Environmental Impact of Mining and role of Illegal Mining

 

What would have happened if we stopped mining? All the countries which rely mainly on thermal power would lose nearly 36% of their electricity output on an average. No nails to hammer projects home. No more high rises, bridges, airplanes, trains, or space exploration. Automobiles, both gas and electric would disappear. Granite, marble, and anything steel in homes would be gone. Formica would make a huge comeback! Oops… it uses a white crystalline compound (borax). No Formica, either! Nuclear energy? Renewables? Well, that can’t happen without mining! No more Televisions. No more smart phones – or phones. Computers, unfortunately, also gone. Not my Alexa??!!!?? No more going to the gym… phew! (at least one good thing would come of it) Some medicines would disappear, and the medical advancements over hundreds of years would disappear. Need a knee replacement? Pacemaker? Dialysis? Surgery? Sorry. Gold and silver used in pretty much all technology out there – poof! A historical form of money throughout millennium – gone. Like that Fitbit? No matter what side of the fence you are on, one must agree that mining is a necessity in our modern world. Without it, we would not be capable of new technologies that allow us to advance; nor would we be able to maintain our current standard of living. So, what would happen if the world suddenly stopped mining tomorrow? Fact is, “THE WORLD CANNOT DO AWAY WITH MINING”! We are too far advanced and too accustomed to our lifestyles for that to happen.  The companies and agencies concerned with mining are responsible for the comfort in our life and the advancements in our technology. Instead of complaining about how destructive mining is; think about how de-constructed your world would be.

 

Environmental impacts of mining can occur at local, regional, and global scales through direct and indirect mining practices. Mining activities, including prospecting, exploration, construction, operation, maintenance, expansion, abandonment, decommissioning and repurposing of a mine can impact social and environmental systems in conflict, not least in relation to above-ground and sub-surface land use. Similarly, mining can alter environments, but remediation and mitigation can restore systems. Boreal and Arctic regions are sensitive to impacts from development, both on social and environmental systems. For example, native ecosystems and aboriginal human communities are typically affected by multiple stressors, including climate change and pollution. Impacts can result in erosion, sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, or the contamination of soil, groundwater, and surface water by the chemicals emitted from mining processes. These processes also have an impact on the atmosphere from the emissions of carbon which have effect on the quality of human health and biodiversity. Mine exploration, construction, operation, and maintenance may result in land-use change, and may have associated negative impacts on environments, including deforestation, erosion, contamination and alteration of soil profiles, contamination of local streams and wetlands, and an increase in noise level, dust and emissions. Mine abandonment, decommissioning and repurposing may also result in similar significant environmental impacts, such as soil and water contamination. Beyond the mines themselves, infrastructure built to support mining activities, such as roads, ports, railway tracks, and power lines, can affect migratory routes of animals and increase habitat fragmentation. Mining can also have positive and negative impacts on humans and societies. Negative impacts include those on human health and living standards, for example. Mining is also known to affect traditional practices of indigenous peoples living in nearby communities, and conflicts in land use are also often present, as are other social impacts including those related to public health and human wellbeing. In terms of positive impacts, mining is often a source of local employment and may contribute to local and regional economies. Remediation of the potential environmental impacts, for example, through water treatment and ecological restoration, can have positive net effects on environmental systems. Mine abandonment, decommissioning and repurposing can also have both positive and negative social impacts. Examples of negative impacts include loss of jobs and local identities, while positive impact can include opportunities for new economic activities, e.g. in the repurposing of mines to become tourist attractions.

 

Large industrial coal mining projects result in considerable environmental and social harms. Yet these projects and the states and corporations that approve them are rarely referred to as “criminal.” A recent example is the Adani Group’s proposed Carmichael Mine in Queensland, Australia. If built, the Carmichael Mine would produce 40–60 million tons of thermal coal annually, making it one of the largest mines in the world. Once this amount of coal is burned, the Carmichael Mine would have produced 4.7 billion tons of greenhouse gases, effectively destroying the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem and putting future generations at risk because of its contribution to global warming. The Queensland state and Australian federal governments’ approval of the mine has relied on the denial of scientific studies on the resultant environmental harm, including climate change, and accepting the trade-off between ecological degradation and a presumed economic benefit. From the point of view of green criminology, the Australian government’s partnership with Adani can be considered “criminal”—a form of state-corporate crime. Fundamentally, these challenges are based upon the notion of ecocide, which involves the destruction of environments in pursuit of particular sectional interests. This chapter describes the developments surrounding the Carmichael Mine, including the state and corporate collusion involved in the mine’s approval. It argues the project constitutes the crime of ecocide and proposes an international law against ecocide, as a part of the Rome Statute, as a potential solution to prevent future environmental harm through mining.

