UNSW Sydney will add to its credentials as a world-leader on climate science, renewable energy and sustainability by moving away from investment in fossil fuels. The University will divest from...
Category - ENVIRONMENT
Environmental management now dominates a range of activities performed by mining companies globally. Mature mine operates recognise that their ‘license to operate’ is often determined by their past environmental performance and future plans to ensure that the environment impacted by mining operations is returned to, at the very least, pre-mining conditions.
Mining Environmental Issues and impacts of mining can occur at various stages of the mining life cycle. Exploration, Construction, Mining Operations, Closure and Remediation.
The environmental hazards of each activity and the impact of those activities can be determined by a range of factors including:
- The ore being mined;
- Characteristics of the ore body and its proximity to high impact areas;
- Ecosystem existing prior to mining activities and its’ sensitivity to the impact of mining operations;
- Methods of mining:
- Equipment used in the mining process including but not limited to production and ore processing equipment.
Typically the primary environmental concerns from mining activities include acid mine drainage, heavy metal contamination from leaching, chemical pollution from processing activities and control of erosion and sedimentation, dust deposition and environmental noise, however, there may be other impacts.
Effective environmental management in mining controls the impact of the mining activity in relation to the contamination of air, land and water and the subsequent impact of changes to the normalised conditions on the surrounding ecosystem.
Mining environmental issues management also interfaces with safety management in many organisations. Through understanding the impacts of the environment on personnel and the ecosystem in which they operate, miners may continue to build a sustainable industry.
Australasian Mine Safety Journal provides a range of information, case studies and news on the environmental issues and impacts of mining.
As Vale begins recovery processes associated with the Brumadinho disaster, another environmental disaster is looming off the coast of North Brazil. A contracted ship carrying Vale iron ore to China...
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Australian Concrete Mats (ACM) is an innovative and permanent erosion control protection solution that makes stabilising slopes, water channels, inlet/outlet protection, spillways and shorelines easy...
A CO2CRC research project, the Otway Stage 2C project, has provided important findings into carbon dioxide (CO2) injected deep underground as part of the emissions reduction technology known as...
University of Queensland researchers have developed a framework that aims to reduce the mining industry’s impact on climate change by accounting for sources and sinks of greenhouse gas (GHG)...
Environmental organisation GRID-Arendal with support from the UN Environment Program has launched the world’s first publicly accessible global database of mine tailings storage...
Prosecutors in Brazil’s, State of Minas Gerais have laid charges over the Vale Brumadinho Tailings Dam collapse that claimed the life of approximately 270 people. The prosecutors laid homicide...
A panel of experts hired by Vale has concluded that the Brumadinho tailings dam broke down when the tailings suffered a sudden and rapid loss of strength, a process known as “static...
The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has fined Bulga Coal Management Pty Ltd $15,000 for an alleged pollution discharge into a creek in September this year. The incident was triggered when...
SPECIAL REPORT PFAS IN THE MINING SECTOR – Many seemingly innovative materials and chemicals have been developed and adopted in industries only to later have been found to produce unintended...
The Queensland Government have established a mining rehabilitation advisory committee to advise the government on the used of funds used to clean up abandoned mine sites. Ten of Queensland’s leading...
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