tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/mines-20891/articlesMines – The Conversation2023-10-26T01:54:33Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2163462023-10-26T01:54:33Z2023-10-26T01:54:33ZAll mines close. How can mining towns like Mount Isa best manage the ups and downs?<p>The <a href="https://www.glencore.com.au/media-and-insights/news/mount-isa-mines-operational-changes">announcement</a> by Glencore last week that its Mount Isa copper mines will close in 2025 is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-18/mount-isa-residents-react-to-glencore-copper-mine-closure/102990846">significant for the town</a>. </p>
<p>The closures affect <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-19/glencore-copper-mine-mount-isa-closes/102994426">at least 1,200 jobs</a> in the Queensland outback community of 21,000 people. Those affected include mine workers, contractors, suppliers and businesses.</p>
<p>Questions raised by the closures have wider relevance for how other towns and regions across Australia manage mines as they come and go.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/cleaning-up-australias-80-000-disused-mines-is-a-huge-job-but-the-payoffs-can-outweigh-the-costs-215447">Cleaning up Australia's 80,000 disused mines is a huge job – but the payoffs can outweigh the costs</a>
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<h2>Plan the end from the beginning</h2>
<p>All mines close. However, the impact of future closures on communities is rarely front of mind when mines open. This means the issue of how towns effectively manage a mine’s closure can be treated as an afterthought. </p>
<p>One important way to ensure towns and regions can manage mining and its impacts is for community perspectives to inform public policymaking and planning. The period before a mine opens is the ideal time to openly discuss how its life – and its end of life – will play out for the community. This includes any <a href="https://www.kalkadoonpbc.com.au/">Indigenous people</a> on whose land mining is to take place.</p>
<p>Swiss multinational Glencore now owns Mount Isa Mines, which has been in international hands almost since inception. </p>
<p>The early owners brought international ideas of industrial relations and town planning to the region. This encompassed a financial guarantee to deliver a railway to the town and strategic planning of infrastructure to attract the <a href="https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/39437/1/39437-kirkman-2011-thesis.pdf">right type of miner</a> – a family man who was more likely to establish roots in the town.</p>
<p>Townspeople’s voices were not heard in this early planning. While the original owners wished to create a “<a href="https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/39437/1/39437-kirkman-2011-thesis.pdf">business with a soul</a>”, this may have been less benevolent than it seems. It appears this was just an early forebear of the concept of a <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-license-slo.asp">social licence to operate</a>. </p>
<p>The ability for mining companies to “buy” a social licence to operate can been seen by communities as problematic. As <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1440783318773518">noted in previous research</a>, “measures taken by extractive industries to build support or ‘social licence’ for their developments are in fact experienced by these participants as destructive of community life”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/afterlife-of-the-mine-lessons-in-how-towns-remake-challenging-sites-106073">Afterlife of the mine: lessons in how towns remake challenging sites</a>
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<h2>Invest in the future during operations</h2>
<p>Once a mine is established, the focus is very much on ongoing operations. Mines seek to present themselves as part of local communities, but they typically remain very large, multinational businesses. That is, they are in the local community but not part of it. </p>
<p>Government support for mines typically continues through this period, through financial and <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/climate-change/energy-subsidies">other measures</a>. But financial benefits rarely accrue to communities, with mining royalties <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/nsw-missing-out-on-6-2b-in-coal-royalties-compared-to-queensland/">significantly less</a> than they could be.</p>
<p>Queensland recently <a href="https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/programs-and-policies/coal-royalties/">changed coal royalties</a> so the rate increases as coal prices increase. It’s an important step for the state to secure the funds needed for the transition away from coal.</p>
<p>But this sort of forward thinking isn’t common. Mines typically deliver short-term financial gains to mine owners and wages for mine workers. </p>
<p>Set against these benefits, the costs tend to be social and environmental. </p>
<p>One obvious example is the inevitable environmental destruction that comes with mining. </p>
<p>Another can be the impacts on people’s health. For example, the effect of <a href="https://theconversation.com/pregnant-women-and-parents-misled-about-dangers-of-living-with-lead-pollution-52752">lead pollution on children</a> is a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214790X20302938">well-known problem</a> in Mount Isa.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/mount-isa-contamination-within-guidelines-but-residents-told-to-clean-their-homes-72862">Mount Isa contamination 'within guidelines' but residents told to clean their homes</a>
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<img alt="A mine processing plant and smelter lit up at night" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555953/original/file-20231025-23-mx1ha4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555953/original/file-20231025-23-mx1ha4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555953/original/file-20231025-23-mx1ha4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555953/original/file-20231025-23-mx1ha4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555953/original/file-20231025-23-mx1ha4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555953/original/file-20231025-23-mx1ha4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555953/original/file-20231025-23-mx1ha4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Children in Mount Isa have elevated levels of lead in their blood, with those living closest to the smelter recording the worst school test results.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mount-isa-mine-processing-plant-industrial-1250355163">Jason Benz Bennee/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>While those involved in mining receive financial benefits, the rest of the community can often find itself at an economic disadvantage. “Two-speed economies” can be seen in such mining towns. In Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, for example, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-28/housing-crisis-forces-family-into-tent-in-hunter-valley/101476812">housing disadvantage is rising</a> among those who aren’t benefiting from a mining wage. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-restore-the-land-as-coal-mines-close-heres-a-community-blueprint-to-sustain-the-hunter-valley-198792">'We need to restore the land': as coal mines close, here's a community blueprint to sustain the Hunter Valley</a>
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<h2>Involve locals in planning transitions</h2>
<p>Looking ahead, the people of Mount Isa undoubtedly face significant challenges, including a <a href="https://www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/qld-future-climate/adapting/heatwaves/">far less stable climate</a>. Ensuring community voices are heard in planning mine closure is key to ensuring towns and regions benefit during and after mining.</p>
<p>After the Mount Isa mine closures were announced, the Queensland government <a href="https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/98946">pledged</a> up to A$20 million for an “economic structural adjustment package” to support affected workers. Glencore is expected to match that funding. </p>
<p>On a local level, the Mount Isa City Council has actively worked towards securing the city’s future. In 2019 the council <a href="https://www.mountisa.qld.gov.au/downloads/file/753/investment-prospectus-mount-isa-city-council">released a prospectus</a> aimed at attracting investment “to diversify the city’s economy to reduce the impact of this minerals boom-bust cycle”. </p>
<p>While funding is available and the council is committed to forward planning, what does structural adjustment really mean for the community? </p>
<p>Managing all of the intersecting issues requires the hand of a <a href="https://nexteconomy.com.au/work/transforming-queensland-the-case-for-a-transition-authority/">co-ordinating authority</a>. Yet if all planning is done at arm’s length, it will not be able to draw on the community’s deep insights about place. </p>
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<h2>A wider problem</h2>
<p>As the energy transition <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-road-is-long-and-time-is-short-but-australias-pace-towards-net-zero-is-quickening-214570">continues</a>, Australia can expect to see many more mines close. These include coal mines in the Hunter Valley and Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. </p>
<p>And as the transition accelerates, we might expect to see other mines open, as renewable energy industries seek the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-could-need-6-times-more-of-the-minerals-used-for-renewables-and-batteries-how-can-we-avoid-a-huge-increase-in-mining-impacts-206864">critical minerals</a> they need. This week, for example, the federal government <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-25/anthony-albanese-washington-dc-critical-minerals-funding/103017910">announced</a> $2 billion in funding to support the critical minerals industry.</p>
<p>While all government support will be welcomed, it’s time to bring planning back down to the local level. Residents know their towns intimately. They should be involved in actively shaping their towns’ futures. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-could-need-6-times-more-of-the-minerals-used-for-renewables-and-batteries-how-can-we-avoid-a-huge-increase-in-mining-impacts-206864">We could need 6 times more of the minerals used for renewables and batteries. How can we avoid a huge increase in mining impacts?</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216346/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For towns built on mining, mine closures have huge impacts. Because mines inevitably close, communities should be involved from the start in planning for that time.Kimberley Crofts, Doctoral Student in Sustainable Transitions, School of Design, University of Technology SydneyLiam Phelan, Senior Lecturer, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2154472023-10-22T19:01:15Z2023-10-22T19:01:15ZCleaning up Australia’s 80,000 disused mines is a huge job – but the payoffs can outweigh the costs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554904/original/file-20231019-18-fiqpkt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=878%2C0%2C2619%2C1756&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-19/glencore-copper-mine-mount-isa-closes/102994426">Newly announced closures</a> of Glencore’s copper and zinc mines in Mt Isa will add to a huge number of former mines in Australia. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/min10090745">A 2020 study</a> by Monash University’s <a href="https://www.monash.edu/engineering/resources-trinity">Resources Trinity Group</a> found more than 80,000 inactive mine sites across the country. </p>
<p>Globally, a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-00805-6">2023 study</a> estimates the mining footprint at around 66,000 square kilometres. Abandoned mines account for much of this area. </p>
<p>It’s <a href="https://www.mining.com/web/innovative-ways-to-repurpose-old-mines/">estimated</a> the US has about 500,000 abandoned mines and Canada at least 10,000. The UK and China have at least 1,500 and 12,000 old coalmines, respectively. </p>
<p>Abandoned mines can pose extreme <a href="https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/history-culture/2022/07/australias-abandoned-mines-rehabilitated/">environmental, health and safety risks</a>. Unreclaimed coalmines, for example, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mohan-yellishetty-9261512b_coalmines-ghgs-greenhousegases-activity-7118122785687691264-GjCy?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop">continue to emit greenhouse gases</a>.</p>
<p>Land is a scarce resource. Restoration enables sustainable and dynamic use of former mining land. It opens up golden opportunities – environmental, social and economic. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553863/original/file-20231015-15-cxxzcl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing sites of current and former mines across Australia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553863/original/file-20231015-15-cxxzcl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553863/original/file-20231015-15-cxxzcl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553863/original/file-20231015-15-cxxzcl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553863/original/file-20231015-15-cxxzcl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553863/original/file-20231015-15-cxxzcl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553863/original/file-20231015-15-cxxzcl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553863/original/file-20231015-15-cxxzcl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Current and former mining sites across Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Created by authors</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/afterlife-of-the-mine-lessons-in-how-towns-remake-challenging-sites-106073">Afterlife of the mine: lessons in how towns remake challenging sites</a>
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<h2>Environmental benefits</h2>
<p><strong>Carbon farming</strong> </p>
<p>Mine leases generally lock up vast land areas. This land presents a commercially viable, yet neglected, opportunity for carbon farming. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mohan-yellishetty-9261512b_criticalminerals-geothermalenergy-climatechange-activity-7000310180076806144-RDVE">replanting abandoned leases</a> could earn carbon credits under the Australian government’s <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/water/policy/policy/carbon-farming-initiative">Carbon Farming Initiative</a>. It can help “<a href="https://www.climateworkscentre.org/news/how-australia-can-reduce-greenhouse-gas-emissions-in-hard-to-abate-sectors/">hard to abate</a>” industries such as <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/carbon-offsets-to-stay-in-miners-decarbonization-toolkit-despite-fortescue-move-77676056">mining</a> move towards net zero emissions. </p>
<p><strong>Sustainable and renewable energy</strong></p>
<p>Abandoned mines can also be used to produce and store renewable energy. Examples range from providing sites for solar farms to <a href="https://greengravity.com/">Green Gravity’s energy storage technology</a>. </p>
<p>Green Gravity uses a system of weights in a mine shaft to store energy from renewable sources. This energy is used to raise the weights. The energy can later be released when the weights are lowered under the pull of gravity. </p>
<p>Another example is the former Kidston gold mine’s <a href="https://www.statedevelopment.qld.gov.au/coordinator-general/assessments-and-approvals/coordinated-projects/completed-projects/kidston-pumped-storage-hydro-project">pumped storage hydro project</a>. This system uses two water reservoirs in former open pits. Renewable energy is used to pump water into the higher reservoir. Releasing this water into the lower reservoir generates hydropower energy as needed.</p>
<p>For abandoned deeper mines, tapping into geothermal energy could even make it viable to resume mining.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The former Kidston gold mine in Queensland has a new life as a pumped hydro energy storage plant.</span></figcaption>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/batteries-of-gravity-and-water-we-found-1-500-new-pumped-hydro-sites-next-to-existing-reservoirs-194330">Batteries of gravity and water: we found 1,500 new pumped hydro sites next to existing reservoirs</a>
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<p><strong>Water security</strong> </p>
<p>Abandoned mines or quarry pits can <a href="https://www.quarrymagazine.com/2020/11/26/from-pit-to-pit-lakes-could-abandoned-sites-be-reborn/">store large amounts of drinking, harvested and recycled water</a>. This will help increase water security, especially when located near urban areas or industry corridors.</p>
<p><strong>Disaster prevention</strong> </p>
<p>Another option is renaturalisation. This depends heavily, though, on location and mine type. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.orangutanrepublik.org/weblog/2021/02/15/indonesia-push-mine-rehab-reforestation-after-deadly-floods/">Indonesia has plans</a> to restore forest on former mine sites to help reduce floods. These reforested areas will help retain floodwaters.</p>
<p><strong>Biodiversity restoration</strong> </p>
<p>Nature-based approaches to mine rehabilitation include reforestation and phytoremediation, which uses plants to clean up contaminated environments. These approaches tackle mines’ legacy of pollution and add ecological value. </p>
<p>Restored land allows for native species to be reintroduced. It can also provide bridges between patches of habitat to enhance biodiversity. In Victoria, this has been done with a former quarry at <a href="https://earthresources.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/700565/DJPR-Vic-Gov-Quarry-Compendium-updated-web-version-0113102021.pdf">Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne</a>.</p>
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<img alt="panoramic view of Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554902/original/file-20231019-23-983wxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554902/original/file-20231019-23-983wxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554902/original/file-20231019-23-983wxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554902/original/file-20231019-23-983wxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554902/original/file-20231019-23-983wxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554902/original/file-20231019-23-983wxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554902/original/file-20231019-23-983wxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Regreening a former sand mine at Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne has boosted biodiversity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Greg Brave/Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Social benefits</h2>
<p><strong>Improving urban liveability</strong></p>
<p>Renaturalised mines can be valuable communal and green spaces. Particularly when done in urban areas, it can provide residents with better air quality, microclimates and quality of life as these sites support recreational and cultural activities. <a href="https://earthresources.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/700565/DJPR-Vic-Gov-Quarry-Compendium-updated-web-version-0113102021.pdf">All Nations Park</a> is another example of a quarry restoration just seven kilometres from the Melbourne CBD.</p>
<p><strong>Education and tourism opportunities</strong> </p>
<p>Restored mining land opens up <a href="https://www.theprojects-quarry.com/">educational, architectural</a> and <a href="https://www.edenproject.com/new-edens/eden-project-anglesea-australia">tourism</a> opportunities. These range from hotels such as the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/china-quarry-hotel-shanghai/index.html">InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland</a> – most of it is underground – to eco-tourism and education centres, such as <a href="https://www.edenproject.com/">the Eden Project</a> in the UK. </p>
<h2>Economic benefits</h2>
<p><strong>Critical minerals</strong></p>
<p>Critical minerals are vital for batteries, electric vehicles and electrification needs. These minerals can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-rich-deposits-of-critical-minerals-for-green-technology-but-we-are-not-making-the-most-of-them-yet-182331">extracted from inactive mines and tailings storages</a>. </p>
<p>Mine waste processing could <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-16/hellyer-mine-starts-processing-tailings/9998764">contribute billions of dollars</a> a year to the economy and support regional jobs.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-rich-deposits-of-critical-minerals-for-green-technology-but-we-are-not-making-the-most-of-them-yet-182331">Australia has rich deposits of critical minerals for green technology. But we are not making the most of them ... yet</a>
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<p><strong>Job creation</strong> </p>
<p>Several large regions in Australia, including the Pilbara and Bowen Basins, face similar rehabilitation challenges. But each company is responsible for its own mine closure and rehabilitation. Current mining business models are not well suited for rehabilitation. </p>
<p>However, the scale of the rehabilitation work required in a major mining region would support an entire regional industry. It could provide many local jobs after mines close.</p>
<p>There are synergies between the many uses of restored mine sites. For example, Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne not only restores biodiversity, but has also created an attractive space for people to gather, along with jobs and education opportunities. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-restore-the-land-as-coal-mines-close-heres-a-community-blueprint-to-sustain-the-hunter-valley-198792">'We need to restore the land': as coal mines close, here's a community blueprint to sustain the Hunter Valley</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>So what are the obstacles?</h2>
<p>A mine’s rehabilitation costs may total hundreds of millions of dollars. These costs are often many times greater than what governments hold in rehabilitation bonds, which operators must provide as financial security before mining begins. Nevertheless, the financial and environmental <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/publication/p2011-sglp-overview/costs-of-inaction">consequences of inaction dwarf such costs</a>.</p>
<p>Globally, the costs of mine rehabilitation and closure liabilities run into billions of dollars. However, investments in <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/finally-green-infrastructure-spending-in-an-amount-that-starts-with-a-t">green infrastructure have reached trillions of dollars</a>. Some of these funds could be directed into rehabilitation and clean-up efforts, with the benefits of:</p>
<ul>
<li>providing capital to “kick off” and refine the collaborative work needed to deliver multiple benefits – as well as mining companies, this work involves many other organisations and individuals</li>
<li>creating clear financial accountability for rehabilitation</li>
<li>generating business opportunities and sites for testing new sustainability practices and developing “gold standards” for restoring and repurposing mine sites.</li>
</ul>
<p>A co-operative investment approach enables all partners to understand their shared responsibilities before any long-term expenses affect them individually. </p>
<p>Strong governance, initial funding and collaborative development are needed to achieve environmental, social and economic outcomes that add value to mine rehabilitation.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Acknowledgements: David Whittle, Alec Miller, Tim T. Werner and a number of Monash University staff and students over the years who have contributed to the research base.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215447/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mohan Yellishetty receives funding from the Australian Research Council, AGL Loy Yang, Boral Limited, CSIRO, KIGAM, Geoscience Australia, and the Defence Science Institute. He is Co-Convener of the National Industry Working Group (Critical Minerals), Australia-India Chamber of Commerce.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Marcus Bach does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Newly announced closures of Glencore’s copper and zinc mines in Mt Isa will add to a huge number of former mines in Australia. A 2020 study by Monash University’s Resources Trinity Group found more than…Mohan Yellishetty, Co-Founder, Critical Minerals Consortium, and Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Monash UniversityPeter Marcus Bach, Senior Research Scientist, Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, and Adjunct Research Fellow, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2104522023-08-30T12:16:10Z2023-08-30T12:16:10Z50 years after the Bunker Hill mine fire caused one of the largest lead-poisoning cases in US history, Idaho’s Silver Valley is still at risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544335/original/file-20230823-21-itpz3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C21%2C4885%2C3224&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Waterways and communities for miles around Idaho's Bunker Hill mine were contaminated with lead after the 1973 fire.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/scenic-river-in-cataldo-idaho-royalty-free-image/489436366">gjohnstonphoto/iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Sept. 3, 1973, a fire swept through the baghouse of the Bunker Hill mine in Idaho’s Silver Valley. The building was designed to filter pollutants produced by smelting, the melting of rocks that separates metal from its ore. The gases produced in this process carried poisons, including lead.</p>
