Mining inevitably produces waste materials, often on a massive scale. Billions of tonnes of mineral wastes are produced annually, with some commentators even suggesting, perhaps tongue-in-cheek, that mining companies could equally be considered as waste management...
‘We’ll just plant a few trees and walk away’ replied the mining company director after I’d asked him what thoughts had been given to restoring his post-mining land. He was pulling my leg, I think… The restoration of post-mining land is often stipulated in legislation...
I have been fortunate enough to have visited many mines of many types around the world and have sometimes been surprised by the positive effect that an operating mine can have on supporting local biodiversity, whether by accident or design. Such positive stories are...
In my last blog I introduced the vexing mine closure issue of acid and metalliferous drainage, or AMD. Acid drainage is a major environmental challenge for the global mining industry, but there are some creatively-minded people who have discovered value in issues as...
…or to put it another way, acid mine drainage, or AMD, or acid rock drainage, or ARD, or acid and metalliferous drainage, or AMD, or abandoned mine drainage, or AMD… It is arguably the world’s most significant mining environmental challenge, yet the semantics of its...
