Mining: Friend Or Foe? Economic, Environmental & Social Impacts- an Overview Golam Kibria Ph.D; March 2013
Mining: Friend or Foe? Economic, Environmental & Social Impacts- An Overview Golam Kibria Ph.D; March 2013 Summary Economic impacts: Mining is a key sector that leads to economic development, employment, supply of essential raw materials for society, and for production systems. Mining has historically served as a viable route to national development in resource-rich countries like Australia, Canada, and the United States where mining was the main driver of growth and industrialisation. Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) (subsistence miners) in Africa have been identified as an important economic opportunity for people in rural areas. Environmental impacts: Mining and mineral exploration can impact on the environment via generation of hazardous wastes (wastes that threats to public health or the environment). Some of the negative environmental impacts are contamination of air, soil, water, plants and food with sulfate, metalloids (arsenic), metals (cadmium, copper, lead, mercury), radioactive substances (uranium, radon), fly ash (residues generated in combustion of coal), acids (sulfate), mining processed chemicals (cyanides). Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) waters can have high sulfate, iron and aluminium, and elevated copper, chromium, nickel, lead and zinc and elevated calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. AMD containing high metal and salt concentrations may impact on the use of the waterways in the downstream for irrigation, fisheries, raw town supply, livestock watering, drinking water supplies and industry water usage. Metal and metalloid concentrations and acidity levels in AMD if exceeds toxicity threshold values of aquatic ecosystem can lead to sub-lethal and lethal effects on aquatic life (fish, invertebrates). Some of the metalloids and metals (arsenic, cadmium, mercury, uranium) are known to bio-accumulate in fish, crops, livestock, therefore the transfer of toxic metals to human via the food chain is easily possible (note: arsenic, cadmium and uranium are carcinogenic to humans).
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