Mining is one of the greatest necessary evils of our civilization. Despite the fact that we have made tremendous progress in technology, we are still dependent on mining activities to meet a significant portion of our energy and material needs. It would not be much of a problem if mining would have been an environment-friendly activity. On the contrary, mining puts tremendous pressure on the surrounding environment. It pollutes the soil, the air and all the water bodies near to the mining site. Even after the mining activity is stopped, the eroded soil poses perennial threats of earthquakes and landslides. There have been lots of debates to find alternate ways to meet our material requirements, but no other way seem to be as cost effective as traditional mining. So, it would be futile to think that we can get away with the activity of mining completely. Rather, our scientists and researches are trying to devise ways which can make the activity of mining more sustainable and environment sensitive. It would be wrong to say that no progress has been made in this regard. We have found out a few ways which can minimize the adverse effects of mining and make it more sustainable. A few of these ways are as follows:
1. Revamping mining equipment
The kind of equipment used for mining plays an important role in determining its impact. Today, thanks to technology, different types of equipment have been invented which can conduct the activity of sustainable mining with minimal impact to the surroundings. Every mining company should make it a point to replace all their outdated mining equipment with the much efficient modern equipment. Moreover, the use of fossil fuel as energy to run the mining equipment must be replaced with electricity.
2. Reuse of mining waste
It has been observed that a significant proportion of the wastage generated by mining can be used for other purposes. However, most of the times, the mining waste is dumped in landfills causing soil and water pollution. Mining companies must tie up with recycling agencies to make use of the mining waste.
3. Shutting of illegal mining sites
This is a decision every government across the globe must take. They should shut down the mining sites which are running illegally so that mining activities can be properly accounted. This would enable the governments to encourage sustainable mining in a better way.
4. Avoiding sensitive sites
To minimize environmental impact of mining, regions which are highly vulnerable to environmental damage must not be used for mining.
5. Avoiding sensitive seasons
Sustainable mining also calls for the halting of digging activities during certain seasons of the year when the chances of soil erosion is higher.
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