<p>At the time, the <a href="https://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/leaded">prices of lead</a> and <a href="https://www.macrotrends.net/1470/historical-silver-prices-100-year-chart">silver were climbing</a> toward all-time highs. Rather than wait for new filters and repairs, company officials kept the mine running. <a href="https://www.oupress.com/9780806138985/idahos-bunker-hill/">They increased production</a>, bypassed the filtration steps and, <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11359/superfund-and-mining-megasites-lessons-from-the-coeur-dalene-river">for eleven months</a>, dumped noxious gases directly into the surrounding area.</p>
<p>Then, horses in the area <a href="https://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/leaded">began dying</a>. </p>
<p>When data on children’s blood lead levels began to arrive in September 1974, one year after the fire, the results were shocking. The fire became one of the largest single lead-poisoning events in U.S. history. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A large industrial complex lit up against snow." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544196/original/file-20230823-15-j8fnct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544196/original/file-20230823-15-j8fnct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544196/original/file-20230823-15-j8fnct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544196/original/file-20230823-15-j8fnct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544196/original/file-20230823-15-j8fnct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544196/original/file-20230823-15-j8fnct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544196/original/file-20230823-15-j8fnct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Bunker Hill smelter in the 1970s. The mine closed in 1991, but planning is underway in 2023 to restart it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bunker_Hill_smelter_operating_in_winter_snow,_1970s.jpg">US EPA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Without filters, the mine operations deposited an estimated <a href="https://www.restorationpartnership.org/pdf/d-Chapter_2_Hazardous_Substance_Sources.pdf">35 tons of lead per month</a> in the area, four times more than before the fire. Between January and September 1974, it also released more than 2 tons of arsenic and 2.5 tons of mercury, among other metals and toxic chemicals, according to data <a href="https://www.restorationpartnership.org/pdf/d-Chapter_2_Hazardous_Substance_Sources.pdf">collected by Restoration Partnership</a>.</p>
<p>Lead still contaminates the soil across <a href="https://www.deq.idaho.gov/waste-management-and-remediation/mining-in-idaho/bunker-hill-superfund-site/">Silver Valley</a> today, and it continues to wash down tributaries and into the Coeur d’Alene River and Lake Coeur d’Alene. Many people in this fast-growing region are unaware of the risks.</p>
<h2>How lead harms human health</h2>
<p>Our bodies use metals like zinc, iron and calcium. However, we have zero need for lead. Its chemical composition makes it both <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/intox-2015-0009">highly toxic and able to infiltrate almost every organ in the body</a>.</p>
<p>Lead exposure can cause <a href="https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpheart.00158.2008">high blood pressure and cardiac disease</a>. It can also cause problems with <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health">brain development, kidney function and reproductive health</a>, including <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/prevention/pregnant.htm">miscarriages, prematurity and low birth weight</a>. Children are especially susceptible to lead’s toxic effect on the central nervous system; they absorb it up to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.303003">17 times more</a> readily than adults, and their brains are still developing.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/76RKSQgduVQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">What lead poisoning does to a child’s brain. PBS.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s reference value for levels of lead in blood has changed as knowledge about this potent neurotoxin has evolved. In 1973, a blood lead level of less than 40 <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/docs/lepac/blrv-recommendation-report-508.pdf">micrograms per deciliter</a> in children was vaguely defined as “undue lead absorption.” In 1991, anything above 10 micrograms per deciliter was considered a “level of concern.”</p>
<p>Today, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/data/blood-lead-reference-value.htm">3.5 micrograms per deciliter</a> is the reference value, meant to identify the 2.5% of children with the highest blood lead levels. The CDC no longer uses “level of concern” as a threshold, because there is <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health">no safe blood lead level in children</a>.</p>
<h2>Children’s health after the Baghouse Fire</h2>
<p>The children of the Silver Valley were exposed to extremely high levels of poisons after the Baghouse Fire at the Bunker Hill mine.</p>
<p>Ninety-nine percent of children within a mile of the smelter who were tested after the fire – 173 out of 175 kids – had blood lead levels of 40 micrograms per deciliter or higher. Their <a href="https://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/leaded">average blood lead level</a> was 67.4 micrograms per deciliter. A 1-year-old tested at 164 micrograms per deciliter, the <a href="https://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/leaded">highest ever recorded in a child</a>.</p>
<p>Cognitive impairment in children, as measured by loss of IQ points, can occur at levels of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-022-01963-y">less than 5 micrograms per deciliter</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A donut chart with concentric rings for each distance shows almost all children had dangerously high high blood lead levels close to the smelter. Even 6 to 15 miles away (10 to 24 kilometers), one-fifth of children had exceptionally high levels." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545366/original/file-20230829-15-refhca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545366/original/file-20230829-15-refhca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545366/original/file-20230829-15-refhca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545366/original/file-20230829-15-refhca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545366/original/file-20230829-15-refhca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545366/original/file-20230829-15-refhca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545366/original/file-20230829-15-refhca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/leaded">Adapted from Leaded: The Poisoning of Idaho's Silver Valley</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To put the Silver Valley numbers into context, the average blood lead level for children in Flint, Michigan, at the height of the lead-pipe water crisis in 2015 was <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180326090313.htm">1.3 micrograms per deciliter</a>, and 21 children had blood lead levels <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2016/01/22/flint-children-lead-exposure/">over 10 micrograms per deciliter</a>.</p>
<p>It is difficult to assess the extent of the damage from the Baghouse Fire in the children of the Silver Valley. Doctors in the 1970s weren’t able to test for cognitive and neurologic problems in the most vulnerable children, birth to 3 years old. Michael C. Mix describes in “<a href="https://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/leaded">Leaded: The Poisoning of Idaho’s Silver Valley</a>” how the politically powerful company that owned the mine also suppressed and distorted health findings. Blood lead levels in children in the area remained higher than 40 micrograms per deciliter into 1980.</p>
<h2>Continuing health risk in Silver Valley</h2>
<p>The legacy of the Baghouse Fire continues to haunt Silver Valley, but that incident 50 years ago is only part of the picture. Decades of contamination from other mines in the area poses further risks.</p>
<p>At its height, the Silver Valley area had over 200 active mines. Today, it is the largest contiguous Superfund site in the nation – 1,500 square miles (3,885 square kilometers) across northern Idaho and eastern Washington. Multiple agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Panhandle Health District, the Coeur d’Alene Trust and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe (Schitsu’umsh), are active in <a href="https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup&id=1000195#bkground">monitoring and cleanup operations</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544192/original/file-20230823-25-2hf4yv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map is pocked with x's showing mine sites across the region, mostly east of the Bunker Hill fire site." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544192/original/file-20230823-25-2hf4yv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544192/original/file-20230823-25-2hf4yv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544192/original/file-20230823-25-2hf4yv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544192/original/file-20230823-25-2hf4yv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544192/original/file-20230823-25-2hf4yv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544192/original/file-20230823-25-2hf4yv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544192/original/file-20230823-25-2hf4yv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hundreds of old mine sites dot the region east of Lake Coeur d'Alene.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://panhandlehealthdistrict.org/">Panhandle Health District</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Early efforts to clean up contamination from the fire concentrated on residential areas in “The Box,” a 21-square-mile area (54 square kilometers) around the old smelter site and the towns of Kellogg, Smelterville and Pinehurst. Workers dug up contaminated earth and removed it, and officials monitored the environment and human health.</p>
<p>The cleanup today is much more extensive and ongoing, with efforts focused on cleaning up the old mine and mill sites and recreational areas.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544199/original/file-20230823-29-57d7ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map shows the Superfund site including Cuoer d'Alene Lake" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544199/original/file-20230823-29-57d7ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544199/original/file-20230823-29-57d7ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544199/original/file-20230823-29-57d7ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544199/original/file-20230823-29-57d7ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544199/original/file-20230823-29-57d7ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544199/original/file-20230823-29-57d7ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544199/original/file-20230823-29-57d7ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex Superfund Site covers about 1,500 square miles across northern Idaho and eastern Washington. ‘The Box’ is shaded in gray.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.cleanup&id=1000195">EPA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544393/original/file-20230823-21-bhorjz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map shows a boundary around the lake and along the river." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544393/original/file-20230823-21-bhorjz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544393/original/file-20230823-21-bhorjz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544393/original/file-20230823-21-bhorjz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544393/original/file-20230823-21-bhorjz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544393/original/file-20230823-21-bhorjz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544393/original/file-20230823-21-bhorjz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544393/original/file-20230823-21-bhorjz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The EPA’s active area within the Superfund site includes long stretches of the Coeur d'Alene River and Lake Coeur d'Alene. The EPA notes that there are also sites with contamination further downstream in the Spokane River, Washington.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lead does not biodegrade. It’s in the soil, along waterways and even visible in sediment to the naked eye. It is estimated that the Coeur d’Alene River delivers about <a href="https://www.spokanepublicradio.org/regional-news/2022-03-24/coeur-dalene-basin-cleanup-to-expand-to-lower-basin">200 tons of lead</a> to Lake Coeur d’Alene every year.</p>
<h2>Swan deaths show the continuing risk</h2>
<p>Blood lead levels in the area have come down dramatically since 1973, but they are still concerning. In 2022, the average blood lead level for children in “The Box” was estimated at <a href="https://panhandlehealthdistrict.org/">2.3 micrograms per deciliter</a>, above <a href="https://www.epa.gov/americaschildrenenvironment/biomonitoring-lead">the U.S. average</a>. The average for the surrounding area <a href="https://panhandlehealthdistrict.org/">was higher, 3.3 micrograms per deciliter</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A dead swan along a riverway." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544200/original/file-20230823-21-wvd9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544200/original/file-20230823-21-wvd9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544200/original/file-20230823-21-wvd9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544200/original/file-20230823-21-wvd9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544200/original/file-20230823-21-wvd9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544200/original/file-20230823-21-wvd9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544200/original/file-20230823-21-wvd9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tundra swans, which dig in the soil along streams for food, have been dying in northern Idaho.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://idfg.idaho.gov/press/tundra-swan-deaths-continue-lower-coeur-dalene-river-basin">CC Kajsa Van de Riet/IDEQ</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lead also affects area wildlife. <a href="https://semspub.epa.gov/work/10/100447187.pdf">Over 95% of wetlands</a> in the Lower Basin contain sediment that is toxic to wildlife. Tundra swans, whose eating habits make them very susceptible to heavy metal poisoning, are a recent casualty. For these migratory birds, the area is a stopover. Since 2008, average swan deaths are estimated at 50 to 60 birds per year. <a href="https://idfg.idaho.gov/press/tundra-swan-deaths-continue-lower-coeur-dalene-river-basin">There were over 300 bird deaths</a> documented in 2022; a <a href="https://semspub.epa.gov/work/10/100447187.pdf">study is underway</a> into the cause.</p>
<p>To complicate matters, many local residents have forgotten or never learned about the Baghouse Fire and the environmental issues associated with the site. Others choose to simply disbelieve the harmfulness of lead.</p>
<h2>As Idaho’s population booms, people aren’t aware</h2>
<p>Today, Idaho is one of the fastest-growing states in the U.S., with an influx of new residents oblivious to the local history and unaware of the threat that lurks below their feet and in the beaches of the beautiful lakes and rivers in the area. With population growth comes development, digging and disturbing contaminated soil.</p>
<p>Even normal weather conditions – from dry windy days that stir up lead dust particles to heavy rainfalls that mobilize contaminated sediments – can have detrimental effects on human health and on the environment.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544197/original/file-20230823-29-pgg37e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of a large sign with warnings about soils and sediments containing harmful levels of lead." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544197/original/file-20230823-29-pgg37e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544197/original/file-20230823-29-pgg37e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544197/original/file-20230823-29-pgg37e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544197/original/file-20230823-29-pgg37e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544197/original/file-20230823-29-pgg37e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544197/original/file-20230823-29-pgg37e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544197/original/file-20230823-29-pgg37e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A warning reminds visitors on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes of the area’s lead risks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trail_of_the_Coeur_d%27_Alenes_(10490158534).jpg">Robert Ashworth via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Health risks remain, particularly along the banks and shores of the South Fork and the main Coeur d’Alene River, which are now popular recreation areas. Advisories about the lead risk in fish are still common, <a href="https://doh.wa.gov/data-and-statistical-reports/washington-tracking-network-wtn/fish-advisories/fish-consumption-advisories-washington-state">even downstream in Spokane</a>, Washington.</p>
<p>Children and pregnant women are the most vulnerable; <a href="https://peht.ucsf.edu/search.php?pane=reference&topic=lead">lead crosses the placenta, and it is present in breast milk</a>. Major outreach efforts are underway to educate those living, working or visiting the area.</p>
<p>Idaho’s <a href="https://panhandlehealthdistrict.org/">Panhandle Health District</a> offers free lead screenings year-round to anyone living or spending time in the area. In-home follow-ups are offered to those found to have elevated lead levels. Meanwhile, the cleanup, which started in 1986, will continue for decades to come. </p>
<p><em>Mary Rehnborg, program manager for the Institutional Controls Program in the Panhandle Health District, contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210452/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Schiavenato does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A fire and decades of silver and lead mining created the largest contiguous Superfund site in the nation in what today is one of the fastest-growing states. It includes popular Lake Coeur d’Alene.Martin Schiavenato, Assistant Professor of Nursing, Gonzaga UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1951412022-12-02T06:50:24Z2022-12-02T06:50:24ZNetflix’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover reduces this tale of class conflict to a simple love story<p>It is easy to understand the appeal of D. H. Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928) for filmmakers. The issues the novel addresses are so rich. Written in response to the general strike of 1926 in the UK, the story examines the sources of class enmity and imagines how it might be overcome through tenderness, touch and sex.</p>
<p>Many, including the author Doris Lessing, have argued that Lady Chatterley’s Lover <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/jul/15/classics.dhlawrence">can only be understood</a> in the context of its time and societal stresses. However, this latest film version strips out the social context and class detail of the novel and with them go most of the psychological complexity of the characters, leaving simply a love story with a happy ending. </p>
<p>In the book, Constance Reid, who has been raised in a bohemian upper-middle-class family, marries the aristocrat Clifford Chatterley. Shortly after their marriage, he is paralysed from the waist down in the first world war. On his father’s death, he becomes a baronet and takes Constance to live in his ancestral home in the Midlands (Wragby Hall), also taking ownership of an adjacent colliery in the village of Tevershall. </p>
<p>His injuries mean that Sir Clifford is unable to father an heir, so he coldly suggests that his wife gets pregnant by another man. However, rather than simply sleeping with someone from their social circle she starts an affair with her husband’s gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors. </p>
<p>Mellors is working class by birth and preference but has moved into the middle class through education and his promotion to the rank of lieutenant in the army. Like Constance, Mellors is unhappily married and displaced between classes. Together they must struggle to overcome their deeply-ingrained class attitudes, and it is a painful and unresolved process. </p>
<h2>Playing down class tensions</h2>
<p>The novel was written in three wholly different versions between 1926 and 1928, and each one reflects <a href="https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA608502056&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00114936&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7Ebf815a29">Lawrence’s pessimism about the future</a> of England and his fear that a class war was imminent.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/alevelstudies/the-general-strike.htm">The general strike</a> was called to try to force the British government to reverse both pay cuts and worsening conditions for miners. Coal seams had been depleted during the war and production was at an all-time low in the early to mid-1920s. A reduction in wages was proposed to maintain profits. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZOkXE3B0pDA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In the novel, there is an atmosphere of simmering unrest between the mine owners and the colliers. Sir Clifford plans to further mechanise his colliery, replacing men with machines. He seeks to develop coal by-products to maximise income. Local pits are only working for part of the week, and socialist and even Bolshevist ideas are gaining traction with the miners. </p>
<p>In this film, industrial unrest is condensed to a passing street protest. The brief glimpse we get of the mining village (Tevershall) makes it seem more like a pretty Dorset village in a Thomas Hardy novel than a Midlands colliery town in the 1920s.</p>
<h2>Flat characters</h2>
<p>The worst flattening of the novel comes in the film’s depiction of the class struggle between Constance and Mellors.</p>
<p>In the book, Lawrence’s Constance Chatterley is empathetic towards Clifford’s servants and staff and she takes an interest in the plight of his workforce. But, at times, she tends to stereotype the working classes and revert to a learned form of snobbishness.</p>
<p>We see her inner conflict play out when she first views Mellors washing at the back of his cottage in Wragby wood. It is a confusing encounter, which arouses class-based disgust while also confronting her with feelings of physical attraction. </p>
<p>On one level he is “merely a man washing himself! Commonplace enough, heaven knows.” But on another, it is “a visionary experience” which hits her “in the middle of her body”. The film’s Constance Chatterley suffers no such inner dilemma. She merely views the man and giggles. She doesn’t need to root out any internalised class prejudice.</p>
<p>Lawrence has Mellors speak two languages: a Derbyshire-inflected regional speech and dialect and received pronunciation. Mellors and Constance have to find a middle ground beyond the divisions of class and language. They achieve this by mimicking one another’s language and laughing away their differences. </p>
<p>Constance comically imitates Mellors’ regional speech patterns and he teaches her new meanings for the proscribed words “cunt” and “fuck” which transform them from terms of abuse into poetic words for sex and the mysterious experiences of the body. Mellors, in turn, lets down his psychological barriers, coming to see her not as “your ladyship” (an embodiment of the Chatterleys and the ruling classes more generally) but as Connie. </p>
<p>They jokingly call their sexual organs “John Thomas” and “Lady Jane”, parodying names and titles. He gradually finds a language with which to respond to Connie as a woman he loves rather than a lady he serves. </p>
<p>In the film, however, this is all gone. Mellors speaks throughout with the same slight regional inflexion. There is no linguistic readjustment required. The only resentment he seems to feel is irritation when she first asks for a key to his hut or temporary outrage that he has been used when she tells him she is pregnant.</p>
<p>At one point in the movie Sir Clifford’s nurse, Ivy Bolton, even says outright: “This is a love story.” In terms of the film, she’s absolutely right. </p>
<p>There are things to enjoy. The music is atmospheric and hints at emotional depths and nuances that the script skates over. The scene in which Connie and Mellors cavort naked in the rain has a joyous sensual quality. This scene reminded me a little of Lawrence’s paintings <a href="https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/Paintings-D-H-Lawrence-David-Herbert/10050748097/bd">Dance-Sketch and Fire-Dance</a>. </p>
