Some Mines of Interest - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 67

rediscovered in 1556 and reopened in 1724, only to be sold to the British in 1871, leading
to the birth of the British mining giant Rio Tinto. Today the mines are one of the most
important sources of copper and sulphur in the world.
SUDBURY
The Sudbury Basin in Northern Canada is a unique geological formation measuring
about 60 by 27 kilometers in an oval or elliptical shape. The foundation of the basin is
about 10 kilometers deep. Nickel mineralization was i rst detected in 1856, and in spite
of its remote location, the region prospered into an important regional economic center in
Northern Ontario. It is home to two of the largest nickel producers in the world, INCO
and Falconbridge, and continues to be a leader in high productivity and environmentally
sound mining and mineral processing technologies.
TIMAH TIN MINE
Bangka and Belitung Islands in Indonesia are responsible for 85 percent of the tin pro-
duced by PT Timah , the world's largest integrated tin producer. Tin is found in placer
deposits on-land as well as in the sea surrounding them. Timah operates a l eet of dredges
to recover tin from the near coast seabed. Not all tin mining at these islands is legal.
By some estimates the number of illegal miners on Bangka Island alone has spiraled to
about 30,000 by 2006. Much of the illegal tin ore is believed to be shipped to neighboring
Singapore before being sold to Malaysian and Thai smelters.
TOM PRICE
Iron ore was discovered in the Pilbara region of Western Australia in the 1800s, but despite
geologists claiming there was enough to supply the whole world, the remoteness and rug-
gedness of the country stopped people from initially exploiting the deposits. The historic
moment in the discovery of one of the world's richest iron ore bodies came in 1962, when
two CRA geologists found a large dark outcrop which extended about 6.5 kilometers, later
to be known as Mt Tom Price, in tribute to an American engineer who was instrumental
in development of the region.
WISMUT
Immediately after the end of World War II, the Soviets started exploration and mining of
uranium in the historic mining provinces in the Ore Mountains, Germany. Subsequently,
the Wismut Company developed the third-largest uranium mining province in the
world. With the political changes in 1989, it was revealed that uranium mining in Eastern
Germany had devastated large areas. Uranium production was terminated but huge shut-
down uranium mines, hundreds of millions of tons of radiating waste rock and uranium
mill tailings remained. This environmental legacy presents an immediate hazard, but also
potentially endangers future generations for tens of thousands of years. The German gov-
ernment estimates that clean-up will amount to more than US $ 9 billion.