Effects of Mining on Land & Water

Aside from copper, mining in general causes different harmful effects.

Effect on Land

Deforestation: Mining needs large areas of land to be cleared so that the miners could dig deep into the earth. For this reason, large-scale deforestation is required to be carried out in the areas where mining has to be done. Besides clearing the mining area, vegetation in the adjoining areas also needs to be cut in order to construct roads and residential facilities for the mine workers. The human population brings along with it other activities that harm the environment. Activities at coal mines also release dust into the air

Pollution: Despite taking measures of releasing a large amount of chemicals in nearby rivers, they still leak out onto the land. This changes the chemical composition of the land. It also doesn’t allow plants to grow since the land becomes poisonous. It will also affect the living organisms within the area.

Effect on Water
Pollution: Chemicals like mercury, cyanide, sulfuric acid, arsenic and methyl mercury are used in various stages of mining. These are released into nearby bodies of water like rivers. In spite of tailings (pipes) being used to dispose these chemicals, there are still chances of them leaking. When the leaked chemicals slowly meet the layers of the earth, they reach the groundwater and pollute it. This can be harmful for vegetation of the surrounding areas.

Loss of Aquatic Life: Release of toxic chemicals into the water is obviously harmful for the flora and fauna of the water bodies. Besides the pollution, water from sources nearby is also needed in the mining processes. For example, water is used to wash impurities from the coal. The result is that the water content of the river or lake from which water is being used gets reduced. The organisms within these waters won’t have enough for survival.

Spread of Diseases
Sometimes the liquid waste that is generated after the metals or minerals have been extracted is disposed in a mining pit. As the pit gets filled up by the mine tailings, they become a stagnant pool of water. This becomes the breeding ground for water-borne diseases causing insects and organisms like mosquitoes to flourish.

Effects like loss of Aquatic life and deforestation are examples of decrease in biodiversity.  We should do something to sustain the environment that we have now. If these activities continue, there wouldn't be an environment filled with variety left.

     

Reference:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-does-mining-affect-the-environment.html

Copper and its Effects

One of the largest corporations mining in Lutopan is the Carmen Copper Corporation. It is the country's largest copper exporter. Despite it's great contribution to our country, Copper still has some negative effects on our environment.

Effects of Copper

Copper can be released into the environment by both natural sources and human actions. Examples of natural sources are wind-blown dust, decaying vegetation, forest fires and sea spray. Other examples are mining, metal production, wood production and phosphate fertilizer production.

Because copper is released both naturally and through human activity, it is very widespread in the environment. Copper is often found near mines, industrial settings, landfills and waste disposals.

When copper ends up in soil it strongly attaches to organic matter and minerals. As a result it does not travel very far after release and it hardly ever enters groundwater. In surface water copper can travel great distances, either suspended on sludge particles or as free ions.

Copper does not break down in the environment and because of that it can gather in plants and animals when it is found in soils. On copper rich soils only a number of plants has a chance of survival. That is why there is not much plant diversity near copper disposing factories. Due to the effects upon plants copper is a serious threat to the productions of farmlands. Copper can also influence the proceedings of certain farmlands, depending upon the acidity of the soil and the presence of organic matter. Despite of this, copper-containing manures are still applied.

Copper can interrupt the activity in soils, and influences the activity plants and animals

When the soils of farmland are polluted with copper, animals will absorb concentrations that are damaging to their health. Mainly sheep suffer a great deal from copper poisoning.

There are Four methods used to process copper, these methods are:

•         Milling
•         Smelting
•         Electrolytic refining
•         Final processing

Reference:

http://www.writework.com/essay/copper-environmental-effects-copper-and-copper-processed

Mining & Biodiversity

Biodiversity

• degree of variation of life forms within a given species, ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet.
• it is the variety of a species or life forms within an area.

There are different ways of decreasing the biodiversity within an area. One threat is over exploitation. Exploitation occurs when a resource is consumed at an unsustainable rate. Forms like overhunting, excessive logging, poor soil conservation and illegal wildlife trade.  I believe that Mining is another form of decreasing the biodiversity. 

Lutopan use to be filled with a variety of forests. But mining destroyed all of this. The forests that are cleared for mining purposes are home to a large number of organisms. Indiscriminate clearing of the forests leads to loss of habitat of a large number of animals. This puts the survival of a large number of animal species at stake. The cutting down of trees in itself is a big threat to a number of plants, trees, birds and animals growing in the forests.he forests that are cleared for mining purposes are home to a large number of organisms. Indiscriminate clearing of the forests leads to loss of habitat of a large number of animals. This puts the survival of a large number of animal species at stake. The cutting down of trees in itself is a big threat to a number of plants, trees, birds and animals growing in the forests.

Other known impacts of mining on biodiversity:

• Water quality can be negatively impacted by heavy metals and acid minedrainage, causing significant damage to ecosystems; poisoning fish and mammals through bio-accumulation.
• Water quantity can be reduced caused by draw-down of groundwater orstreamflow reduction for operational mining and use in processing facilities.
• Land change from mining activities causes profound disturbance to the landscape. Excavations for extraction, waste rock and tailings ponds all modify the shape and hydrology of the landscape.

If mining was stopped, or done through a better way, biodiverstiy may be restored to localities like Lutopan.


Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity#Overexploitation
http://www.limpoporak.com/en/river/ecology+and+biodiversity/biodiversity/human+impacts+to+biodiversity.aspx