<p>But the characters are so flat that those who have read the novel will be disappointed and those who haven’t will wonder what all the fuss was about.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195141/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Harrison does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>D.H. Lawrence’s book is a seething commentary on class, exposing his fears for Britain’s future. But the film is a romantic period drama.Andrew Harrison, Associate Professor in English Literature, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1742712022-01-10T16:37:08Z2022-01-10T16:37:08ZIt’s not necessary to trash the environment to extract metals needed for renewable energy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439248/original/file-20220103-50268-1565u2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C224%2C5973%2C3745&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Off-road vehicles are driven on a property that will be mined for lithium along the Salton Sea, in Niland, Calif., in July 2021. Lithium is critical to rechargeable batteries.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The use of renewable energy systems, such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars and hydrogen fuel cells, <a href="https://www.c2es.org/content/what-we-can-do/">will minimize greenhouse gas emissions</a> and reduce global warming. But use of these systems has to increase — and they require a lot of metal.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/extractiveindustries/brief/climate-smart-mining-minerals-for-climate-action">World Bank</a> estimates that about three billion tonnes of metals like graphite, lithium and cobalt will be needed by 2050 to supply enough systems to keep the global temperature rise below 2 C, a goal of the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">2016 Paris Climate agreement</a>. In comparison, only about one billion tonnes of metals would be needed by 2050 to satisfy current usage of renewable energy systems.</p>
<p>Since <a href="https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/minerals-mining/minerals-metals-facts/20507">Canada has abundant resources of most of the metals needed</a>, can it become a global leader in the supply of materials needed for renewable energy systems?</p>
<p>It could, but the increase in the <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/lithium-batteries-environment-impact">physical, energy and water footprints associated with extraction of these metals</a> to meet the metal demand could negate any gains made by the use of renewable energy systems.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Large outdoor tanks, one filled with a greenish fluid, at a mineral processing plant." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439254/original/file-20220103-129369-12jqeln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439254/original/file-20220103-129369-12jqeln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439254/original/file-20220103-129369-12jqeln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439254/original/file-20220103-129369-12jqeln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439254/original/file-20220103-129369-12jqeln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439254/original/file-20220103-129369-12jqeln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439254/original/file-20220103-129369-12jqeln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A lithium processing plant in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sustainability vs. fossil fuel alternatives</h2>
<p><a href="https://miningwatch.ca/sites/default/files/miningwatch_review_page.pdf">Some say it’s not possible to reconcile these two goals</a> and we must make difficult choices and unfair decisions. The alternative is to find ways to adapt to global warming. </p>
<p>But this ignores a few things, such as the technology developments that could reduce the carbon footprint of extraction, the potential of a reorganization of the metal supply chain and the possibility of a closer relationship between society and the metals it uses.</p>
<p>Can we change mining technology to reduce its footprint? There is an active community of researchers that says yes. Here are some current avenues of investigation:</p>
<ul>
<li>Bacteria have been interacting with minerals for more than two billion years, decomposing the minerals and allowing the metals to dissolve into water. As a result, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.11.039">mineral microbiome</a> has evolved that could be used to develop <a href="https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1751-7915.12792">natural ways of extracting metals</a> and to clean up mine waste. </li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-engineered-bacteria-could-clean-up-oilsands-pollution-and-mining-waste-160230">How engineered bacteria could clean up oilsands pollution and mining waste</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<ul>
<li><p>Greenhouse gas emissions at mining operations currently account for about 10 per cent of global emissions. That percentage will increase if we try to meet metals demands using current methods. <a href="https://www.angloamerican.com/investors/annual-reporting/hydrogen-power">Some operations are implementing renewable energy systems</a> in efforts to further reduce this emission level. </p></li>
<li><p>Autonomous systems, some electrified, are in use at some mines, but there is more potential. One possibility is a large number of small machines — a swarm that behaves like an ant colony. This could enable targeted metal extraction with a far smaller footprint.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TYaquGrGhfk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A look at swarm robots, courtesy of Tech Planet.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li>Metal extraction generates enormous amounts of information on the actual behaviour of a mining operation. <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Energy-and-Resources/deloitte-norcat-future-mining-with-ai-web.pdf">Machine learning algorithms could find patterns in these data</a> and use them to guide improvements to the operations and increase the recovery of mineral resources.</li>
</ul>
<p>These are big ideas that will take time to fully develop. But we believe that a reorganization of the metal supply chain and better connections between society and the metals it uses can more quickly lead to sustainable metal supply. The first step is to unwrap the mineral resources industry to make it more transparent, visible and available to anyone.</p>
<h2>Metal supply chains</h2>
<p>The links in the metal value chain are suppliers who perform different services. </p>
<p>A mining company is one collection of suppliers. But an interesting alternative is a network consisting of several sources of metals such as mines, scrap metal, electronic waste, mine tailings and wastewater — all connected to processing plants, refineries, manufacturers and the related suppliers of materials and services. </p>
<p>Networks within networks are possible, and flexibility is required. One network might specialize in processing tailings to extract metals, another on processing mineral concentrates and another may be solely focused on recycling metals from scrap. Ownership and operation of any part of a network would be open to a company, group or community that has the knowledge and expertise. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A graph shows a metal supply network" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439269/original/file-20220104-19-1wr37kk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439269/original/file-20220104-19-1wr37kk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439269/original/file-20220104-19-1wr37kk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439269/original/file-20220104-19-1wr37kk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439269/original/file-20220104-19-1wr37kk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439269/original/file-20220104-19-1wr37kk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439269/original/file-20220104-19-1wr37kk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This illustration of a metal supply network shows different sources of metals and different suppliers of services such as mining, energy, recycling and processing. Membership in the network is open to anyone or any group (represented by the people icon in the centre), and the interactions between members are flexible.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Authors)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13563-021-00251-w">Most innovation in the mining industry takes place among suppliers</a>, and the presence of different suppliers in a network would be advantageous. A combination of competition among suppliers to take part in a network, and collaboration among suppliers in those networks, would promote innovation. </p>
<p>Many opportunities exist for the public to contribute to a flexible open metal supply network. Barriers to entry do exist, but they aren’t insurmountable, and there are advantages to removing them. </p>
<p>For example, in Canada, many mineral deposits are located on Indigenous lands. Parts of a network related to these mineral deposits could be operated/financed by a mining company or group of companies owned by an Indigenous community.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439251/original/file-20220103-48250-btnoso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439251/original/file-20220103-48250-btnoso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439251/original/file-20220103-48250-btnoso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439251/original/file-20220103-48250-btnoso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439251/original/file-20220103-48250-btnoso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439251/original/file-20220103-48250-btnoso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439251/original/file-20220103-48250-btnoso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A girl walks along the streets as the sun rises in December 2012, on the Fort Hope First Nation in northern Ontario, in an area with rich mineral and metal deposits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of the metals needed for renewable energy systems reside in small deposits that are geographically dispersed. <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/9/22825948/gm-ev-motor-rare-earth-metal-magnet-mp-materials">Rare earth metals used in the magnets of motors in electric cars</a> are one example. It’s too expensive to develop a mine for these deposits, but a flexible open network that uses services only as needed might be able to do economically. </p>
<h2>Tough to separate metals</h2>
<p>Recycling is another source of metals, but the combinations of materials in some products makes it difficult to separate the metals in them. </p>
<p>This calls for some innovation in processing. But the logistics of recycling are cumbersome, especially for clunky items containing metals such as an aircraft engine, an electric car or a few thousand disk drives. An open network that includes communities and logistics specialists in partnership with advanced recycling operations could be a sustainable source of metals. </p>
<p>Reuse or refurbishment of devices that contain metals is also possible as part of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/conservation/sustainability/circular-economy.html">the circular economy</a>. Co-ordination between device users and manufacturers would be required. But an open network of partnerships can accomplish this.</p>
<p>If we want to use renewable energy to keep the atmosphere cool, then mining processes and our current relationship with metals must change. Governments should implement policies that encourage those changes. Industry can also contribute by encouraging business partnerships and engagement with communities and other interested parties.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Dunbar receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) under a Discovery Grant and from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) under an Insight Grant. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:delmo@mining.ubc.ca">delmo@mining.ubc.ca</a> receives funding from NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) and MITACS</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Steen owns shares in various mining companies as part of a personal investment portfolio. He currently receives research funding from a wide range of industry and government sources including NSERC, MITACS, Canadian Digital Technology Supercluster, EY, Vale, Rio Tinto, Teck, Allonia, FL Smidth and the Project Management Institute</span></em></p>Canada could become a global leader in the supply of materials needed for renewable energy systems if it finds ways to control the environmental footprints associated with their extraction.W. Scott Dunbar, Professor and Head of Department of Mining Engineering, University of British ColumbiaDavide Elmo, Associate Professor, Rock Mechanics, University of British ColumbiaJohn Steen, EY Distinguished Scholar in Global Mining Futures, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1604232021-05-06T15:31:12Z2021-05-06T15:31:12ZReducing methane is crucial for protecting climate and health, and it can pay for itself – so why aren’t more companies doing it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399123/original/file-20210506-16-195krj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2400%2C1595&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Methane is the world’s second most abundant greenhouse gas. It doesn't stay in the atmosphere as long as CO2, but it's many times more potent.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/network-of-insulated-pipes-that-carry-liquid-natural-gas-news-photo/566057549?adppopup=true">Photo by Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times via Getty Image</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, is a larger climate problem than the world anticipates, and cutting its emissions will be crucial to slow global warming, <a href="https://www.ccacoalition.org/en/resources/global-methane-assessment-full-report">a new United Nations report</a> warns. The greenhouse gas is <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases#methane">many times more powerful than carbon dioxide</a> at warming the planet, and its concentration in the atmosphere is increasing faster than at any time since record keeping began in the 1980s.</em></p>
<p><em>Methane is much more than a climate problem, though, and this is where the report gets interesting. As methane emissions are reduced, the world reaps several benefits quickly, for health as well as the climate. In most cases, the benefits of taking action far outweigh the cost – in fact many of them make money.</em></p>
<p><em>The report’s lead author <a href="https://nicholas.duke.edu/people/faculty/shindell">Drew Shindell</a>, a climate scientist and physicist, explained the findings and the urgency.</em></p>
<h2>What are the most important lessons from the methane report?</h2>
<p>The top takeaway is that methane is going up very quickly, and it needs to drop by nearly half by 2030 to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F) if we hope to stay on the lowest-cost path. That means we have a rapid U-turn to make.</p>
<p>The good news is that we have a lot to gain by cutting these emissions.</p>
<p>Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, but it’s also a precursor of surface ozone, which is a toxic air pollutant. So, reducing methane improves the quality of the air we breathe at the same time that it reduces climate change, and the results are almost immediate.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A NASA computer animation shows large sources of increasing methane emissions.</span></figcaption>
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<p>A lot of steps to reduce methane also save money, because methane is intrinsically valuable. If you capture methane from a landfill, you have a source of income right there. Capture it from leaking pipelines, and it pays for itself, because that’s the whole point of these pipelines – they transport methane as natural gas.</p>
<p>With the technology already available today, the world could cut methane emissions from fossil fuels, agriculture and rotting waste by 45% within a decade. That would avoid 0.3 degrees Celsius (0.5 F) of warming, which might not sound like much, but it’s one-fifth of the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">Paris climate agreement budget</a> of 1.5 C.</p>
<p>So, you get climate benefits, you get public health benefits and it’s also a financial win for the companies capturing the methane.</p>
<p>It’s not like this is rocket science. A large part of the methane being released is from <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-natural-gas-industry-is-leaking-way-more-methane-than-previously-thought-heres-why-that-matters-98918">natural gas</a> pipelines and storage, oil and gas pumping and landfills – and those are all problems we know how to fix.</p>
<h2>How does cutting methane improve health?</h2>
<p>Methane causes ground-level ozone, which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EF001030">contributes to a lot of respiratory problems</a>, including asthma in children, respiratory infections or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. There’s pretty robust evidence that it can also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201508-1633OC">exacerbate cardiovascular disease</a>.</p>
<p>Both methane and ozone are also greenhouse gases that cause warming, which creates more health risks, particularly through heat exposure.</p>
<p>We looked at <a href="http://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201508-1633OC">medical research and modeling</a>, and used that to figure out what’s at stake. We found that for every million tons of methane emitted, about 1,430 people die prematurely, there are about 4,000 asthma-related emergencies and 300 million work hours are lost to the health effects. To put that into context, <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1561-2020">around 370 million tons</a> of methane are released annually due to human activities.</p>
<p>If you reduce methane emissions in 2022, you’ll see the ozone response in 2022, whereas you have to wait to see the climate effects until the climate system adjusts over at least a decade.</p>
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<h2>What’s causing methane emissions to rise so quickly?</h2>
<p>We know global emissions are going up. That’s easy to measure by chemical sampling of the air, and satellites can monitor large methane sources. But which sources are most responsible is a tougher question.</p>
<p>Global methane emissions were fairly level about 15 to 20 years ago, and then they started creeping up. Now, especially over the past five years or so, they’ve been rising at a fast rate.</p>
<p>Some studies point to the rise of <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-3033-2019">hydraulic fracturing</a>, which quickly expanded gas production and roughly parallels the recent methane increase. Others say <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13021-017-0084-y">livestock and the increasing global demand for meat</a> played a big role. Some point to <a href="https://www.globalcarbonproject.org/methanebudget/">natural sources</a> – particularly wetlands in the tropics responding to climate change.</p>
<p>The most likely scenario is that it’s a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab9ed2">combination of all three</a>.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that the <a href="https://www.ccacoalition.org/en/resources/global-methane-assessment-full-report">overall methane emissions have to be lowered</a> to slow climate change. If the increase is coming from fossil fuel or waste or livestock, then we need to go after the human sources. If it’s coming from natural systems that are responding to climate change, we still have to go after those human sources of methane. Cutting methane emissions is the strongest leverage we have to slow those feedbacks down.</p>
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<h2>If cutting methane pays for itself, and the technology exists, why isn’t more being done?</h2>
<p>The oil and gas industry itself is divided on methane. Many of the big companies <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063729793">supported the U.S. methane emissions rules</a> that were set by the Obama administration – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/climate/climate-change-methane.html">and later rolled back by the Trump administration</a> – because they know capturing methane pays for itself. It’s not an onerous economic burden on them, and supporting it can improve the image of the industry.</p>
<p>For small operators, however, the upfront costs of equipment and the need to hire labor to inspect the pipelines may be harder.</p>
<p>For example, if a company is going to repair a pipeline, it can close off a section, bring in a compressor, and pump all of the excess gas farther down the line before starting to work on it. Doing that requires getting a compressor and having the trucks to move it and the staff to maintain it. A lot of studies have found that <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/driving-down-methane-leaks-from-the-oil-and-gas-industry">these investments</a> <a href="https://rhg.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/RHG_UntappedPotential_April2015.pdf">pay for themselves</a> in a few years because of the value of the methane saved. But many small operators find it simpler and less costly for themselves to just vent the gas into the atmosphere when they want to work on the pipe.</p>
<p>There’s a similar problem with landfills and waste. As organic matter like food waste decomposes, it releases methane. Many landfills in developed countries already capture some of that methane gas. But many developing countries don’t have managed landfills or even trash pickup, making it impossible to capture the biogas.</p>
<p>The report lists a few recommendations, in addition to technical solutions, that can be used for landfills everywhere, including better waste sorting so organic material is kept out of landfills and used for compost instead, and reducing food waste overall.</p>
<p>Agriculture also has some straightforward solutions. Eating a healthy diet that, for many people, means cutting out excess red meat would go a long way in reducing the amount of livestock being produced for slaughter. Encouraging changes in food consumption can be politically dicey, but this is a huge emissions source. We’re not going to keep warming under 1.5 C without dealing with it.</p>
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<h2>What does this mean for natural gas as an energy source?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ccacoalition.org/en/resources/global-methane-assessment-full-report">The report</a> shows why adding more natural gas is incompatible with keeping warming to less than 1.5 C. </p>
<p>The only way to keep using natural gas far into the future is to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aabf9f">pull carbon out of the air</a>. That’s a huge risk, because it assumes we’ll make up for today’s harms later. If that technology turns out to be too expensive or not socially acceptable, or it simply doesn’t work the way we think it will, we can’t go back in time and fix the mess. </p>
<p>As the report explains, the world will have to stop building more fossil fuel infrastructure. The better route is to be responsible now and take care of the climate rather than counting on cleaning up the mess later. </p>
<p>[<em>Explore the intersection of faith, politics, arts and culture.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-explore">Sign up for This Week in Religion.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160423/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Drew Shindell receives funding from the UN Environment Programme and NASA.</span></em></p>The lead author of a new UN report on methane explains the findings and how oil and gas companies could be making money and saving the climate at the same time.Drew Shindell, Professor of Climate Sciences, Duke UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1563582021-03-16T17:15:38Z2021-03-16T17:15:38ZRare metals play a strategic and essential role in health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390473/original/file-20210318-13-1qdpsbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C43%2C2591%2C1653&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">While people may be familiar with precious metals, which are often at the heart of conflicts, there are also metals that are essential to good health. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the fact that most countries do not have sufficient health sovereignty to face such a crisis. Shortages of masks, respirators, medicines and now vaccines were felt in many countries, even the most advanced. These problems show that our societies are dependent on certain countries for essential products.</p>
<p>But what about metals?</p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.industrie-minerale-territoires.fr/index.en.htm">research team</a> has been working for a few years on the interactions between earth sciences and social sciences, especially around the concept of social geology and the dynamics of resource-rich territories.</p>
<h2>Strategic metals</h2>
<p>The notion of critical and strategic minerals goes back to the wars of the 19th century. At the end of the Second World War, the United States built up stocks of metals. However, the overabundance of metals at the end of the 20th century and globalization led western states to abandon their proactive policy in this field. Awareness of dependence on imported mineral resources did not return until the late 1990s, with the emergence of Asian economies and new monopolies.</p>
<p>The list of critical and strategic metals varies from country to country, ranging from a dozen for the French National Defence to the <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/news/interior-releases-2018-s-final-list-35-minerals-deemed-critical-us-national-security-and">35 metals</a> listed in the decree of President Donald Trump in 2018.</p>
<p>Why do we have these lists of metals? They reflect the major issues of the past, those of the wars of the 20th century and the conflicts feared for the future. More generally, they mark the technological and social crises that have hit our societies during the past 50 years and which have led to what the German sociologist <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/risk-society">Ulrich Beck has called the risk society</a>.</p>
<p>Each crisis has left in its wake new technological solutions, secure supply chains and an increased awareness of the dependence on various metals. Here are a few examples.</p>
<h2>From oil to gold</h2>
