Mining has a significant impact on the environment. The negative impacts include habitat destruction, water pollution, land degradation and biodiversity loss. These effects can have serious consequences for human health.
Fern is calling for an EU whose raw materials procurement prioritizes equity and respects our planet’s boundaries. This will require ramping up extraction following the highest sustainability, safety and environmental standards.
Water pollution
Raw material mining is essential for producing the aggregates needed for construction, energy resources, and metallic products that form a large part of our daily lives. However, mining has many negative effects on the environment, including water pollution. This problem is caused by the leaching of hazardous chemicals into surface and groundwater. This is especially harmful to aquatic organisms, which are more likely to accumulate toxins through a process called biomagnification. Eventually, these contaminants can make their way to humans through the food chain.
One of the biggest threats to the environment is acid mine drainage (AMD). AMD occurs when water flows come into contact with sulfide minerals in mined rock, which react to create sulfuric acid. This acid lowers the pH of surrounding water and mobilizes metals such as arsenic, lead, and mercury. AMD can damage ecosystems, kill fish, and destroy vegetation. It can also continue indefinitely, as the acid can percolate down into groundwater aquifers.
Another threat is the loss of biodiversity from mineral extraction. For example, the extraction of rare earth elements has a significant impact on biodiversity. These rare earth elements are used in a wide variety of products, including electronics, cars, and batteries. The loss of these resources could have serious consequences for the global economy and the world’s climate. To mitigate these risks, the mining industry needs to reduce its water use. This can be accomplished by using dry processing technologies and minimizing wet areas. Additionally, it is crucial to monitor and protect existing wetlands and water bodies.
Air pollution
While mining operations may only take up a small fraction of land, the pollution they cause has a wide-ranging impact. It can affect the health of ecosystems, which provide the natural goods and services needed for human and environmental well-being. For example, natural resources such as water and soil can be contaminated by metals and chemicals that are discharged into the environment.
Mining also generates large amounts of dust, which can contaminate the air. This dust contains harmful heavy metals such as asbestos-like riebeckite and flue dust, which are known to cause lung diseases like pneumoconiosis and silicosis. In addition, mining operations can release toxic gases such as mercury and arsenic.
Modern mining operations are aware of these risks, and mitigate them as much as possible. These efforts include reclaiming areas of physical disturbance to prevent erosion, stabilizing soils that contain metals to avoid unwanted metal releases, preventing and treating water contamination, and controlling air emissions.
However, it is difficult to find alternative sources of these critical raw materials. Many of these minerals are located in highly forested regions, and mining for them often causes deforestation. In addition, it is expensive and time consuming to open new mines, and the geological structure of the earth makes some ores inaccessible.
A global policy for raw material supply must consider both the economic and environmental benefits of sourcing these materials. Currently, the EU’s approach to procuring these materials involves financing strategic projects and negotiating strategic partnerships with non-EU companies. However, these initiatives lack solid methods and information systems that could enable democratic participation in the decision-making process.
Land pollution
Mining operations are associated with ecosystem damage and soil contamination, including the ensuing loss of biodiversity. The degree of this harm depends on the ecological setting of the mine site and the quality of governance. For example, mining iron ore in the tropical forests of Gabon will cause significantly more environmental damage than mining it in a desert region. In addition, a variety of toxic elements are produced during mining activities and can contaminate the surrounding soil. These include arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel, and zinc. These metals can also contaminate surface water and sediments, affecting ecosystem functions.
In addition, the mining process generates harmful dust particles that can affect human health. These include asbestos-like minerals such as riebeckite and the mineral flue dust (which contains heavy metals). The latter dust can be ingested through the nose or mouth, leading to serious respiratory diseases such as pneumoconiosis and silicosis.
Currently, a number of methods are suitable in principle for attentively assessing the environmental relevance of primary raw materials. However, they often do not address all the relevant aspects of a mining operation. Furthermore, they do not provide comparable results on a global scale because of the absence of scientifically sound characterization models for most of the relevant input categories. For these reasons, it is crucial to identify and prioritize raw materials that have a high environmental impact during their production phase.
Biodiversity loss
Biodiversity loss caused by mining is a significant problem. It reduces the natural resilience of ecosystems, increasing their vulnerability to climate change and other environmental stresses. In addition, it can affect the ability of ecosystems to provide goods and services that humans depend on, such as water, food, energy, and natural pest control.
The impact of mining on biodiversity varies depending on the ecological setting of the mine and the type of mineral being extracted. For example, mining iron ore in tropical rainforests will have a greater impact on biodiversity than mining it in desert regions.
Mining also causes environmental damage by contaminating soil and water. For example, it can cause heavy metals to leach into the surrounding environment and contaminate streams. These metals can have a wide range of effects, including poisoning wildlife and human beings. Contaminated waters may be unable to support healthy ecosystems, and contaminated land is difficult to restore.
In addition, mining can result in erosion and deforestation. It is important to monitor the impact of mining on the environment in order to prevent further degradation. For this purpose, key informant interviews were conducted with members of local governments, community-based organizations, and natural resource management experts. The gathered questionnaires were coded and then analyzed using qualitative methods. The results indicated that the mining communities were concerned about the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.