 

               However, some mining methods may have such significant environmental and public health effects that mining companies in all countries are required to follow strict environmental and rehabilitation codes to ensure that the mined area returns to its original state. This calls for a sustainable and responsible mining. Any deviation from it would tantamount to irresponsible or illegal mining detrimental to the environmental health. Yes, most of the problems faced on account of mining are due to ‘illegal mining’ which is very widespread globally today. Illegal mining has been ravaging our planet for decades. Not only is illegal mining riskier from a safety perspective for those who choose to participate, but it encourages reckless behavior and leads to outcomes that have negative long-term consequences. Illicit mining activities don’t follow the same provisions that legal mining does. While some may argue that all mining has dangerous consequences, the implications of illegal mining are much worse.

 

What is illegal mining? Illegal mining is mining activity that is undertaken without state permission, in particular, in absence of land rights, mining licenses, and exploration or mineral transportation permits.  Illegal mining can be a subsistence activity, as is the case with artisanal mining, or it can belong to large-scale organized crime, spearheaded by illegal mining syndicates. On an international level, approximately 80 percent of small-scale mining operations can be categorized as illegal. Despite strategic developments towards “responsible mining” even big companies can be involved in (partially) illegal mineral digging and extraction, if only on the financing side. The key environmental impacts of mining are on wildlife and fishery habitats, the water balance, local climates & the pattern of rainfall, sedimentation, depletion of forests and the disruption of the ecology and communities and economic disparities in mining areas.

Negative effects of illegal mining activities on the environment and human health are extremely high-risk for not only the environment, but also those who do the actual physical labor. The environmental risks of mining include:

The formation of sinkholes

The contamination of soil and groundwater

Loss of biodiversity

Chemical leakages

 

Some of these impacts have long-term consequences, such as contamination of soil and groundwater that can take years to rectify. According to experts, it takes decades for groundwater contamination from chemical leakages to fully remediate and often impacts local populations for generations. In addition to environmental risks, mining activities in general are also very dangerous to operate. Not only do miners have to sometimes travel to or live in remote regions, they often also work in extenuating conditions. They face health risks due to breathing toxic chemicals or absorbing them into the skin. Miners also have to operate heavy machinery or may be exposed to flooding, gas explosions, or cave-ins. While all of these risks exist for legal mining operations too, but, they only increase in likelihood for illegal mining projects. Not only is the environmental degradation much worse, but the human risks are also far greater.

 

There are numerous destructive cases of illegal mining all over the world. In South America, the $2.4 billion illegal gold mining industry has been destroying the Amazon and costing dozens of lives. In Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia, illegal gold mining operations by private companies have devastated local communities. The operations have left behind pools of cyanide and mercury, twice the size of Olympic swimming pools. In just three months, the illegal mining activities damaged the ecosystem by killing the entire fish population of the Aguita River after water-pumping machines leaked toxins into the water. According to Colombia’s National Planning Department, Colombia now ranks second in the world for mercury pollution. Local populations have reported health issues related to mercury poisoning such as tremors and memory loss. According to some sources, illegal mining companies often extorted the local populations by forcing them to search for gold by sending in armed groups to intimidate them. Other times, they tried to barter deals by promising to repair crippling infrastructure in the region, but instead, pillaged the region and left without keeping their word. South America isn’t the only region that has suffered from illegal mining. In Africa, the conflicts in diamond industry cost thousands of lives in the 1990’s and 2000’s. During that time, the illegal industry produced billions of dollars which were used to fund civil wars that decimated countries including Sierra Leone, Angola, Liberia, Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Popular Hollywood movie “Blood Diamond” was inspired by these events. In Sierra Leone, people were killed, threatened and mutilated in diamond villages and many people fled their homes in fear. According to reliable a news channel PBS Newshour, a total of 2 million people fled the country during the height of the conflict and cost the lives of roughly 120,000 people, with an additional 75,000 suffering some kind of body mutilation. In total, Amnesty International estimates that the conflict resulted in the death of more than 4 million people.