<p>In 1973, the oil crisis highlighted the energy fragility of most developed countries. Some countries turned to nuclear power, others to hydroelectricity. Uranium mines were put into production everywhere, from Saskatchewan to Niger. The price of ore soared in 1978 and production peaked in 1980.</p>
<p>The terrorist crisis of 2001 in turn accelerated the development of information technology in the defence industries and the consumption of high-tech metals increased accordingly. The price of tantalum reached its highest point in 2000 and world production peaked in 2004. This demand encouraged artisanal production in eastern Congo, which has been a centre of conflict for 20 years.</p>
<p>The nuclear crises following the 1986 Chernobyl and 2011 Fukushima accidents encouraged a shift to metal-intensive renewable energies, particularly wind power. The price of rare-earth elements exploded to a peak in 2010 and production doubled in the following decade.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389581/original/file-20210315-17-1y54naj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black and white photograph of ore" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389581/original/file-20210315-17-1y54naj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389581/original/file-20210315-17-1y54naj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389581/original/file-20210315-17-1y54naj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389581/original/file-20210315-17-1y54naj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389581/original/file-20210315-17-1y54naj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389581/original/file-20210315-17-1y54naj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389581/original/file-20210315-17-1y54naj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An image of the rare ore and radite at the Kwyjibo Project in North Shore, Qué.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Authors)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Finally, in 2008, the financial crisis weakened global markets and led to a resumption of gold purchases, particularly by the Russian and Chinese central banks, which helped support the price of the precious metal.</p>
<p>It is therefore understandable that each crisis is accompanied by new needs in minerals and the need to secure these new metal sectors.</p>
<h2>Metals and health issues</h2>
<p>Metals have been used for human health for thousands of years. <a href="https://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/ayurvedic-treatments">Ayurveda</a>, a traditional medicine that has been practised for 3,000 years in India, employs lead, mercury and arsenic to treat various ailments. Toxic in excessive quantities, these metals can, however, become indispensable in certain medicines and medical and orthopedic equipment.</p>
<p>Today, pharmacology uses more than a dozen metals or metalloids for various conditions: iron for anemia, bismuth, cobalt and nickel for gastric problems, lithium for depression, antimony for leishmaniasis, platinum or radioactive metals for cancer, arsenic for psoriasis. Gold can even help with the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.</p>
<p>Metals are also widely used in prostheses: a mouth treated by a dental technician could contain up to 32 different metals! Medical imaging also uses many metals, from X-rays to nuclear medicine. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is based on rare-earth magnets, while 20 per cent of the world’s gadolinium is used for solutions that increase the contrast of NMR images.</p>
<h2>Metals and the COVID-19 crisis</h2>
<p>And COVID-19? Metals are found in both the prevention and treatment of this new disease.</p>
<p>Copper has been a favourite <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/copper-virus-kill-180974655/">for creating anti-microbial surfaces</a>, which can reduce hospital outbreaks and kill viruses and bacteria in less than two hours. Zinc can boost the immune system and has already been used against viruses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389921/original/file-20210316-19-1f95ygm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="two men leaving a helicopter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389921/original/file-20210316-19-1f95ygm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389921/original/file-20210316-19-1f95ygm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389921/original/file-20210316-19-1f95ygm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389921/original/file-20210316-19-1f95ygm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389921/original/file-20210316-19-1f95ygm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389921/original/file-20210316-19-1f95ygm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389921/original/file-20210316-19-1f95ygm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rare metals exploration, North Rae Project in Ungava, Qué.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Authors)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Thus, in addition to strategic metals at the heart of conflicts, there are metals that are essential to health. The COVID-19 pandemic caused shortages of hygiene and pharmaceutical products. Advanced medical equipment, full of electronic components and therefore high-value metals, was sometimes lacking.</p>
<p>Most western countries depend on imported metals. It is therefore time to seriously discern what is really indispensable, what essential metals are in the health sector and how to guarantee their supply for use in the next health crises.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156358/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michel Jébrak receives research funding from public (the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies, also known as FRQNT) and private (mining companies) organizations. He is a member of the Ordre des Géologues du Québec. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yann Gunzburger receives funding from public organizations and, in the form of sponsorships, from private companies, particularly in the context of a research and training chair on the relationship between mining projects and territories. He is a member of the Société de l'Industrie Minérale.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack-Pierre Piguet ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Iron fights anemia. Bismuth relieves gastric problems. Lithium acts against depression and gold can treat rheumatoid arthritis. Metals are precious tools for good health.Michel Jébrak, professeur émérite en ressources minérales, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Jack-Pierre Piguet, Professeur, Laboratoire GeoRessources, Université de LorraineYann Gunzburger, Professeur des universités, laboratoire GeoRessources, Université de LorraineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1371642020-04-28T04:16:00Z2020-04-28T04:16:00ZCutting ‘green tape’ may be good politicking, but it’s bad policy. Here are 5 examples of regulation failure<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330612/original/file-20200427-145499-5uucvm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C42%2C3989%2C2975&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The eastern tributary in the Woronora drinking water catchment </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Wright</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Debate about how Australia will emerge from the coronavirus pandemic is heating up. As part of the economic recovery, business groups have renewed calls to cut “green tape” – environmental regulation that new projects, such as new mines, must follow. </p>
<p>In response, federal environment minister Sussan Ley <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/apr/23/coalition-is-aiming-to-change-australias-environment-laws-before-review-is-finished?CMP=share_btn_tw">wants to introduce</a> new legislation to cut green tape and speed up project approvals. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-it-comes-to-climate-change-australias-mining-giants-are-an-accessory-to-the-crime-124077">When it comes to climate change, Australia's mining giants are an accessory to the crime</a>
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<p>However a major <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/about/review">ten-yearly review</a> of the federal government’s <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/about">key environment legislation</a> is not due to be finished until October. </p>
<p>Cutting green tape is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/pm/scott-morrison-promises-to-cut-so-called-green-tape/11093248">a long-held aim</a> of the Morrison government, which claims excessive environmental regulation unfairly stifles businesses.</p>
<p>But this isn’t the case. In my 30 years of experience researching water pollution, “green tape” has not translated into effective environmental regulation of industry. In fact, I’m yet to see a coal mining operation that’s effectively regulated after approved through the NSW and federal environmental assessment processes.</p>
<p>Here are five examples that show how existing environmental regulations have done little to prevent pollution and toxic chemicals from entering the environment. </p>
<h2>1. Closed mines pollute for decades</h2>
<p>My research on water pollution from coal mines in the Sydney basin routinely reveals inadequate environmental regulation. I’ve repeatedly uncovered long-standing environmental issues the industry doesn’t seem to learn from, such as pollution continually leaching from active and closed mines. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-should-we-do-with-australias-50-000-abandoned-mines-18197">What should we do with Australia's 50,000 abandoned mines?</a>
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<p>As part of my PhD research in 2002/3, I <a href="https://www.academia.edu/20983552/Comparison_of_Sewage_and_Coal-Mine_Wastes_on_Stream_Macroinvertebrates_Within_an_Otherwise_Clean_Upland_Catchment_Southeastern_Australia">studied Canyon Colliery</a> – a coal mine deep in the Blue Mountains that closed in 1997. The mine constantly releases large volumes of toxic zinc and nickel contaminated water from the flooded underground workings into an otherwise pristine mountain stream.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.academia.edu/20983552/Comparison_of_Sewage_and_Coal-Mine_Wastes_on_Stream_Macroinvertebrates_Within_an_Otherwise_Clean_Upland_Catchment_Southeastern_Australia">caused ecological damage</a> in the Grose River, including a steep reduction in species and numbers of river invertebrates below the entry of the mine wastes into the river. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330616/original/file-20200427-145560-2wuomm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330616/original/file-20200427-145560-2wuomm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330616/original/file-20200427-145560-2wuomm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330616/original/file-20200427-145560-2wuomm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330616/original/file-20200427-145560-2wuomm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330616/original/file-20200427-145560-2wuomm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330616/original/file-20200427-145560-2wuomm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330616/original/file-20200427-145560-2wuomm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Contaminated drainage washing out of the closed canyon mine in Blue Mountains National Park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Wright</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s now 23 years since the mining stopped, but the pollution continues – testimony of weak and ineffective environmental regulation. And it will probably last for centuries. </p>
<p>The Canyon Mine is just one of thousands of contaminated, derelict mining and industrial sites dotted around Australia lacking environmental controls. </p>
<h2>2. Wollangambe River</h2>
<p>Environmental regulation has become more stringent in the last 25 years thanks to <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/about">legislation</a> introduced by the Howard government in 1999, and NSW’s <a href="https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1997/156">Protection of the Environment Operations Act</a> introduced in 1997. </p>
<p>But despite this legislation, many new and active mines that lead to environmental damage have been assessed and approved.</p>
<p>Research by my team at Western Sydney University has documented pollution from an active Blue Mountains coal mine, Clarence Colliery. </p>
<p>The mine caused <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313538720_Coal_Mine_Water_Pollution_and_Ecological_Impairment_of_One_of_Australia's_Most_'Protected'_High_Conservation-Value_Rivers">severe metal contamination and ecological damage</a> to the Wollangambe, a World Heritage River. Our <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-our-research-is-helping-clean-up-coal-mining-pollution-in-a-world-heritage-listed-river-74253">research</a> led to the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) in 2017 imposing more effective restrictions on the release of toxic pollutants from the mine. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330611/original/file-20200427-145553-w56jqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330611/original/file-20200427-145553-w56jqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330611/original/file-20200427-145553-w56jqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330611/original/file-20200427-145553-w56jqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330611/original/file-20200427-145553-w56jqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330611/original/file-20200427-145553-w56jqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330611/original/file-20200427-145553-w56jqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330611/original/file-20200427-145553-w56jqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author sampling water in the contaminated Wollangambe River.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite approvals from both the NSW and federal governments, it seemed no one had noticed the magnitude of pollution from poorly treated mine wastes until our research was conducted. This caused ecological degradation to more than 20 kilometres of the highly “protected” Wollangambe River.</p>
<p>The Conversation contacted Centennial Coal, which owns Clarence Colliery, for comment. They directed us to their <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1014/CLARENCE_Environmental_Protection_Licence_170317.pdf?1588031385">statements in 2017</a>, when the EPA finished a five-year review of Clarence’s Environmental Protection Licence (EPL). Then, the company said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As a result of this review Clarence will operate under a new EPL which will include agreed reductions in metal concentration limits for all water discharged to the Wollangambe. Salinity targets will also be set at 100 EC (electrical conductivity).</p>
<p>Clarence will also be required to comply with a Pollution Reduction Programme (PRP), also issued by the EPA, which will result in Centennial formalising options to address all water quality issues and to meet specific water quality milestones. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>3. Georges River</h2>
<p>In 2010 I made a submission as part of the environmental assessment for an extension of BHP Billiton’s <a href="https://www.south32.net/docs/default-source/illawarra-coal-bulli-seam-operations/bulli-seam-operations-project-environmental-assessment/executive-summary.pdf?sfvrsn=2a003a22_9">Bulli Seam coal mining operations</a> (now owned by South 32). </p>
<p>This involved reading thousands of pages of <a href="https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/project/13121">consultant reports</a> explaining how the expanded operation would attempt to avoid or minimise impacts to the environment.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1253796164320686080"}"></div></p>
<p>The mine extension was approved. Despite the many “green tape” hurdles, the approved mine was allowed to discharge wastes which our research discovered contained pollutants that were hazardous to river life in the Georges River. These included salt, nickel, zinc, aluminium and arsenic polluting the upper Georges River.</p>
<p>Environmental groups took the <a href="https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/271731/regulator-ignores-georges-river-toxins-for-a-decade/">coal mine owner to court</a> in 2012, and I provided <a href="https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/-/media/04F6DEE98AF644D5921134775DFC1FB9.ashx?la=en">my evidence</a> for the court case to the NSW EPA. </p>
<p>The EPA has since <a href="https://www.south32.net/our-business/australia/illawarra-metallurgical-coal/documents">worked with</a> the coal miner to reduce pollution from the mine. </p>
<h2>4. Coal mining under Sydney’s water supply</h2>
<p>Many were stunned <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/31/fears-for-water-quality-after-nsw-allows-coalmining-extension-under-sydneys-worona-reservoir">on March 16 this year</a>, when the NSW government signed off on new coal mine “longwalls” directly under Woronora Reservoir, part of Sydney’s drinking water supply. </p>
<p>Longwall mining is the continuous mechanical removal of coal in underground mines that allows the roof of the mine to cave in after the coal is removed. </p>
<p>So what can they do to a river? <a href="https://www.thestuffnews.com/2018/09/16/tahmoor-mine-ordered-to-repair-redbank-creek-damage-in-nsw/">Redbank Creek</a> near Picton – 65 kilometres southwest of Sydney – provides a sad testimony. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330609/original/file-20200427-145518-mi0h9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330609/original/file-20200427-145518-mi0h9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330609/original/file-20200427-145518-mi0h9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330609/original/file-20200427-145518-mi0h9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330609/original/file-20200427-145518-mi0h9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330609/original/file-20200427-145518-mi0h9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330609/original/file-20200427-145518-mi0h9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330609/original/file-20200427-145518-mi0h9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Redbank Creek no longer flows normally, but has isolated pools of contaminated water.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Wright</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For nearly a decade, I <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283231885_Subsidence_from_an_Underground_Coal_Mine_and_Mine_Wastewater_Discharge_Causing_Water_Pollution_and_Degradation_of_Aquatic_Ecosystems">documented damage</a> where falling ground levels (subsidence) caused by longwalls led to extensive damage to the creek channel. </p>
<p>The land surface fell more than one meter. This <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-17/sydney-coal-mine-ordered-to-repair-cracked-creek/10253148">caused cracking</a>, warping and buckling of the creek channel. It now rarely holds water in many stretches. Isolated stagnant pools in the creek now accumulate saline and metal-contaminated water containing little aquatic life except for mosquitoes. </p>
<p>The mine responsible for this damage, Tahmoor Colliery, is seeking <a href="https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/project/10966">to extend</a> its operations and the NSW government is currently considering the development.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1244254175363575810"}"></div></p>
<p>This mine also <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/344/1/012003/pdf">disposes of</a> about <a href="http://www.simec.com/mining/tahmoor-coking-coal-operations/publications/epl1389-monitoring-reports/">four to eight megalitres</a> of poorly treated wastes each day to the Bargo River, a popular freshwater swimming river for south-western Sydney. </p>
<h2>5. PFAS contamination</h2>
<p>Despite the existence of “green tape”, unforeseen problems have left Australia with many contaminated sites that may never be fully cleaned up. </p>
<p>We’ve seen this in the dozens of locations across Australia where toxic PFAS chemicals <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-blanket-ban-on-toxic-forever-chemicals-is-good-for-people-and-animals-127879">have contaminated</a> land, water, ecosystems and people.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-blanket-ban-on-toxic-forever-chemicals-is-good-for-people-and-animals-127879">A blanket ban on toxic 'forever chemicals' is good for people and animals</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These were <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/contamination/9032140">previously regarded</a> as safe chemical additives, for example in fire fighting foam, particularly at military bases. </p>
<p>Such contamination is very expensive to remediate and in February this year landholders near three defence bases reached a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-27/pfas-federal-class-action-setttlement/12006184">financial settlement</a> for the PFAS damage to their property. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1253439988064083974"}"></div></p>
<p>“Green tape” is an emotive word implying unnecessary and slow environmental regulation that delays major projects. </p>
<p>Given my own direct experience involved poorly regulated coal mines, I shudder to imagine the environmental degradation “fast-tracked” environmental regulation will lead to. </p>
<hr>
<p>The Conversation also contacted SIMEC, which owns Tahmoor Colliery. A spokesperson said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Mining in NSW is governed by stringent state and federal laws enforced by a number of government departments and regulators. SIMEC Mining acquired the Tahmoor Coking Coal Mine two years ago and takes its environmental, compliance and social responsibilities seriously.</p>
<p>Tahmoor Mine has been operating for well over 40 years. We acknowledge that historical mine activity did impact Redbank Creek and that this was self-reported to the regulator. Since then, SIMEC has worked closely with the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) to enact a comprehensive plan to rehabilitate the creek. Recent rainfall has demonstrated the success of this work and we are confident that the rehabilitation works will restore the creek.</p>
<p>While our operations do produce water as part of the mining process, this is treated and monitored in accordance with our licence conditions. The quality of this water is mandated by our environment protection licence issued and monitored by the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). Typically, the water monitoring results are well below those limits allowed by the licence. To further improve water quality, SIMEC Mining has committed to the installation of a new water treatment plant.</p>
<p>Water management has been a key focus for SIMEC in the planning of the proposed Tahmoor South extension. We have commissioned extensive specialist assessments to understand any potential impact on ground and surface water. If our extension is approved, these water assets will be carefully monitored throughout the life of the mine to ensure that should any issue occur, it is detected early and resolved efficiently.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137164/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Wright receives research and consulting funding from local, state and local Governments. </span></em></p>In my 30 years of research, I keep uncovering long-standing environmental issues the mining industry doesn’t seem to learn from.Ian A. Wright, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1106662019-01-29T19:50:10Z2019-01-29T19:50:10ZDam collapse at Brazilian mine exposes grave safety problems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255890/original/file-20190128-108355-1gnsmgi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After 48 hours of frantic effort, Brazilian rescue workers have called off their search for survivors at a collapsed dam in Minas Gerais state.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Brazil-Dam-Collapse/a6091160bbce4fdaa15b967086b16891/12/0">AP Photo/Leo Correa</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Brazilian rescue workers <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/01/28/689262612/brazil-dam-disaster-60-people-are-dead-with-hundreds-more-missing">continue searching</a> for more than 300 people missing after a dam burst at an iron ore mine over the weekend.</p>
<p>The dam, which ruptured on Jan. 25 close to the Brazilian town of Brumadinho, Minas Gerais state, released a muddy sludge of watery mine waste that engulfed buildings, vehicles and roads. At least 65 people are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/29/world/americas/brazil-dam-arrests.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage">confirmed dead</a>, and the official toll will rise as the missing are declared dead.</p>
<p>The catastrophe has exposed the dangers of Brazil’s aging dam system. A recent <a href="http://www3.ana.gov.br/portal/ANA/noticias/45-barragens-preocupam-orgaos-fiscalizadores-aponta-relatorio-de-seguranca-de-barragens-elaborado-pela-ana">government report</a> found nearly 1,800 dams in Brazil at high or moderate risk of failure. The figure is all the more stunning because the report’s authors evaluated just one-fifth of Brazil’s nearly 24,000 registered dams. </p>
<h2>Brazil’s unsafe dams</h2>
<p>Dams are an environmentally and economically risky business, as our <a href="https://www.washington.edu/news/2018/01/22/small-hydroelectric-dams-increase-globally-with-little-research-regulations/">global research on hydropower</a> and many <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/dam-building-binge-amazon-will-shred-ecosystems-scientists-warn">other studies</a> have shown. </p>
