Let's Talk About Mining

Mining is a process of extracting valuable or useful materials from the earth. The mining process dates to ancient times. During prehistoric times, people first started mining flint. Flint is extremely useful for creating fire or making powerful weapons.

Miners blast and create tunnels to reach the ore deposits in the earth. Sometimes, this can lead to life-threatening accidents including tripping the miner underground. Mining also poses a health risk. Lots of dust is generated from mining and that could cause suffocation if inhaled. Black lung disease is 1 disease that could be formed by mining.

Mining can also pose a huge threat to our environment. The mining process creates a certain type of water pollution called acid mine drainage. Mining exposes sulfides to the soil. When the rain falls, the rainwater dissolves the sulfides. This creates acid in the soil harming animals and aquatic plants. Mine waste is also disposed of. The improper disposal of mine waste can cause harmful water pollution. Arsenic, mercury along with other metals could harm the health of people if they are accidentally released into streams or public places which rely on the water. Contamination is a huge problem. Also, mining damages the trees and links to deforestation as trees are cut down to find a place to mine.

Mining is not environmentally friendly and causes many health complications. Like I always say, we need to properly recycle so that we could actually reuse the items which are mined instead of letting them go forever! This way, we could give the excavated items another life and we could also drastically mine!

Author: Sri Nihal Tammana

Source: National Geographic