 

Historically, man has been mining since the early development of society e.g. Stone, Bronze and Iron ages. Virtually every manufactured item contains mineral products which have been mined or quarried. Quarrying is normally associated with the extraction of rock using opencast techniques and leaving large holes in the ground. One km of motorway requires 125,000 tonnes of crushed stone. Mining can be opencast but more often involves digging tunnels below ground. Normally topsoil and underlying bedrock is removed (known as overburden) and stacked on spoil heaps nearby. Rock from tunneling is added to this. Mined compounds are normally classified into four groups:

·        Metals (copper and aluminum)

·        Industrial minerals (lime, soda ash)

·        Construction materials (sand, gravel)

·        Energy materials (coal, uranium)

 

As far as global economic impact is concerned, as the human population grows, there is a greater demand for minerals. Since 1900, there has been a thirteen-fold increase in demand. In the 70’s there were concerns that certain minerals would run-out. Discovery of new resources and an increase in recycling has largely prevented the total depletion of many mineral resources. Some minerals, if recycled, could possibly be thought of as ‘renewable resources’? Many countries export minerals and this is an important source of income. Perhaps, in this economic mayhem, practice of illegal mining slipped in and now poses a grave threat to the environment.

 As far as back in 1556, Georgius Agricola, who was a German Humanist, scholar, mineralogist and metallurgist and took a particular interest in the mining and refining of metals, noted the devastating effects of mining:

”of the detractors [of mining] that the fields are devastated by mining operations, for which reason formerly Italians were warned by law that no one should dig the earth for metals and so injure their very fertile fields, their vine yards, and their olive groves. Also they argue that the woods and groves are cut down, for there is a need for an endless amount of wood for timbers, machines, and the smelting of metals. And when the woods and groves are felled, then are exterminated the beasts and birds, very many of which furnish a pleasant and agreeable food for man. Further, when the ores are washed, the water which has been used poisons the brooks and streams, and either destroys the fish or drives them away. Therefore the inhabitants of these regions, on account of the devastation of their fields, woods, groves, brooks and rivers, find great difficulty in procuring the necessaries of life, and by reason of the destruction of the timber they are forced to greater expense in erecting buildings.”

 

Today, mining and quarrying have the following environmental impacts:

·        Loss of natural landscape and biodiversity

·        Loss of aesthetic value to the local landscape

·        Noise pollution

·        Air and water pollution(some mine waste is highly toxic)

·        Dereliction

·        Changes to local hydrology (water flow and quality)

·        Erosion

 

India’s mining industry is an increasingly important part of the economy, employing hundreds of thousands of people and contributing to broader economic growth. But mining can be extraordinarily harmful and destructive if not properly regulated—as underscored by a long list of abuses and disasters around the world. And because of a dangerous mix of bad policies, weak institutions, and corruption, government oversight and regulation of India’s mining industry is largely ineffectual. The result is chaos. The scale of lawlessness that prevails in India’s mining sector is hard to overstate. Even government officials acknowledge that the mining sector faces a myriad of problems, including widespread “illegal mining.” Generally speaking, that refers to cases where operators harvest resources they have no legal right to exploit. Official statistics indicate that there were more than 82,000 instances of illegal mining in 2010 alone—an annual rate of 30 criminal acts for every legitimate mining operation in the country. But, as per a report it is argued that an even bigger problem is the failure of key regulatory mechanisms to ensure that even legal mine operators comply with the law and respect human rights. Global standards of industry good practice have evolved to recognize that unless mine operators exercise caution and vigilance, direct harmful impacts on surrounding communities are likely. In India and around the world, experience has shown that without effective government regulation, not all companies will behave responsibly. Even companies that make serious efforts to do so often fall short without proper government oversight. International law obliges India’s government to protect the human rights of its citizens from abuses by mining firms and other companies. India has laws on the books that are designed to do just that, but some are so poorly designed that they seem set up to fail. Others have been largely neutralized by shoddy implementation and enforcement or by corruption involving elected officials or civil servants. The result is that key government watchdogs stand by as spectators while out-of-control mining operations threaten the health, livelihoods and environments of entire communities. In some cases public institutions have also been cheated out of vast revenues that could have been put towards bolstering governments’ inadequate provision of health, education, and other basic services.

 

Today, the million dollar question is, “How to stop or restrict the menace of illegal mining not only in India, but, the whole world before it is too late?”