<p>Beyond the loss of human life, the economic damages of a dam breach can <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-oroville-cost-20180905-story.html">soar into the billions</a>. An entire region’s natural and cultural heritage may be decimated by flooding, and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazonian-dirt-roads-are-choking-brazils-tropical-streams-89226">freshwater ecosystems</a> that humans and fish alike rely on compromised.</p>
<p>Yet dozens of countries worldwide, including the United States and Canada, use dams to store water, generate electricity and trap mine waste, or “tailings.” And there’s no easy or cheap way to dismantle or fix aging dams.</p>
<p>The Brumadinho dam collapse is the second dam accident in Brazil involving one of the world’s largest iron ore producers, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/3f82b07c-2263-11e9-8ce6-5db4543da632">Vale S.A.</a>, in recent years. </p>
<p>In November 2015, two of Vale S.A.’s tailings dams – that is, dams used to contain the watery runoff of nearby mines – also collapsed in Minas Gerais state, where some mountains are made almost entirely of iron ore. </p>
<p>That disaster killed 19 people and spewed over 10 billion gallons of water and mine sediment downstream, contaminating 441 miles of Brazil’s Rio Doce river before reaching the Atlantic Ocean. It is considered the country’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1679007316301566">worst environmental tragedy ever</a>. </p>
<p>Repairing broken dams in Brazil can cost between US$40,000 and $10 million <a href="http://www3.ana.gov.br/portal/ANA/noticias/45-barragens-preocupam-orgaos-fiscalizadores-aponta-relatorio-de-seguranca-de-barragens-elaborado-pela-ana">per dam</a>, according to Brazil’s national water authority. That is a financial hurdle for a country that has been in deep recession since 2015.</p>
<p>But the social, economic and environmental costs of letting old dams fail may be higher. </p>
<h2>Reducing the risk of dam failure</h2>
<p>The environmental damage is particularly acute when tailings dams collapse, since the large amounts of mining waste they release is highly toxic. </p>
<p>Of the roughly 3,500 tailings dams worldwide, over 300 collapse each year. Two to five of those are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1679007316301566">“major” failures like Brazil’s</a>. </p>
<p>Prompted by this impending danger, <a href="https://www.grida.no/publications/383">the United Nations Environmental Program recently issued recommendations</a> for enhancing tailings dam safety around the world. </p>
<p>Mining companies should strive for zero-failure, it said, warning that “safety attributes should be evaluated separately from economic considerations, and cost should not be the determining factor.” </p>
<p>The report also suggests the creation of a global database of mine sites and tailings storage facilities to better track, and ultimately predict, dam failures.</p>
<p>When old dams have become too costly to maintain or repair, removal is generally considered the best course. Dismantling old dams, as the <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/348/6234/496">United States</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05182-1">Europe</a> are increasingly doing, also restores freshwater ecosystems that have been impacted by decades of damming.</p>
<p>Brazil is <a href="https://onorte.net/minas-do-norte/pesquisa-estuda-a-remo%C3%A7%C3%A3o-de-barragem-no-rio-pandeiros-1.481999">considering decommissioning at least one dam</a>, in the country’s north, due to biodiversity concerns and because it no longer efficiently produces hydroelectricity.</p>
<p>Since the country has federal guidelines regulating the treatment of old dams, the decision about whether to repair, dismantle or continue operating dams is largely left to state officials. Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has promised to further <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/29/the-river-is-dying-the-vast-ecological-cost-of-brazils-mining-disasters">deregulate the mining industry</a>.</p>
<p>That setup, we fear, leaves the country ill-equipped to deal with its impending dam crisis. </p>
<h2>Technological improvements</h2>
<p>To increase the safety of its mines, Brazil and other countries could look beyond dams for storing iron ore waste.</p>
<p>New technology has created some promising <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652614004429">alternative solutions</a>.</p>
<p>These include approaches that create a paste of thickened mine tailings, which may then be stored either above ground or in impermeable plastic sheathes below the surface. This method both makes it less likely that the contamination seeps into the ground. It also reduces water use. However, it is expensive.</p>
<p>Constructed and engineered wetlands can also act as treatment systems – a kind of faux natural filter. </p>
<p>Wetlands are affordable to build and operate and require relatively little maintenance. Technology can <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/bioreactors">enhance</a> their natural capacity to remove contamination from wastewater. </p>
<p>However, mines must have sufficient available land to support wetlands, and the these systems – like all wetlands – don’t work as efficiently during cold winter months.</p>
<p>Every mine is uniquely situated in terms of its geography, physical setting, environmental context and human population. None of these waste-storage systems alone will make tailings dams obsolete. </p>
<p>But Brazil’s Brumadinho dam collapse is the world’s latest reminder of the risk posed by old and unsafe dams. With national safety guidelines informed by science and stricter enforcement, countries can reduce the chance of a disaster like this happening again.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nearly 1,800 Brazilian dams are at risk of failure, according to the government. Fixing them is expensive – but ignoring aging dams can have considerable social, economic and environmental costs.Julian D. Olden, Professor of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of WashingtonJean Vitule, Ecology Professor, Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR)Paulo dos Santos Pompeu, Associate Professor, Federal University of LavrasThiago B. A. Couto, Doctoral candidate, School of Aquatic and Fishery Science, University of WashingtonThiago Vinicius Trento Occhi, Freshwater Ecologist, Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1060732018-12-16T19:21:07Z2018-12-16T19:21:07ZAfterlife of the mine: lessons in how towns remake challenging sites<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249385/original/file-20181207-128211-sd2oz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Old mine sites suffer many fates, which range from simply being abandoned to being incorporated into towns or turned into an open-air museum in the case of Gwalia, Western Australia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The question of what to do with abandoned mine sites confronts both regional communities and mining companies in the wake of Australia’s recent mining boom. The companies are increasingly required to consider site remediation and reuse. Ex-mining sites do <a href="https://theconversation.com/sending-mines-to-rehab-good-for-health-good-for-the-environment-2216">present challenges</a>, but also <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-mine-to-wine-creative-uses-for-old-holes-in-the-ground-3245">hold opportunities</a> for regional areas. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-to-rehab-the-mining-downturn-risks-making-mine-clean-ups-even-more-of-an-afterthought-58502">No to rehab? The mining downturn risks making mine clean-ups even more of an afterthought</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Old mine sites can provide a foundation for unique urban patterns, functions and transformations, as they have done in the past. It is useful to look at historical gold-mining regions, such as the Victorian goldfields, to understand how these sites have shaped the organisation and character of their towns.</p>
<p>Research by The University of Queensland’s Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation suggests Australia has <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-should-we-do-with-australias-50-000-abandoned-mines-18197">more than 50,000 abandoned mine sites</a>. Some are in isolated places. But many others are close to or embedded within regional settlements that developed specifically to support and enable mining activity. </p>
<p>Abandoned mines present unique challenges for remediation:</p>
<ul>
<li>the sites are large (sometimes enormous)</li>
<li>their landscapes are <a href="https://theconversation.com/restoration-wont-work-a-new-way-to-fix-old-mines-21236">environmentally and structurally degraded</a></li>
<li>sites are <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-children-exposed-to-toxic-mining-metals-do-worse-at-school-48343">often contaminated</a> by substances used in processing – like arsenic in the case of historical goldmines. </li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/soil-arsenic-from-mining-waste-poses-long-term-health-threats-5901">Soil arsenic from mining waste poses long-term health threats</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These characteristics exclude mining sites from reuse for activities such as residential development. The sites are often considered fundamentally problematic. At times former mining sites have been reused opportunistically, accommodating functions and uses that could co-exist with the compromised physical landscape.</p>
<h2>How have old mines shaped our towns?</h2>
<p>The industrial patterns established during the Victorian gold-mining boom are traceable through observing the street layout and the location of civic buildings, public functions and open spaces of former gold-mining towns. </p>
<p>For example, in the gold-mining town of Stawell, a pattern of informal and winding tracks was established between mining functions. These tracks later provided the basis for the town’s street organisation and land division, including the meandering Main Street, which forms the central spine of the town.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249391/original/file-20181207-128214-lptzj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249391/original/file-20181207-128214-lptzj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249391/original/file-20181207-128214-lptzj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249391/original/file-20181207-128214-lptzj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249391/original/file-20181207-128214-lptzj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249391/original/file-20181207-128214-lptzj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249391/original/file-20181207-128214-lptzj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249391/original/file-20181207-128214-lptzj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Left: Cascading dams in Stawell are remnants of the industrial crushing processes that were linked together along naturally occurring gullies. Right: Looking from Cato Lake towards Stawell Town Hall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Harper, Laura</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cato Lake, behind Main Street, was transformed from the tailings dam of the Victoria Crushing Mill. St Georges Crushing Mill and its associated dams became the Stawell Wetlands. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249388/original/file-20181207-128214-1yar2qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249388/original/file-20181207-128214-1yar2qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249388/original/file-20181207-128214-1yar2qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249388/original/file-20181207-128214-1yar2qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249388/original/file-20181207-128214-1yar2qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249388/original/file-20181207-128214-1yar2qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249388/original/file-20181207-128214-1yar2qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249388/original/file-20181207-128214-1yar2qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Current residential allotments in Stawell overlaid with the geographical survey of 1887. The gaps correspond to mining claims, crushing mills, tailings dams and other industrial processes associated with mining.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Harper, Laura/Map underlay from Mining Department of Melbourne</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other mining sites were transformed into the car park for Stawell Regional Health, the track for Stawell Harness Racing Club and the ovals for the local secondary college. A survey of public open spaces in Stawell shows that over time former mining sites accommodated most of the town’s public functions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249389/original/file-20181207-128205-23o0pw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249389/original/file-20181207-128205-23o0pw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249389/original/file-20181207-128205-23o0pw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249389/original/file-20181207-128205-23o0pw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249389/original/file-20181207-128205-23o0pw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249389/original/file-20181207-128205-23o0pw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249389/original/file-20181207-128205-23o0pw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249389/original/file-20181207-128205-23o0pw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Open space in Stawell showing the correlation of past mining sites with public function:
1. Central Park – public reserve est. 1860s.
2. Cato Park and Bowls Club – was Victoria Co. Crushing Mill
3. Stawell Regional Health – built over a mullock heap associated with the St George Co. Crushing Mill.
4. Wetland Precinct – was part of St George Co. Crushing Mill
5. Stawell Harness Racing Club – was part of Wimmera Co. Crushing Mill
6. Stawell Secondary College and grounds – was part of Wimmera Co. Crushing Mill
7. Borough of Stawell reservoir (disused) – was part of Wimmera Co. Crushing Mill
8. Federation University (Stawell Campus) – was School of Mines and prior, St George Lead (surface diggings)
9. Stawell State School – public reserve established in 1865
10. North Park Recreation Reserve – was part of Galatea Co. Mine / Grants Crushing Mill
11. Stawell Leisure Complex – was part of Galatea Co. Mine / Grants Crushing Mill
12. Oriental Co. Mine Historic Area – was Oriental Co. Mine
13. Moonlight-cum-Magdala Mine Historic Area – was Magdala Mine / Moonlight Co. Mine
14. Big Hill reserve, lookout and arboretum – site of multiple claims including Sloan and Scotchman, Cross Reef Consolidated and Federal Claim</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Harper, Laura</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many other Victorian goldfields towns developed in similar ways to Stawell. These towns have lakes or other water bodies in and around their central urban areas that were born out of mines. </p>
<p>Calembeen Park and St Georges Lake in Creswick and Lake Daylesford in Daylesford were all formed through the planned collapsing of multiple underground mines to create urban outdoor swimming spots. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249390/original/file-20181207-128211-1n7vkg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249390/original/file-20181207-128211-1n7vkg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249390/original/file-20181207-128211-1n7vkg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249390/original/file-20181207-128211-1n7vkg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249390/original/file-20181207-128211-1n7vkg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249390/original/file-20181207-128211-1n7vkg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249390/original/file-20181207-128211-1n7vkg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249390/original/file-20181207-128211-1n7vkg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Calembeen Park in Creswick is a swimming hole with a diving board that takes advantage of the extreme depth of the lake formed through collapsing several underground mines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Bendigo, the ornamental Lake Weeroona was formed on the site of the alluvial diggings. Other sites in these towns became parks, ovals, rubbish tips and public functions that could be accommodated on the degraded land.</p>
<p>Abandoned mine sites outside towns have also been used for unique purposes. Deemed unsuitable for use by the farming and forestry industries, these sites have developed into havens for flora and fauna, including endangered species. A 2015 article in Wildlife Australia magazine details instances of the Eastern Bentwing-bat and the Australian Ghost Bat <a href="https://www.forestrycorporation.com.au/about/releases/safeguarding-the-public-and-protecting-threatened-bats-at-mogo-state-forest">adopting abandoned gold mines</a> as replacement habitat for breeding and raising their young. </p>
<p>The neglect of other gold-mining sites has preserved historical remnants by default. The <a href="https://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/castlemaine-diggings-national-heritage-park">Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park</a> in Victoria is one example. Here, water races, puddling machines and crushing batteries are hidden amid dense bushland. </p>
<p>The town of Gwalia in Western Australia, abandoned after its mine closed, has been transformed into a <a href="http://www.gwalia.org.au/">town-sized open-air museum</a>.</p>
<h2>And what uses are possible in future?</h2>
<p>Historical gold-mining sites in or near towns continue to be adapted for unusual uses. The Stawell Goldmine on Big Hill in Stawell is being converted to accommodate the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (<a href="https://www.darkmatter.org.au/allposts/2018/11/27/sabre-south-and-supl">SUPL</a>), a research laboratory one kilometre below the surface. Cosmic waves are unable to infiltrate the abandoned mining tunnels, so the conditions are ideal for exploring the theorised existence of dark matter.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249565/original/file-20181209-128208-va1mfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249565/original/file-20181209-128208-va1mfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249565/original/file-20181209-128208-va1mfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249565/original/file-20181209-128208-va1mfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249565/original/file-20181209-128208-va1mfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249565/original/file-20181209-128208-va1mfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249565/original/file-20181209-128208-va1mfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249565/original/file-20181209-128208-va1mfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Working on the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory deep underground in an old mine tunnel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Swinburne University</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/digging-for-cosmic-gold-the-hunt-for-dark-matter-at-the-bottom-of-a-gold-mine-69890">Digging for cosmic gold: the hunt for dark matter at the bottom of a gold mine</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In Bendigo it is proposed to use the extensive historical mine shafts under
the town to <a href="https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/renewable-energy/pumped-hydro">generate and store pumped hydroelectricity</a>. This scheme, recently explored as a <a href="https://www.bsg.org.au/bendigo-pumped-hydro-project/">feasibility study by Bendigo Sustainability Group</a>, would use solar panels to create power to pump underground water up through the mining shafts to be stored at the surface. When power is required the water would be released through turbines to generate electricity.</p>
<p>The lack of demand for remediating sites for market-led uses (such as urban development, farming or forestry) broadens their potential for uses that might otherwise seem marginal or improbable, such as new forms of public space. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-mine-to-wine-creative-uses-for-old-holes-in-the-ground-3245">From mine to wine: creative uses for old holes in the ground</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The scale and remoteness of many post-industrial mining sites in Australia – such as Western Australia’s <a href="http://www.superpit.com.au/">Super Pit gold mine</a>, which is 3.5 kilometres long and 600 metres deep – might mean that approaches to reuse different from those taken with historical goldmines are required. We don’t have to wait until a mine’s closure to think about how it might be used in the future.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Conversation is co-publishing articles with <a href="http://www.alva.uwa.edu.au/community/futurewest">Future West (Australian Urbanism)</a>, produced by the University of Western Australia’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts. These articles look towards the future of urbanism, taking Perth and Western Australia as its reference point, with the latest series focusing on the regions. You can read other articles <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/future-west-30248">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106073/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The industrial patterns of mining shaped many Australian towns, which found varied uses for disused mine sites. The mining boom ensures the challenges these sites present will be with us a long time.Laura Harper, Lecturer in Architecture, Monash UniversityAlysia Bennett, Lecturer and Researcher, Department of Architecture, Monash UniversityRoss Brewin, Senior Lecturer, Department of Architecture, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1034752018-09-23T18:16:32Z2018-09-23T18:16:32ZThe ‘natural resource curse’ and artisanal mines: the case of Burkina Faso<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236901/original/file-20180918-158234-ugx1mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">file aqomku</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Is there a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse">“natural resources curse”</a> as economists call it? This burning question arises in all resource-rich countries where the majority of the population is living in poverty. Political instability, conflicts, or poorly run institutions are all country-level explanations. But is it enough? Another important aspect of the question is that resources can be extracted in an artisanal or industrial way. The effects on local populations then differ widely.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.afd.fr/en/gold-digger-and-machine-evidence-distributive-effect-artisanal-and-industrial-gold-rushes-burkina-faso">recent article</a>, we explored the case of Burkina Faso. In five years, this West African country has become the fourth largest gold exporter in Africa. The surge in gold production was triggered by the strong growth of the gold price during the 2000s, which resulted in the creation of eight industrial mines between 2007 and 2014. The number of artisanal mines increased from 200 in 2003 to more than 700 in 2014. Despite this, 43% of the population was living below the poverty line in 2014.</p>
<p>Artisanal mines have a bad reputation. Extraction using traditional and labour-intensive techniques leads to serious health risks and environmental damage. The economic benefits are also assumed to be low because of their comparatively low yields compared to industrial mines.</p>
<p>However, these artisanal mines are central to the livelihood of more than <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/12458">100 million people</a> in the world today. In 2014, in Burkina Faso alone, 640,800 people worked in the extractive sector, or 3.6% of the country’s population. Virtually all of these people worked in artisanal mines (industrial mines employed around <a href="https://eiti.org/document/burkina-faso-2014-eiti-report">6,000 people</a> in 2014). Paradoxically, studies quantitatively measuring the effects of artisanal mines are extremely limited.</p>
<p>To try to understand the reality of the “natural resource curse” around artisanal and industrial mines, we compare in the article the standard of living of households living in the immediate vicinity of mines with the situation of those living further, before and after the mining boom. We look at household consumption, which is the best indicator of their economic resources in the absence of reliable income data. We benefit from geocoded data on surveyed households, industrial mines, declared artisanal mines, and geological zones of formation of Birimian green rocks, which constitute the main geological formation explaining the development of gold in Burkina Faso (see figure 1).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235425/original/file-20180907-90549-162ex3w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235425/original/file-20180907-90549-162ex3w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235425/original/file-20180907-90549-162ex3w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235425/original/file-20180907-90549-162ex3w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235425/original/file-20180907-90549-162ex3w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235425/original/file-20180907-90549-162ex3w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235425/original/file-20180907-90549-162ex3w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 1: Geocodes of the household surveys, artisanal mines, industrial mines and the Birimian green stone belt in Burkina Faso.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bazillier et Girard (2018)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Artisanal gold miners stimulate the local economy</h2>
