More than any other human activity, mining has been the impetus for
industrial development of wilderness areas in British Columbia. Some of the most immediate
and extreme impacts of mineral development are felt by wildlife.
At the exploration
stage, impacts range from habitat disruption...
EMCBC Mining and the Environment Primer: Environmental Impacts of Mining
An actual mine site is just one point in a long line of activity
before and after the digging starts. It is also at the centre of a geographical web of
transportation routes (roads/barges/air access routes), energy infrastructure (dams/
power lines), tailings ponds, waste rock piles, and...
EMCBC Mining and the Environment Primer: Roads
Some of the most significant direct and indirect impacts of mining result from the construction of exploration and mining roads.
Roads and unlimited access have a negative impact on wilderness areas in four ways:
Habitat Fragmentation
Roads disrupt calving/rearing grouds, key forage...
EMCBC Mining and the Environment Primer: Labour
Mine workers and their families are among the first to feel the
impact of poorly designed mines. Over the years, labour activism has been the most
important force in improving the safety of the mine environment.
The
long and often bloody history of mining (from the assasinated union...
EMCBC Mining and the Environment Primer: Mineral Efficiency
One of the most important directions for reducing environmental
impacts of mining is to increase "mineral efficiency". In the
long term, it is our responsibility as a society to reduce our consumption of (virgin)
metals, to make fullest use of the very recyclable properties of metals...
EMCBC Mining and the Environment Primer: Water
Water is essential to life on our planet. A prerequisite of sustainable development must be to ensure uncontaminated streams, rivers, lakes and oceans.
As Canadians, we often take the presence of clean water for granted, forgetting its importance and assuming that it is always available...
EMCBC Mining and the Environment Primer: Mineral Exploration
The most extreme environmental impacts of mining occur in and around mines, yet the impacts may begin well ahead of any real production. The cumulative impacts of exploration can be extensive. The mining industry suggests that the ratio of exploration programs to successful mines is 1,000:1. Clearly...
EMCBC Mining and the Environment Primer: Acid Mine Drainage
Industry, labour, government, and environmentalists agree on one issue: that Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is the number one environmental problem facing the mining industry. Acid Mine Drainage: devastates fish and aquatic habitat, is virtually impossible to reverse with existing technology, and once...
EMCBC Mining and the Environment Primer: Mineral Financing
Canada is a major source of mineral investment worldwide. In 1996,
Canadian mining companies raised over $7 billion for domestic and foreign mining projects
on the Canadian securities markets. This
figure represents almost 50% of the world's exploration dollars.
Mining
companies are...
EMCBC Mining and the Environment Primer: Taking Action
As "ordinary" citizens, we can feel pretty cut off from the boardrooms, private meetings, and government departments where decisions are made. We can also feel shut out by the fancy, technical language of so called experts. Irresponsible mining developments can have devastating effects on ecologies...