 

I think, every country including India has its own environment protection policy which regulates different aspects of society and environment. However, United Nations Interregional Crimes and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) is the guiding force behind all such policies and constantly strives to strengthen the cause of legal mining and restrict illegal mining globally. During its 36th Session in 2019 the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) approved the draft resolution “Combating transnational organized crime and its links to illicit trafficking in precious metals and illegal mining, including by enhancing the security of supply chains of previous metals.” In its previous resolution in 2013, entitled “Combating transnational organized crime and its possible links to illicit trafficking in precious metals”, it was underlined the need to develop multifaceted and coherent strategies and measures to counter the phenomenon. UNICRI was invited to conduct a comprehensive study on the possible links between transnational organized crime, other criminal activities and illicit trafficking in precious metals. Following the resolution UNICRI produced the report entitled "Strengthening the Security and Integrity of the Precious Metals Supply Chain" where it is indicated that, inter alia, research on illicit trafficking in gold is applicable to coloured gemstones, given the similar vulnerabilities and that collaboration among key stakeholders on gold and gemstones may increase the efficiency of interventions and maximize results.

 

The draft resolution express strong concern about the growing phenomenon of illicit trafficking by transnational organized criminal groups, including gold and other precious metals and takes note of the efforts by UNEP, INTERPOL and UNICRI to produce reports in which illicit trafficking in minerals and precious metals and illegal mining are indicated as growing threats and as growing sources of profits for transnational organized criminal groups. The resolution expresses great concern on the negative impact on the livelihoods of communities and the environment (i.e the effects of the use of mercury, the impact on protected natural areas and on indigenous lands), as well as the capacity of Governments to regulate the mining of and trade in precious metals and stem illicit trade and money-laundering linked to the production of and trade in precious metals. It invites Member States to consider criminalizing, illicit trafficking in precious metals and illegal mining and to take appropriate measures to prevent and combat the involvement of organized criminal groups, including by controlling and securing the supply chain and introducing the necessary legislation. The resolution also invites Member States to consider implementing the national precious metals action plan as prepared by UNICRI in cooperation with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (EOCD) and contained in Strengthening the Security and Integrity of The Precious Metals Supply Chain. The study also stresses the importance of developing national risk assessments on the integrity of the supply chain, establishing regional laboratories to profile precious metals and analyse their fingerprints, and reinforcing capacities to prevent the infiltration by criminal groups.

 

Furthermore, the resolution invites Member States to share examples of laws, regulatory standards and best practices on securing the supply chains in precious metals relevant to the study of topics such as the prevention of money-laundering and import and export controls with relevant institutions, including UNICRI; it also invites Member States to work in cooperation with UNICRI, UNODC and other relevant international and regional organizations to identify and promote the use of solutions based on emerging technologies to prevent and combat illicit trafficking in precious metals and illegal mining, including technology that strengthens the integrity of the supply chain, in particular as regards traceability, authentication and forensics, technologies for the analysis and visualization of big data to monitor evolving crime trends and patterns. The resolution encourages Member States to provide one another with assistance and to cooperate in providing training to law enforcement personnel; to enhance international cooperation, information-sharing and exchanges of best practices among law enforcement and judicial authorities, in accordance with their domestic legal frameworks and international obligations. Also encourages Member States to consider adopting legislative or other appropriate measures to strengthen border control, including by using appropriate technologies as may be necessary to prevent and detect illicit trafficking in precious metals and the use of mercury in illegal mining. The draft resolution invites UNODC to continue to provide, upon request, technical assistance to Member States, and encourages UNODC and UNICRI and other relevant international and regional organizations to closely coordinate their activities and enhance their cooperation in supporting Member States in their efforts to combat illicit trafficking in precious metals and illegal mining. Member States and other donors are invited to provide extra-budgetary resources for the purposes described above, in accordance with the rules and procedures of the United Nations.

           

Consequently, if all member countries implement their respective Environment Policies (EP) stringently and strive to make mining more environmentally sustainable, menace of illegal mining can be reined in. In order to lessen their impact on the environment, mining companies should look into using sustainable equipment and waste disposal procedures. They should also consider replenishing the local environment as often as possible, which will make the surrounding area habitable and able to return to a natural state once the mine has closed. Reducing both input and output of the mining process can also help to reduce the negative impact that mines have on the environment.

 

“I find it very strange and foolish to mine illegally because all of the things you are doing illegally, you could be doing legally if you just ask them (the Government)”

– Lawyer and Activist Ritwick Dutta.