<p>Our results indicate that artisanal mines have a strong positive effect on the standard of living of local populations. A 1% increase in the price of gold raises household consumption by 0.15%. During the gold price boom (2009 and 2014), these households consumed 10% more than households not living in close proximity to mines. Figure 2 summarizes these effects by comparing household consumption before and after the gold price explosion.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237540/original/file-20180921-129850-180rpd6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237540/original/file-20180921-129850-180rpd6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237540/original/file-20180921-129850-180rpd6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237540/original/file-20180921-129850-180rpd6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237540/original/file-20180921-129850-180rpd6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237540/original/file-20180921-129850-180rpd6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237540/original/file-20180921-129850-180rpd6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 2. Households around artisanal mines consume more when the gold price is high.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bazillier et Girard (2018)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Households benefiting from artisanal mines have two types of activities. Either they are households likely to diversify their economic activity, or they are households that benefit from a stronger local demand for goods and services because of the activity of gold miners. We show, for example, that households working in the public sector do not see their income changed by the gold price explosion, while the effects are strong for those working in agriculture, services and trade.</p>
<p>Artisanal gold mining also appears to complement and not substitute for agricultural activities, even when the price of gold is high. Artisanal mining is indeed a seasonal activity, mainly taking place in winter, when the work in the fields is limited.</p>
<h2>“Enclave” activities</h2>
<p>During the same 2007 to 2014 period, eight industrial gold mines opened. The volume of gold that has since been extracted largely exceeds that extracted in the artisanal mines. The production techniques used differ widely. Industrial mines are capital intensive but provide high wages to their few employees and may trigger increases in local demand. We compare the level of consumption of households living near industrial mines before and after the opening of these mines, compared to other households.</p>
<p>We do not observe any significant differences in consumption trajectories between households living within 25 kilometres of industrial mines and other households (see Figure 3). We thus observe no effect of industrial mines on the standard of living of local populations. This result is consistent with the work of <a href="https://books.google.fr/books/about/The_Strategy_of_Economic_Development.html">Alfred Hirschman</a>, who describes extractive activities as “enclave” activities with little effect on local development.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235428/original/file-20180907-90559-1oxd7se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235428/original/file-20180907-90559-1oxd7se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235428/original/file-20180907-90559-1oxd7se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235428/original/file-20180907-90559-1oxd7se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235428/original/file-20180907-90559-1oxd7se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235428/original/file-20180907-90559-1oxd7se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235428/original/file-20180907-90559-1oxd7se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 3: Households near industrial mines do not see their standard of living increase after the mining operations open.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bazillier et Girard (2018)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This does not, of course, prevent industrial mines from having other effects, particularly at the macroeconomic level be it through exports or state budget. According to the Ministry of Mines, mining export revenues are valued at CFAF 1,022 billion in 2016 (1.56 billion euros), and industrial mines have also contributed up to CFAF 190 billion (290 million euros) to the state budget.</p>
<h2>Rethinking mining policies</h2>
<p>While we do not find any effects related to the opening and expansion of industrial mines, we find a significant impact related to the rise of artisanal mines in Burkina Faso, which has resulted in an income increase of 5 cents in euros per day for households living close to them (for an average income of 50 cents in euros per day, i.e., a 10% increase). Our results therefore call for a better consideration of the importance of artisanal mines for local populations in mining policies.</p>
<p>Such policies could, for example, seek to best ensure the cohabitation of artisanal and industrial mines, which often target overlapping areas. This could maximize the benefits from mineral resources, both for the central state and local populations. Finally, there is the question of local investments made by industrial mines. Despite a policy of social responsibility displayed by most investors, these do not seem to have a systematic effect on the local standard of living.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoire Girard has received funding from the Labex Voltaire (ANR-10-LABX-100-01). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rémi Bazillier ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>In just a few years, Burkina Faso has become the fourth largest gold exporter in Africa. But with 43% of the population still below the poverty line, what are the local benefits?Rémi Bazillier, Professeur d'Economie, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonneVictoire Girard, Research fellow, Université d’OrléansLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/771132018-05-02T14:15:59Z2018-05-02T14:15:59ZHow mine dumps in South Africa affect the health of communities living nearby<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217221/original/file-20180502-153873-1edll4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Communities that live near mines are exposed to particles of dust from these mines which affects their health.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mining is a major economic activity in many developing countries. In South Africa, mining of gold, coal and other natural resources has played a significant role in the country’s economy, with both positive and negative consequences. </p>
<p>Mining companies are <a href="https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/CER-Mining-and-your-Community-Final-web.pdf">often criticised</a> for dumping waste without taking the necessary precautions. The result is a significant amount of air, soil and water pollution. </p>
<p>One particular area of concern is mine dumps which are made up of crushed, sand-like by-product refuse material, known as tailings, produced during the mining process. Mine dumps are made up of a complex mixture of metals and dust particles. This means that dust exposure can be high for communities living nearby, particularly during windy conditions and when it’s dry and vegetation cover is low. </p>
<p>An estimated <a href="https://www.health-e.org.za/2015/10/15/gautengs-mine-dumps-brimming-with-radioactive-uranium/">1.6 million people</a> live in informal and formal settlements on – or directly next to – mine dumps in South Africa. People living in these settings tend to be historically marginalised and, in the main, poor. </p>
<p>We set out <a href="https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-015-0018-7">to study</a> the effect of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4673552/">air pollution on these communities</a>. These are the first studies to look at the impact of dust particles from mine dumps on the health of children and elderly people. </p>
<p>We also considered other risk factors such as smoking habits, exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, age, sex, population group, occupational exposure history to dust and chemical fumes, main residential heating and cooking fuel type and the frequency of trucks passing near the residences. </p>
<p>Even after building in all these variables, we were able to find <a href="https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-015-0018-7">a definite association</a> between <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4673552/">higher levels</a> of asthma, pneumonia, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, wheeze and chronic cough among young and elderly people living close to mine dumps.</p>
<p>This is a major cause for concern particularly given that communities living near mine dumps are growing, and because respiratory diseases like asthma are becoming more prevalent. These two factors mean that South Africa’s health service faces increased strain. This should prompt the government to legislate dust control measures to protect communities. </p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>Asthma is a disease of the bronchial tubes in the lungs “airways”. People with asthma typical experience “wheezing”: a high-pitched whistling sound heard during breathing, especially when breathing out.</p>
<p>Globally, asthma and its symptoms tend to be more common among children and older people. In most <a href="http://www.globalasthmareport.org/burden/burden.php">high-prevalence countries</a>, such as Australia, Europe and South Africa factors responsible for increasing asthma rates are not fully understood, although environmental and lifestyle changes have been found to play the key role. </p>
<p>Our studies were conducted in two sets of communities. One set lived between one and two kilometres from mines meaning that they were exposed to the mine dust. The other lived five or kilometres from the mine dumps, meaning they were not exposed. There were five pre-selected five mine dumps in Gauteng and North West provinces of South Africa. The mine dumps were included in the study based on their size and the high population density around them. The social and demographic profiles of the exposed and unexposed communities was similar. </p>
<p>The studies were divided into three phases that included the cross-sectional studies, panel studies, personal and indoor air monitoring. The studies were conducted among 13 to 14-year-old children and people 55 years and older. </p>
<p>Our research showed that exposure to mine dust or living close to a mine is a risk factor for asthma. This may be attributed to the fact that inhaled dust particles can potentially harm the respiratory system.</p>
<p>We found that children living in communities close to mine dumps were more inclined to show symptoms of asthma like having a wheezing chest along with a runny nose, congested nasal passages and post nasal drip (rhinoconjunctivitis). There was a higher prevalence of asthma symptoms such as current wheeze and rhinoconjunctivitis in children living near to mine dumps (21.1% and 32.9%) compared with other studies conducted in cities like Cape Town (20.3% and 20.7%) and Polokwane (18.0% and 16.9%). </p>
<p>The prevalence of asthma among the children in communities located near mine dumps – between 10% and 13% – was consistent with other studies conducted in South Africa. </p>
<p>And among older people, we found the rate of asthma to be 17.3%. This was significantly higher than similar studies done in the US where the rate was found to be between 4% and 10% and Australia (7.5% to 12.5%). There aren’t any comparable studies for other developing countries. </p>
<h2>Changing the status quo</h2>
<p>New long term effective dust control measures should be researched and implemented. This is because asthma is becoming a burden across the world and because communities living near the base of mine dumps is growing. This means that there’s the real potential that asthma will be added to the burden of non-communicable diseases in South Africa. </p>
<p>The mining industry has in the past, implemented various strategies to reduce pollution from mine dumps. This has included spraying mine dumps with water and rehabilitating areas by planting grass, which effectively catches the dust. But these strategies have often been ineffective because the grass withers during the dry season and sprayed water is rapidly absorbed or evaporates.</p>
<p>One possible intervention could be to put buffer zones in place between mining dumps and where people come to settle. This would be a start to what needs to be concerted government efforts to address the problem.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77113/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vusumuzi Nkosi receives funding from National Research Foundation and Mine Health Safety Council </span></em></p>People living close to mine dumps are more inclined to show symptoms of asthma.Vusumuzi Nkosi, Specialist Scientist - Public Health, South African Medical Research CouncilLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/838482017-11-27T13:30:28Z2017-11-27T13:30:28ZWe could use old coal mines to decarbonise heat – here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196152/original/file-20171123-18001-1drty2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rasta777/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fossil fuels currently dominate the production of electricity and heat. Although renewable energy accounts for around <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/647386/Renewables.pdf">a quarter</a> of electricity produced in the UK, the production of central heating is dominated by natural gas, which supplies around <a href="http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/PO%5D%E2%80%99/ST-PN-0513/POST-PN-0513.pdf">70% of UK heat demand</a> (the UK has been a net importer of gas since 2004). </p>
<p>There are fewer low carbon alternatives for heat production than there are for electricity. Solar hot water and biomass are the two main touted alternatives. Solar hot water is usually produced at a domestic level and requires access to a south facing roof. Biomass can be used as a heat source but may be constrained by availability and the transportation of fuel. And so it is unclear how future heat demands could be met from low carbon sources.</p>
<p>Geothermal heat is one solution that offers a low carbon, secure and continuous energy source. Classic geothermal regions such as Iceland and New Zealand capitalise on their volcanic landscapes by capturing the steam and hot fluids produced as a result of tectonic activity. Geothermal fluids in the UK are over 100°C and hot enough to drive turbines, produce electricity and also supply heat. Also, geothermal fluids may issue naturally at the surface as hot springs and geysers, avoiding the need to drill to access them.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196158/original/file-20171123-17988-at51nn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196158/original/file-20171123-17988-at51nn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196158/original/file-20171123-17988-at51nn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196158/original/file-20171123-17988-at51nn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196158/original/file-20171123-17988-at51nn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196158/original/file-20171123-17988-at51nn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196158/original/file-20171123-17988-at51nn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Geothermal power generates 25% of Iceland’s total electricity production.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Burben/Shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, the UK is not characterised by such tectonic activity. But we believe that abandoned deep mines contain good geothermal potential.</p>
<h2>Geothermal potential</h2>
<p>The deeper you drill into the Earth, the warmer it gets. Geologists call this the Earth’s “geothermal gradient”, driven by heat produced at the Earth’s core that radiates towards the crust. In non-tectonic areas, temperatures increase on average by around <a href="http://grsj.gr.jp/iga/iga-files/Fridleifsson_et_al_IPCC_Geothermal_paper_2008.pdf">25°C per kilometre</a>. This means we can predict what temperature may be encountered at any specific depth. </p>
<p>But extracting geothermal energy from these warm depths is only possible if water is present and is able to flow from the rock. Heat and water flow are essential for extracting geothermal energy. </p>
<p>Abandoned coal mines, therefore, seem incredibly promising due to their networks of flooded galleries and shafts lying at depths of up to several hundred metres below the surface. One can be almost certain that the water flow necessary for deep geothermal wells will be found in these flooded underground voids. The risk of not finding flowing water underground can inhibit deep geothermal developments elsewhere.</p>
<p>Vast volumes (over <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/historical-coal-data-coal-production-availability-and-consumption-1853-to-2011">15 billion tonnes</a>) of coal have been extracted from deep mines in the UK over the last century. To put this into context, if this extracted coal were spread over the UK land surface, this would result in a five cm deep layer of coal across the country. Today, UK coal production from deep mining has declined to almost zero and the nation recently celebrated its first <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/21/britain-set-for-first-coal-free-day-since-the-industrial-revolution">coal free day</a> of power generation, in April 2017. </p>
<h2>Eco-friendly coal mines</h2>
<p>Think about this. The volume of coal extracted compares to an equivalent void volume underground. On this basis (once allowing for subsidence), we estimate that the abandoned mines of the UK contain around two billion cubic metres of water at temperatures which are constantly around 12-16°C, and in some instances higher still. If heat corresponding to a 4°C temperature drop was removed from this volume, around 38,500TJ of heat could be liberated. This conservative estimate could provide enough heat for around 650,000 homes nationally.</p>
<p>Clearly, you wouldn’t want to take a bath or heat your home with water at these low temperatures, but using a heat pump, the water temperature could be upgraded to more useful temperatures of 40-50°C. </p>
<p>A heat pump takes energy from a source such as water within an abandoned mine and “lifts” it to a more useful temperature. You can think of it working like a fridge: if you put food at room temperature in a fridge, after a while it will be cooled to the temperature of the fridge. The heat removed from the food is lost from the back of the fridge, which is why this area feels warm. The radiators in a home are effectively the same as the back of the fridge. A heat pump uses electricity to boost the temperature but for every kW of electrical power used, the heat pump will produce three to four kW of heat. This is why heat pumps are a low carbon alternative to gas boilers.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>So we know that the UK has sufficient potential for geothermal heat production in its extensive mines. The next consideration, then, is proximity to the heat demand. Given the low temperatures involved, the heat source needs to be close to the end user to minimise losses. Many UK towns and cities grew due to their coal reserves, meaning that centres of heat demand and areas of abandoned mines often coincide, making them ideal targets. The UK government’s <a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/the-fifth-carbon-budget-the-next-step-towards-a-low-carbon-economy/">fifth carbon budget</a> sets out plans to decarbonise heat by stating that one in 20 homes should be connected to a heat network by 2030. This is an ambitious challenge but abandoned mines could make a significant contribution here.</p>
<p>Minewater district heating schemes have already been successfully developed at several locations. <a href="http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/oee.nrcan.gc.ca/files/pdf/publications/infosource/pub/ici/caddet/english/pdf/R122.pdf">One early example</a> was developed at the Ropak packaging plant in Springhill, Nova Scotia, in 1998. A minewater and heat pump system that uses minewater at 18°C provides heating and cooling for the 13,500-square-metre site leading to huge savings in avoided fuel-oil costs. And at Heerlen in the Netherlands, <a href="http://www.mijnwater.com/?lang=en">a larger scheme</a> has been operating since 2008, supplying heat to 500,000 square metres of commercial and residential buildings. Areas planned for new development in former mining areas make ideal targets as they provide an opportunity to incorporate the necessary above ground infrastructure.</p>
<p>But if coal mines are to decarbonise heat, we need to deploy these systems in more places. Is this possible? We think so. The fact that many coalfields are overlain by urban centres means that there is certainly good potential for many former mining areas. Although abandoned mines provide a lower temperature resource than deeper geothermal sources, they are systems known to flow copious quantities of relatively warm water and provide a readymade subsurface store of heat. </p>
<p>There is a delightful irony that the legacy of the dirtiest of fuels, coal, now has the potential to deliver a low carbon energy future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83848/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The legacy of the dirtiest of fuels – coal – has the potential to deliver a low carbon energy future.Charlotte Adams, Assistant Professor, Durham UniversityJon Gluyas, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/742582017-03-30T19:17:14Z2017-03-30T19:17:14ZTurning Hazelwood’s empty coal mine into a lake could help heal mining towns<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161968/original/image-20170322-31219-g1q5ol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Hazelwood mine will fill with water once it's closed.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Country Fire Authority</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Hazelwood coal mine and power plant has employed generations of families in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley since the end of the second world war. With the mine to close at the end of March 2017, hundreds of local residents face unemployment. When the mining stops, <a href="http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/file_uploads/11172_HAZ_MFIReport-2015_16-Volume4_FA_LR_15B0_pQfGZRfC.pdf">the pit at Hazelwood will eventually become a “pit lake”</a> as it fills with groundwater. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/hazelwood-coal-mine-in-the-latrobe-valley-could-become-a-lake-after-mining-ceases-20160930-grsh68.html">Several options</a> are on the table for the Hazelwood lake, and questions have been raised about the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/hazelwood-owners-facing-unprecedented-743-million-rehab-bill-20170119-gtun85.html">cost</a> of rehabilitating the mine. </p>
<p>There are thousands of pit lakes on every inhabited continent, but few have been designed for people to use for recreation. Although Australians are increasingly embracing these lakes for swimming and boating, most pit lakes are unsafe and are on private property.</p>
<h2>Germany’s brown coal mines</h2>
<p>Depending often on the local geology, pit lakes can have poor water quality and unstable banks, which pose risks to nearby communities and the environment. However, pit lakes can also be sources of income through recreation or industry, particularly for local communities after the mining stops.</p>
<p>The challenge for the residents of the Latrobe Valley (and other mining regions) is to decide how new pit lakes can benefit the local economy. The challenge for scientists is how to rehabilitate these lakes for community benefit.</p>
<p>The coal mines of former East Germany have developed into pit lakes and can provide a vision of what Australian pit lakes might become. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160452/original/image-20170313-19270-yt47bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160452/original/image-20170313-19270-yt47bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160452/original/image-20170313-19270-yt47bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160452/original/image-20170313-19270-yt47bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160452/original/image-20170313-19270-yt47bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160452/original/image-20170313-19270-yt47bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160452/original/image-20170313-19270-yt47bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160452/original/image-20170313-19270-yt47bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lusatia pit lake in the former East Germany is now an economic asset for the community.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Melanie Blanchette, Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11269-008-9309-x?LI=true">Lignite (brown coal) mines</a> were closed in East Germany after reunification in 1990, causing regional economic collapse and emigration. In an attempt to boost the local economy, the German government tasked a state-owned company with rapidly rehabilitating the landscape and filling the pits with river and groundwater for recreational use. </p>
