen
Tree screens can consist of young tress (1-2 years) or semi-matured tress (10-15 years)

Installation of young trees is cheap, but maintenance is expensive. These need maintenance for about 5
years after which no maintenance is required.
Growth rate depends on the species of tree and also on site conditions. It may be between 10-50 cm per
annum.
It may take at least a decade before trees become high enough to act as a screen.

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For such reasons, installing semi-matured trees may be an option. In this case, semi-matured trees
grown elsewhere are transplanted.

However installation and maintenance of semi-matured trees are expensive. Therefore, they are not
practiced extensively. Only on a limited scale, restricted to gardening scheme at strategic points for
quick visual gain.

Moreover, some of the transplanted trees “go into check” upon transplanting and cease to grow. This
check conditions often continue for several years and by the time the young plant may grow and surpass
them, thus resulting in such high expenditure going to waste.

Therefore, in most cases, tree plantations involve young trees.

Some considerations of vegetation:


a. choice of species is limited by soil conditions, climate, topography etc.
b. species selection requires careful considerations. Trees growing in lowland, sheltered nurseries are
unlike to thrive upland and exposed mine sites.
c. deciduous trees may be the natural type found in the area, but evergreen conifers are in the most
cases, the only trees to give all year screening.
d. planting 1-2 year trees needs to be undertaken at least a decade in advance of the need of screening.
e. tree screening is difficult if the mine is close or above the natural tree -line altitude.

Screening banks
Construction of screening banks of soil and overburden is a common method of lessening visual impact.
In Britain, many large surface mines construct amenity banks.
Such banks are easy to construct with labour and equipment available with the mine. Also the banks
provide easier alternative to dispose the waste material and the rapidity with which the screening effect
can be obtained.
Amenities bank can also serve as noise screen in addition to the aesthetic benefits.
The full visual benefit is however obtained if the banks are properly designed and located.
A badly contoured bank may as obtrusive as the structure/ excavation which it is trying to conceal.

The banks may be temporary or permanent.


The nature of the wastes has important influence on the design of the bank.
A stable structure is vital and this may cause slope angle substantially lesser than natural angle of
repose regardless of landscaping criteria.
If toxic materials are present (coal, shale, mill tailings, ) these inhibit revegetation and should therefore
be avoided or buried.

The surface layers of the banks should comprise those wastes most conducive to vegetation
establishment.

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Rapid planting is important for preventing soil erosion to be prevented.

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