Environmental risk of mining - Environmental Deterioration and Contamination: Problems and their Management - page 127

The Mining Association of Canada (MAC, 2013) launched the program “Towards
Sustainable Mining'' in 2004 which included a set of guiding principles and perfor-
mance elements that govern key activities of companies in all sectors of the mining and
mineral processing industry. The program's main objective is to enable mining com-
panies to meet society's needs for minerals, metals and energy products in the most
socially, economically and environmentally friendly way. In essence, TSM ensures that
companies are operating in a way that aligns with evolving societal priorities and
expectations as they relate to community engagement, safety and health, energy use
and the environment. MAC offers annual progress reports on the Towards Sustainable
Mining initiative that document progressive changes in the industry as well as the steps
being taken and consequent achievements related to sustainability. The “2012 Progress
Report Towards Sustainable Mining'' is available online (Sustainable Mining, 2012).
It is a fundamental question whether an industry whose core business is the deple-
tion of raw natural resources, which consumes vast amounts of energy and produces
massive quantities of waste (extraction of gold, for example, produces 10,000 times
more waste than gold)can be sustainable. Sustainability in mining depends not only
on mining methods and technologies, but also on the decision makers whose task is to
decide whether to start mining at all in a particular area. Mining can and should pro-
vide substantial benefit for developing economies as long as it is a local and national
issue, and its environmental impact is low. There are many possibilities to make mining
much more sustainable, assuming it is economically justifiable and the environmental
and social aspects can be evaluated similarly to any other industrial activities.
At present there are still thousands of abandoned mines and mine waste disposal
sites all over the world. Their economic and social benefits were enjoyed both by local
and external stakeholders, without investment into the management of the environ-
mental risk posed to the area. The footprint of mining activities in these abandoned
areas is obvious: lack of vegetation, drastically altered landscape, damage related to
release of acidic water, a deteriorated, destroyed ecosystem. In addition, the contam-
inants from point sources are dispersed during the years of careless abandonment,
resulting in countless secondary sources diffusely polluting entire watersheds. This is
a typical consequence of long-abandoned mine sites without rehabilitation.
To reduce the environmental impact of mining, collaborative efforts are needed
from a variety of stakeholders, key players from industry, universities and non-profit
organizations. The common goals are to explore options for long-abandoned mines, to
establish best practices for preventing the release of acidic water from mine sites, to
spur innovation, and to promote environmentally responsible mining practices at every
stage of the mining life cycle.
Policy makers, authorities, professionals and educational organizations are trying
to identify objectives and requirements. One example is the Center for Environmentally
Sustainable Mining (CESM, 2013) at the University of Arizona. After standards and
rational expectations have been defined, many necessary, site-specific managerial and
technological activities still remain. They include:

- minimizing water use;

- controlling surface water and subsurface water contamination;

- suppressing dust generation in mining operations;

- characterizing and controlling dust;