<p>In 2009 the annual economic benefit of the lake district was <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11269-008-9309-x?LI=true">between €10.4 million and €16.2 million</a>. Current lake activities include swimming, boating and scuba diving. Businesses use the steep slopes of slowly filling pit lakes as vineyards, while spa hotels with lakeside boulevards cater to upmarket clientele. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160454/original/image-20170313-19270-1ytbsx7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160454/original/image-20170313-19270-1ytbsx7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160454/original/image-20170313-19270-1ytbsx7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160454/original/image-20170313-19270-1ytbsx7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160454/original/image-20170313-19270-1ytbsx7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160454/original/image-20170313-19270-1ytbsx7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160454/original/image-20170313-19270-1ytbsx7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A vineyard at Lusatia pit lake, Germany.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Melanie Blanchette</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Germany’s experience shows that pit lakes can lead to public benefit. However, many of these lakes require expensive ongoing active treatment, such as liming and pumping water through treatment facilities.</p>
<p>Due (in part) to the remoteness and low population density of Australia, this level of active treatment is unlikely to be economically feasible. </p>
<h2>Natural rehabilitation</h2>
<p>But active ongoing treatment isn’t the only option for improving pit lakes. Pit lakes have the capacity to <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969716305125">change over time</a> and become similar to natural lakes. </p>
<p>Pit lakes can naturally improve over decades (as seen in the <a href="https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/ias/article/view/7601">coal-strip lakes of the US Midwest</a>), if they are exposed to <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877343516301014">“passive” treatments</a> that increase the amount of nutrients, beneficial microbes, seeds and insect larvae.</p>
<p>Every pit lake has a unique suite of biological and physical characteristics that make it easier or more difficult to rehabilitate. The US coal-strip pit lakes would be considered <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877343516301014">“easy” to rehabilitate</a> because they were shallow, had large catchments and significant amounts of organic matter. However, the lakes still took decades to recover. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160460/original/image-20170313-19234-1c3p3tv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160460/original/image-20170313-19234-1c3p3tv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160460/original/image-20170313-19234-1c3p3tv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160460/original/image-20170313-19234-1c3p3tv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160460/original/image-20170313-19234-1c3p3tv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160460/original/image-20170313-19234-1c3p3tv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160460/original/image-20170313-19234-1c3p3tv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160460/original/image-20170313-19234-1c3p3tv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Each pit lake presents a unique suite of biological and physical characteristics along a sliding scale of interacting factors that increase the complexity of rehabilitation as ecosystem services become increasingly limited.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Blanchette and Lund (2016) Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s hard to say exactly how Hazelwood will stack up on this scale without seeing modelling, but we can assume that its large size will create difficulties, as will any potential water quality issues. On the other hand, because the pit is still dry there’s an opportunity for pre-filling treatments that improve biodiversity and water quality. </p>
<p>For example, using heavy earthmoving equipment to “sculpt” the edge of the pit creates more natural habitats that encourage aquatic life to take hold. Careful introduction of appropriate wetland plants can enhance the system. Working with hydrologists and engineers, drainage lines connecting the pit lake to the wider catchment can provide the lake with sources of terrestrial nutrients to kickstart ecosystem development.</p>
<p>Passive processes tend to be slow. The challenge for scientists is to speed them up. However, many of the ecological processes that underpin pit lake development (as described above) are well-studied in artificial and natural lakes.</p>
<p>Turning an abandoned pit lake into a resort is not a far-fetched idea. As Germany’s mine pit projects show, communities can embrace a changing economy, and the science indicates that passive treatment systems can improve pit lakes.</p>
<p>The legacy of past mines and our demand for resources will ensure that more pit lakes will be produced. Ultimately, we will have to decide how we want to co-exist with these new lakes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74258/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melanie Blanchette receives funding from the Australian Coal Association Research Program and is a member of the International Mine Water Association.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Lund receives funding from the Australian Coal Association Research Program and the mining industry. He is a member of the International Mine Water Association. </span></em></p>What do you do with a giant pit mine once it closes? One option for the Hazelwood mine is creating a recreational lake – but there are economic and environmental issues to consider.Melanie Blanchette, Research Fellow in Freshwater Science, Edith Cowan UniversityMark Lund, Associate professor, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/646532016-10-27T01:40:21Z2016-10-27T01:40:21ZDeep underground, smartphones can save miners’ lives<p>American mining production <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IPG21SQ">increased earlier this decade</a>, as industry sought to reduce its reliance on other countries for key minerals such as coal for energy and rare-earth metals for use in consumer electronics. But mining is dangerous – <a href="https://www.msha.gov/data-reports/statistics/mine-safety-and-health-glance">working underground carries risks</a> of explosions, fires, flooding and dangerous concentrations of poisonous gases.</p>
<p>Mine accidents have <a href="http://www.wvminesafety.org/fatal97.htm">killed tens of thousands</a> of mine workers worldwide in just the past decade. Most of these accidents occurred in structurally diverse underground mines with extensive labyrinths of interconnected tunnels. As mining progresses, workers move machinery around, which creates a continually changing environment. This makes search and rescue efforts even more complicated than they might otherwise be.</p>
<p>To address these dangers, <a href="http://arlweb.msha.gov/MinerAct/MinerActSingleSource.asp">U.S. federal regulations</a> require mine operators to monitor levels of methane, carbon monoxide, smoke and oxygen – and to warn miners of possible danger due to air poisoning, flood, fire or explosions. In addition, mining companies must have accident-response plans that include systems with two key capabilities: enabling two-way communications between miners trapped underground and rescuers on the surface, and tracking individual miners so responders can know where they need to dig.</p>
<p>So far, efforts to design systems that are both reliable and resilient when disaster strikes have run into significant roadblocks. My research group’s work is aimed at enhancing commercially available smartphones and wireless network equipment with software and hardware innovations to create a system that is straightforward and relatively simple to operate.</p>
<h2>Existing connections</h2>
<p>The past decade has seen several efforts to develop monitoring and emergency communication systems, which generally can be classified into three types: through-the-wire, through-the-Earth and through-the-air. Each has different flaws that make them less than ideal options.</p>
<p>Wired systems use coaxial cables or optical fibers to connect monitoring and communications equipment throughout the mine and on the surface. But these are costly and vulnerable to damage from fires and tunnel collapses. Imagine, for example, if a wall collapse cut off a room from its connecting tunnels: Chances are the cable in those tunnels would be damaged too.</p>
<p>Systems that send signals through the Earth use large loop antennas to send low-frequency radio waves through dirt and rock. The signals can’t carry much information beyond simple texts or sensor readings, and the equipment is expensive and bulky. </p>
<p>Airwave setups use wireless links, like cordless phones or Wi-Fi signals, to span distances of 1,000 to 2,500 feet. But these have limitations too. They depend on wired base stations distributed throughout mines, which are very like the wired-only systems and have similar cost and connectivity problems. </p>
<h2>Tracking underground</h2>
<p>Because they have to track individual miners’ movements underground, all of these systems also require every worker to carry expensive custom sensing units. The costs involved have meant that so far, most mines today use equipment that provides the bare minimum amount of safety required. This includes manually tracking miners’ locations using two-way pagers or video surveillance.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143318/original/image-20161026-32322-1has19l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s easy to get lost in here.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sudeep Pasricha/Colorado State University</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If newer methods for tracking, sensing and communication could be developed, we could detect precursors to mishaps (such as noxious or combustible gas level concentrations in certain parts of a mine), and better aid rescue efforts in the aftermath of an accident. In my research, we’re trying to use regular consumer smartphones and smart wireless devices to solve these problems. This sort of system takes advantage of the facts that most people have phones with them all the time, and that modern smartphones have a wide range of sensors already built in.</p>
<p>Some prior work of mine found a way to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/CODESISSS.2015.7331366">use smartphones to navigate indoor spaces</a>. We started by measuring the strength of the Wi-Fi signals the phone was receiving to approximate the distance the phone was from known transmitter locations. We factored in measurements from the phone’s inertial sensors to determine speed and direction of movement. And we applied a mathematical technique called <a href="http://www.cs.unc.edu/%7Ewelch/kalman/">Kalman filtering</a> to determine other useful information from additional sensors – such as number of steps taken.</p>
<p>When all these data were processed by machine learning techniques, we could determine a user’s location within one to three meters, despite noisy or erroneous readings from Wi-Fi radios and inertial sensors. That was much better than prior methods for indoor location-sensing based on inertial sensor readings and fingerprinting. But these studies were done above ground.</p>
<p>Doing the same thing underground is much more difficult. Not only are Wi-Fi signals unavailable underground, but other wireless signals, such as those from cellphone towers, are also not present. Even what signals are there, from communications equipment in the mine, bounce off uneven surfaces, are absorbed by earthen walls and must pass equipment and other obstacles in tunnels of varying dimensions. These complexities make determining a specific location even harder for an electronic device.</p>
<p>Moreover, sensors and smartphones used in mines must be particularly energy-efficient because recharging stations are scarce. And they must not use much power, to avoid igniting subsurface gases.</p>
<h2>A new approach</h2>
<p>Our research involves designing a wireless network made up of many low-cost stationary <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2012.09.091">Zigbee or Bluetooth sensors</a> deployed strategically around the mine, creating a web or mesh network that can connect with smartphones carried by the miners. We’ll design the exact location of the fixed sensors based on an <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2004.828457">analysis of how radio signals travel</a> in complex, changing and noisy <a href="http://inside.mines.edu/Mining-Edgar-Mine">underground mines</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143317/original/image-20161026-11236-trjutl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A proposed system layout for underground mine monitoring, tracking and communication.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sudeep Pasricha/Colorado State University</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We’re also working to design new software algorithms and filtering techniques that can work on smartphones. When connected to the wireless mesh network, they will be able to accurately and efficiently calculate location in mines, despite the highly unpredictable nature of wireless signals.</p>
<p>Our hope is that we’ll figure out how to build a combination cyber and physical system for monitoring, communication and tracking in underground mines under normal conditions. Such a setup would also be helpful in emergency response and rescue operations. This could not only improve the safety of <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CEU1021200001">hundreds of thousands of American miners</a>, but also offer new opportunities for communications and improving human safety in a variety of extreme environments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64653/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sudeep Pasricha receives funding from the National Science Foundation on themes related to what is described in this article.</span></em></p>Mine communications are complex, slow and unreliable. The solution to keeping miners safe, and rescuing them when disaster strikes, might just be in their hands already.Sudeep Pasricha, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science , Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/585022016-04-29T04:53:23Z2016-04-29T04:53:23ZNo to rehab? The mining downturn risks making mine clean-ups even more of an afterthought<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120311/original/image-20160427-30960-bzzmc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many of Australia's mines haven't been cleaned up as thoroughly as they should have been.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACSIRO_ScienceImage_2945_Morwell_Open_Cut_Mine.jpg">CSIRO/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mining is environmentally damaging, but as a society we broadly accept this because of the financial benefits it provides, and because we assume ways can be found to fix the damage. Miners are now legally obliged to rehabilitate the area after mining is completed, but still some mine sites have had to be <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/emr.12179/abstract;jsessionid=79DCC2B3CBF1A7A97C5BFB9124E7E34D.f02t03?userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=">treated at the public’s expense</a>.</p>
<p>Rectifying the damage caused by mining can be difficult. The new soils created are often infertile and can be easily eroded if the original landscape is not restored. Some sites may contain high levels of heavy metals, acids or salts, which make rehabilitation difficult. </p>
<p>These materials may be mobilised by rain and contaminate rivers if sites are not properly treated. In such situations, re-establishing plant cover of any kind and immobilising the hazardous materials is challenging. </p>
<p>Mine rehabilitation can also be expensive. Estimates of the cost of rehabilitating some mines <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/mining/rio-tinto-signs-ranger-uranium-mine-death-warrant-20150612-ghmp9j">exceeding A$500 million</a> and taxpayers are sometimes at risk of being <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-18/taxpayers-may-have-to-pay-clean-up-bill-for-victorian-coal-mines/7039898">left with the bill</a>.</p>
<p>But while the cost can make mine rehabilitation an arduous task, it is vitally important, not least because the areas involved are so large. In Queensland, for example, the areas disturbed by mining are thought to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/emr.12179/abstract;jsessionid=79DCC2B3CBF1A7A97C5BFB9124E7E34D.f02t03?userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=">exceed 180,000 hectares</a>.</p>
<h2>Are miners cleaning up?</h2>
<p>The recent mining industry downturn raises two important questions. The first concerns whether the rate at which the industry is undertaking rehabilitation matches the rate at which landscapes are being disturbed by mining. </p>
<p>There are grounds for concern, if you’ll pardon the pun. Ideally, rehabilitation should be a progressive operation that takes place during the lifetime of a mine as each stage is completed. But despite Australia’s long history of mining, there are <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-should-we-do-with-australias-50-000-abandoned-mines-18197">remarkably few mines where rehabilitation has been successfully implemented</a> to the point where current legal obligations have been fulfilled. </p>
<p>In 2013 the Queensland auditor-general <a href="http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/tableOffice/TabledPapers/2014/5414T4785.pdf">reported</a> that some 96 mines in that state had ceased operating and been placed in a “care and maintenance” state without any rehabilitation being done. The auditor-general expressed concern that this seemed a means to avoid rehabilitation responsibilities. </p>
<p>There is also evidence of some large mine owners <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/energy/old-challenges-for-the-new-face-of-australian-coal-20160406-gnzpdp.html">selling their mines</a> – and hence the responsibility for rehabilitation – to smaller companies for nominal amounts. In such cases, the worry is that the new owners will be much less technically or financially equipped to undertake rehabilitation than the original larger companies. </p>
<p>In short, the evidence suggests that, across the country, the rate at which rehabilitation is being undertaken is <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/half-a-dozen-ways-out-of-rehab-for-coal-companies-20160412-go4n8d.html">much less than it should be</a>. </p>
<p>Seemingly, it is not a key performance indicator for many mine managers. At the same time, state regulators depend on these same managers for data on the extent of disturbance and rehabilitation at each mine. There is no independent verification process to monitor the changes that are actually taking place. </p>
<h2>Making good</h2>
<p>The second question concerns the standards of rehabilitation that miners should be expected to achieve. </p>
<p>Rehabilitation can be a very difficult task, especially in drier landscapes. It may take years before it is clear that it has been successful and all of the target species have been re-established. </p>
<p>Many people might assume that the original ecosystems would be restored, especially at mining sites originally occupied by native vegetation. But, in most states, regulations require only that sites be made safe, stable and non-polluting. </p>
<p>In some cases there may also be a requirement that rehabilitation makes the site fit for some prescribed future land use such as grazing. But overall, the terms and goals are usually so poorly defined that “success” can probably be claimed irrespective of the standard of rehabilitation actually achieved. </p>
<p>The mining industry downturn presents two possible risks, both of which are unpalatable. </p>
<p>One is that financially stressed companies will choose to adopt the lowest possible rehabilitation standards to meet their legal responsibilities. The other is that governments that have inherited rehabilitation tasks at sites abandoned by struggling miners might find themselves no more financially able to do the job themselves. This is because the funds they have available, in the form of performance bonds lodged by miners to cover this eventuality, are insufficient. </p>
<p>In both cases the result is an unnecessary lowering of environmental standards. We can do better than this – and we should, given the extent of the areas being affected by mining and the environmental hazards arising from poor rehabilitation. </p>
<p>The Society of Ecological Restoration Australasia has recently developed a <a href="http://www.seraustralasia.com/standards/contents.html">draft set of standards</a>. This offers suggestions concerning the ways in which degraded land might be restored or rehabilitated. These standards could help both industry and government regulators in the ongoing process of clarifying what is acceptable rehabilitation practice for mine sites and ensuring that it takes place. </p>
<p>The standards include such things as planning for rehabilitation before mining begins, having a defined target and having a process of monitoring and adaptive management to deal with unexpected outcomes after rehabilitation has begun.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the benefits from having more explicit standards, it is important that these be enforced. Failure to do so imposes a financial and ecological cost on the public instead of the shareholders who have profited from particular mining ventures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58502/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lamb is a member of the Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia. </span></em></p>Rehabilitating old mines is a crucial responsibility for the industry. But many Australian mine sites have been simply left alone or left for the taxpayer to fix.David Lamb, Honorary Research Fellow, Center for Mined Land Rehabilitation, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/534932016-01-27T00:22:10Z2016-01-27T00:22:10ZThe planner’s new best friend: we can now track land-use changes on a scale of centimetres<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108918/original/image-20160121-9728-9hxd1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The urban landscape is complex and ever-changing in cities such as Perth, but digital aerial photography can now monitor even the smallest changes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Perth_Water,_Western_Australia.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cities and mine sites are complex spaces, which frequently change at a fine scale. This makes them hard to monitor. It is now possible, though, to adapt digital aerial photography to monitor changes as small as 10-20cm in both land use and vegetation in three dimensions.</p>
<p>Interested? Wondering whether that’s feasible? Here’s how you can do it cost-effectively.</p>
<p>Monitoring changes in land cover including vegetation has been routine since digital satellite imagery became available in the 1970s and 1980s. However, satellite images have traditionally been too coarse to monitor complex environments such as cities and mine sites, so aerial data is often acquired. In addition to needing sub-metre resolution, city buildings, mine pits and spoil dumps present challenges for automatically tracking change.</p>
<p>Analogue (film) imagery has been used for aerial monitoring long after digital photographers replaced film in hand-held cameras. This is partly because changing large programs with multiple users is risky.</p>
<p>About ten years ago the authors started working with Landgate, the Western Australian government agency responsible for photographing Greater Perth. Our aim was to see if the advantages of satellite monitoring could be incorporated into Landgate’s annual aerial photograph capture to detect changes in land use and vegetation condition at the sub-metre level. </p>
<h2>How is it done?</h2>
<p>As well as recording red, green and blue bands of light, a near infra-red band was included because vegetation health is best measured at this wavelength. The elevation of the ground, buildings and trees is estimated each time, with a similar resolution as the pixel size making the imagery three-dimensional. Being digital, it is easy to count pixels to quantify changes.</p>
<p>Digital data allows changes over time to be measured with much greater accuracy and efficiency than when comparing film images. </p>
<p>It requires, though, that the images be captured using a standard approach. Standardised images ensure that a change in digital reflectance represents a real change and not a change in the atmosphere, sun angle, camera type or a shadow. Each image also needs to be very accurately aligned.</p>
<p>Reflectance targets were placed on the ground to ensure images were standardised during the acquisition as well as between years. </p>
<p>After trials in 2006 and 2007, summer images were chosen. This was because these met most of the requirements of the consortium of 13 government agencies and non-government organisations that guided the transition from analogue to digital.</p>
<p>Summer is a time when un-irrigated plants are most stressed. This enables monitoring of soil water deficits, groundwater-dependent vegetation and an assessment of irrigation efficiency at the individual-sprinkler scale. There is also less cloud and the impact of recent rainfall is less evident, given that the capture can take several weeks. To limit shadows, capture times were restricted to two hours each side of solar noon.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1338&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1338&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The area of Greater Perth covered by the digital aerial photography each summer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CSIRO</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The area covered by the digital aerial photography each summer (see figure at right) extends beyond that needed to update street directories. It includes groundwater catchments, pine plantations and peri-urban horticulture. This coverage also enabled us to monitor disease impacts on native trees of interest to the consortium.</p>
<p>Technical details can be found in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/rNsUJ4vf7MiaDDbKaSIb/full">an article</a> in the International Journal of Digital Earth and on the <a href="http://urbanmonitor-beta.landgate.wa.gov.au/project.php">Urban Monitor website</a>. The website includes a <a href="http://urbanmonitor-beta.landgate.wa.gov.au/home.php">beta test site</a> of vegetation products maintained by Landgate.</p>
<h2>Many uses, and counting…</h2>
<p>The method has been applied to:</p>
<p>1) Monitoring <a href="http://www.planning.wa.gov.au/publications/7216.asp">tree canopy cover</a> in the Greater Perth region for state and local government planners to assess habitat loss and an increase in the urban heat island.</p>
<p><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/bjTQfzkXrzJ0rMNIvO77ZpcdimxcIb_MQeyfOGzVnJEpAp8UXQIyBIIcuW-K5y_97F-iU0YE9v_IB2Xc-uYre9h1sfuhS-rYp2UdyKejvMGszqaH4y9HtyP_GrXcqzBoLc7W73pPq8bXELLA" alt=""></p>
<p>2) Identifying tall trees (even those in low-elevation areas) of importance to roosting birds such as the endangered Carnaby Cockatoos for the <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/resource/urban-monitor-enabling-effective-monitoring-and-management-urban-and-coastal-environments">Perth Peel Regional Sustainability Plan</a>. In the image below, tree heights are shown in increasingly “hot” colours, displayed with a sun-shaded elevation model in grey for unvegetated areas. A digital <a href="http://online.wr.usgs.gov/ngpo/doq/doq_basics.html">orthophotograph</a> of the area is shown on the left.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tree heights are shown in increasingly ‘hot’ colours in a sun-shaded elevation model (right) of the area in the digital orthophotograph on the left.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CSIRO</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This image shows vegetation losses in red, growth in green and no change in yellow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CSIRO</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>3) Tree and bush decline in native vegetation in urban areas. The image at right shows vegetation losses in red, growth in green and no change in yellow. Non-vegetated areas are uncoloured.</p>
<p>4) Estimating the effect of urbanisation on urban water balances, especially runoff and recharge. Being three-dimensional, the images can identify where water will flow in new urban catchments.</p>
<p>5) The identification of blocks of land that have been built upon for urban infill planning (shown as red blocks in the image below).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Blocks of land that been built on (marked in red) can easily be identified to monitor urban infill.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CSIRO</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>6) Drying of groundwater-fed wetlands in the Perth Peel region.</p>
<p>7) The impact of mine or coal seam gas developments on vegetation and runoff. The example below shows predicted flow paths and accumulations of water in a rural landscape after development of coal seam gas sites.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=160&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=160&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Predicted flow paths and accumulations of water following development of coal seam gas sites.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CSIRO</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The scale of the imagery is especially suited to local government and mining companies reporting to regulators, as it can help separate mine impacts from climate, fire, grazing or other disturbances.</p>
<p>Readers will probably identify further uses for the method – something that we have experienced whenever we give talks on its application.</p>
<p>In the Greater Perth region, digital acquisition using monitoring standards has replaced analogue capture, so it is routine with limited additional costs for acquisition. Not all datasets have been fully processed but they are archived for later reference as funds and needs arise. The data are expected to become increasingly valuable over time because they cannot be acquired retrospectively.</p>
<p>In time it is anticipated that Urban Monitor products similar to <a href="http://www.landmonitor.wa.gov.au/">Land Monitor</a> will be made available on the Landgate website. Land Monitor has used interpreted satellite imagery to provide change products to West Australian natural resource management agencies for more than 15 years for an annual cost of about $80,000. </p>
<p>This shows that good monitoring need not be expensive if thoughtful acquisition methods are used and products are developed to meet multiple user needs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53493/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Don McFarlane is a research scientist with the CSIRO; he receives funding from the Australian government. The research referred to in this article was funded by the Australian government and carried out in collaboration with several West Australian government departments including Landgate, which is responsible for the collection of spatial data in WA. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Caccetta is a research scientist with the CSIRO; he receives funding from the Australian government. The research referred to in this article was funded by the Australian government and carried out in collaboration with several West Australian government departments including Landgate, which is responsible for the collection of spatial data in WA. </span></em></p>Constant, complex changes in cities and mine sites are hard to monitor. Drawing on digital aerial photography, it’s now possible to track land-use and vegetation changes in areas as small as 10-20cm.Don McFarlane, Research Scientist; Groundwater Hydrology Team Leader, CSIROPeter Caccetta, Research Scientist, CSIROLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/527522016-01-11T19:21:14Z2016-01-11T19:21:14ZPregnant women and parents misled about dangers of living with lead pollution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107473/original/image-20160107-14922-1kcvcsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pregnant women in three Australian cities are not told that lead exposure during pregnancy is linked to miscarriage and early delivery.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/luca_montanari/5359952368/in/photolist-9aDa6S-9iTDci-uo8KM-n5aP1-83r6uD-dv947e-JGaEV-4CNLPu-bGhdin-p1vWq-7Sq3rb-2Jahu-6tdonT-6LUnuU-RmrUe-2awR9t-4qBEBq-5dYQxS-4obmhs-5ZFH3v-pnQQCT-5kqhjC-uo8Ta-62ngiQ-5WRED1-w1Z8cL-2dK3NE-bnFCji-4XEj55-2P4cSm-9hx7Qo-6tpfh8-4erPVu-3fJbgC-4enQZe-5mX5qM-25pEQF-6L1zLU-5TtEe7-9L72Bq-dBMuBC-px5pXo-dwxNHm-sgtVRL-6s5e9z-67sQwx-5nYsUe-6z42e6-4erQ2h-b7a2S6">Flickr/Luca Montanari</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Parents in three Australian states are being given misleading information about the dangers of lead exposure for babies and small children – including failing to warn pregnant women about the risks of miscarriage.</p>
<p>Lead is particularly harmful to unborn babies and young children. As the <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs379/en/">World Health Organization</a> warns, “there is no known level of lead exposure that is considered safe”. Childhood lead exposure is estimated to contribute to about 600,000 new cases of children developing intellectual disabilities every year.</p>
<p>Yet <a href="http://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-015-0085-9">our research</a>, published in the international journal <a href="http://www.ehjournal.net/">Environmental Health</a>, found that official online educational materials aimed at people in Broken Hill in New South Wales, Mount Isa in Queensland and Port Pirie in South Australia understate the health risks of lead for fetuses, babies and children.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107353/original/image-20160106-13295-rsie7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107353/original/image-20160106-13295-rsie7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107353/original/image-20160106-13295-rsie7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107353/original/image-20160106-13295-rsie7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107353/original/image-20160106-13295-rsie7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107353/original/image-20160106-13295-rsie7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107353/original/image-20160106-13295-rsie7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107353/original/image-20160106-13295-rsie7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mount Isa in north-west Queensland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/robandstephanielevy/3537194475/in/photolist-fQiinw-Curwec-974Qcp-e6FvdR-uRHgZW-9px957-8P93Na-8P8LSZ-4jU9rU-dMN9if-6oz3FD-7NznNH-wbhZwo-av9Nxu-m2sCPB-71gtDk-7NgS6c-5PXfZu-7pnLNC-5PWHfz-5QEFTh">Rob and Stephanie Levy/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All three cities are home to an active lead mine or smelter.</p>
<p>With slogans such as <a href="http://www.leadnsw.com.au/">“Lead, it’s in our hands”</a> and <a href="http://www.livingwithlead.com.au/">“Living safely with lead”</a>, the cities’ health education programs all promote the idea that parents can sufficiently protect their children from lead exposure through individual actions, such hand washing, household cleaning, and taking precautions in the garden. </p>
<p>Yet there is no evidence to show that’s true. In 2014, a group of international experts <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006047.pub4/abstract">reviewed 14 studies involving 2656 children</a>. They found that “educational and dust control interventions are not effective in reducing blood lead levels of young children”. They also concluded that there was “insufficient evidence” to show that reducing children’s exposure to contaminated soil would reduce blood lead levels.</p>
<p>So what exactly are parents in Broken Hill, Mount Isa and Port Pirie being told? And what risks are pregnant women and families in the United States being clearly warned about that parents in Australia are not?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107348/original/image-20160106-13263-8xq99e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107348/original/image-20160106-13263-8xq99e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107348/original/image-20160106-13263-8xq99e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107348/original/image-20160106-13263-8xq99e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107348/original/image-20160106-13263-8xq99e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107348/original/image-20160106-13263-8xq99e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107348/original/image-20160106-13263-8xq99e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107348/original/image-20160106-13263-8xq99e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Clowning around? A blog post about teaching Port Pirie kids about ‘safe practises around lead’, despite health experts warning that ‘there is no known level of lead exposure that is considered safe’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://tenforthemportpirie.blogspot.com.au/">tenforthemportpirie.blogspot.com.au, accessed 6 January 2016</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why do American parents get clearer warnings than Australians?</h2>
<p>Emissions from lead mining and smelting activities in Broken Hill, Mount Isa and Port Pirie have been linked to higher levels of lead in local children’s blood. </p>
<p>These blood lead levels exceed the National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) new public health intervention level of 5 micrograms per decilitre in about <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-20/high-blood-lead-levels-confirmed-in-half-of-broken-hill-children/6483398">half of all children in Broken Hill</a> and <a href="https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/fba2f5004987061fa943a94564a15cee/Port+Pirie+Blood+Lead+Levels+Analysis+of+blood+lead+levels+for+the+first....pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=fba2f5004987061fa943a94564a15cee">Port Pirie</a>, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-verdicts-in-we-must-better-protect-kids-from-toxic-lead-exposure-41969">explained in The Conversation</a> last year. </p>
<p>Lead exposure puts children at risk of significant health effects including developmental, learning and behavioural problems. For example, a <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-children-exposed-to-toxic-mining-metals-do-worse-at-school-48343">recent study</a> found that children living closest to the Broken Hill mine had lower school test scores and were more likely to be diagnosed with developmental disabilities.</p>
<p>All three cities have online lead health education programs. In Broken Hill, the <a href="http://www.leadnsw.com.au/">www.leadnsw.com.au</a> program was developed by a local health clinic and the NSW government. Mount Isa’s website <a href="http://www.livingwithlead.com.au/">www.livingwithlead.com.au</a> involves the Queensland government, Mount Isa Mines, and the local council.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107347/original/image-20160106-13282-1wyazg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107347/original/image-20160106-13282-1wyazg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107347/original/image-20160106-13282-1wyazg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107347/original/image-20160106-13282-1wyazg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107347/original/image-20160106-13282-1wyazg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107347/original/image-20160106-13282-1wyazg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107347/original/image-20160106-13282-1wyazg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107347/original/image-20160106-13282-1wyazg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A screenshot from Mount Isa’s Living with Lead homepage, which still uses the slogan ‘Living Safely with Lead’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.livingwithlead.com.au/">www.livingwithlead.com.au accessed 6 January 2016</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Port Pirie, the SA government and lead smelter operator Nyrstar have <a href="http://tenforthemportpirie.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/what-is-tlap-targeted-lead-abatement.html">worked together</a> on the Targeted Lead Abatement Program, or <a href="http://www.tlap.com.au/">www.tlap.com.au</a>. (TLAP’s website is currently down, with a message saying the site has “crashed”.)</p>
<p>As part of our new study, we compared those Australian websites with international best practice, published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/">CDC</a>). We found important differences between them.</p>
<p>Like the World Health Organization, the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/">US CDC plainly states</a>: “No safe blood lead level in children has been identified.”</p>
<p>In contrast, at the time of our analysis, <em>none</em> of the materials from Broken Hill, Mount Isa or Port Pirie made such a clear statement about lead exposure and harm to children.</p>
<p>As our article went through the peer review process, one page of the Mount Isa website “<a href="http://www.livingwithlead.com.au/about-lead/">About Lead</a>” was updated to include a new statement:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is no safe level of lead that has been proven not to cause any health problems.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, that statement is not repeated on other pages, including the one labelled <a href="http://www.livingwithlead.com.au/mount-isa/mount-isa-children/">Mount Isa Children</a>, which instead begins with advice to “Wash hands regularly”.</p>
<p>The US CDC also warns parents that the “effects of lead exposure cannot be corrected” and that “even low levels of lead in blood affect children.”</p>
<p>At the time of our analysis, only the Broken Hill site contained comparable information on low-level exposure and the fact that lead can cause permanent damage to children.</p>
<h2>Missing warnings for pregnant women and kids at higher risk</h2>
<p>All three of the Australian websites left out important risks of lead exposure during pregnancy.</p>
<p>The US CDC has a page specifically on <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tips/pregnant.htm">lead and pregnant women</a>, using blunt language to warn women that lead exposure during pregnancy can “put you at risk for miscarriage” and “cause your baby to be born too early or too small”. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107480/original/image-20160107-4331-1e1jkl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107480/original/image-20160107-4331-1e1jkl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107480/original/image-20160107-4331-1e1jkl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107480/original/image-20160107-4331-1e1jkl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107480/original/image-20160107-4331-1e1jkl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107480/original/image-20160107-4331-1e1jkl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107480/original/image-20160107-4331-1e1jkl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107480/original/image-20160107-4331-1e1jkl0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">From the Broken Hill website, showing when it’s recommended local toddlers get blood tests to check for lead poisoning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.leadnsw.com.au/#!hygiene/cn8w">Lead NSW</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast, none of the three Australian sites mentioned those crucial risks to babies. (Compare the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tips/pregnant.htm">clear US advice</a> to that given to pregnant women <a href="http://www.leadnsw.com.au/#!starting-a-family/c16ls">in Broken Hill</a> and <a href="http://www.livingwithlead.com.au/mount-isa/mount-isa-residents/">Mount Isa</a>.)</p>
<p>People can often be affected by lead exposure without showing obvious symptoms. Yet only the Broken Hill materials provided parents with a schedule for when they should have their children’s blood tested for lead exposure.</p>
<p>The US CDC also discusses the fact that racial minorities and low-income families may be at higher risk of lead exposure. Only in Broken Hill were racial differences in blood lead levels discussed, even though higher average blood lead levels have been reported in Indigenous children in both Mount Isa and Broken Hill.</p>
<h2>Patchy advice for parents on kids playing outdoors</h2>
<p>Our study also found that incomplete information on the risks of lead in soil, even though soil and dust are major pathways of exposure. Only the Broken Hill materials said that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>many local yards exceed the national soil lead safety level.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While the other cities’ websites acknowledged that soil may be contaminated, none of the three contain information on the acceptable Australian standard for lead in gardens (300 milligrams per kilogram) or the percentage of gardens that exceed the standard in each city. They also didn’t tell residents how they could get their soil tested to evaluate their family’s risk. </p>
<p>Because lead contamination is widespread in Broken Hill, Mount Isa and Port Pirie, and the potential for children to be exposed in their homes, gardens, and play areas is very real, the three websites make many recommendations for reducing children’s exposure.</p>
<p>These include intensive interior and exterior cleaning, personal hygiene, gardening, diet and food preparation. But the advice was not consistent across the communities. </p>
<p>For example, in Broken Hill and Mount Isa parents have been advised to let children play in areas with grass or turf cover or to provide a sand pit. But in Port Pirie, no specific advice on children’s play areas was given, except to cover bare soil.</p>
<p>Only in Port Pirie were parents advised to wash outdoor play structures. A recent study, however, found playground washing to be of <a href="https://theconversation.com/toxic-playgrounds-broken-hill-kids-exposed-to-poisonous-dust-32325">limited effectiveness</a> for reducing children’s lead exposure if contamination is ongoing.</p>
<p>Advice on eating homegrown vegetables also varied. In Port Pirie, children and pregnant women are told not to eat “leafy vegetables like lettuce, silverbeet, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower”. No similar advice was provided in the other communities.</p>
<p>Additionally, some advice on <a href="http://semspub.epa.gov/work/11/175343.pdf">how to reduce exposure</a> to lead that <em>is</em> <a href="http://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/reduc_pb.pdf">supported by research</a> has not being shared with families in all three cities. Two examples include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Door mats to reduce tracked in lead: this recommendation is supported by research but was only provided in Mount Isa.</li>
<li>HEPA filters for vacuuming: even though both South Australia Health and US EPA recommend the use of HEPA filters on vacuums in communities with lead contamination to minimise the spread of lead dust when vacuuming, this advice was not offered in Broken Hill or Mount Isa. In Port Pirie, HEPA filters were only said to be “preferred.”</li>
</ul>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E6KoMAbz1Bw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Canadian expert Dr Bruce Lanphear explains how extremely low levels of toxins including lead can affect a child’s brain development.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What needs to happen to make Australian kids safer?</h2>
<p>The health education programs in Broken Hill, Mount Isa and Port Pirie currently place the overwhelming burden on parents to keep lead out of their children’s bodies, even though they are living in communities with <a href="https://theconversation.com/reducing-the-harms-of-toxic-air-in-mining-and-smelting-communities-25999">historical and ongoing contamination</a>.</p>
<p>Lead pollution is not a problem that parents can solve on their own. Reducing or eliminating lead emissions, removing children from the sources of exposure, and cleaning up environmental contamination is critical. </p>
<p>Based on our research, we recommend revising the advice to people in all three of these communities so that it is as clear and comprehensive as what is published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Parents and pregnant women in Broken Hill, Mount Isa and Port Pirie need to be given <em>all</em> of the evidence-based advice about reducing lead exposure.</p>
<p>Those revisions should be led by the NHMRC, as Australia’s leading expert health body. And that work should be coordinated across the three cities, so that families aren’t given different advice depending on where they live. There should also be rigorous and independent evaluation of these programs to determine if they are effective.</p>
<p>Better lead health education is important. But it is also not a substitute for eliminating lead in children’s homes, play areas and gardens.</p>
<p><em>* Do you have any questions about lead pollution and what advice families should be getting? Leave your questions below and Donna Green will be available for an Author Q&A between 1-2pm AEDT on Tuesday January 12.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52752/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Parents in three Australian states are being given misleading advice about the dangers of lead to babies and small children – including failing to warn pregnant women about miscarriage risks.Marianne Sullivan, Assistant Professor of Public Health, William Paterson UniversityDonna Green, Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC) & Associate Investigator for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Systems Science, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/437662015-10-01T08:23:51Z2015-10-01T08:23:51ZMining for metals in society’s waste<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95239/original/image-20150917-7545-p49ghv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Could municipal biosolids be a trove of tiny treasure?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Heather Lowers, USGS Denver Microbeam Laboratory</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Metals are crucial to society and enable our modern standard of living. Look around and you can’t help but see <a href="http://www.nma.org/index.php/minerals-publications/40-common-minerals-and-their-uses">products made of metals</a>. For instance, a typical gasoline-powered <a href="http://minerals.usgs.gov/granted.html">automobile contains</a> over a ton of iron and steel, 240 pounds of aluminum, 42 pounds of copper, 41 pounds of silicon, 22 pounds of zinc and more than 30 other mineral commodities including titanium, platinum and gold.</p>
<p>Metals and minerals are natural resources that human beings have been mining <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining">for thousands of years</a>. Contemporary <a href="https://www.icmm.com/trends-in-the-mining-and-metals-industry">metal mining</a> is dominated by iron ore, copper and gold, with 2 billion tons of iron ore, nearly 20 million tons of copper and 2,000 tons of gold produced every year. Tens to hundreds of tons of other metals that are essential components for electronics, <a href="http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1365/">green energy production</a>, and high-technology products are produced annually.</p>
<p>But metals are a nonrenewable resource; while advances in technology allow us to mine lower-grade mineral deposits, there’s ultimately a finite supply of what metals we can economically and technologically mine out of the Earth. So we and our colleagues at the US Geological Survey (USGS) are hunting for gold and other metals in some unconventional places, including in sewage sludge and the waste rock from old inactive metal mines.</p>
<p>We’ve hit scientific pay dirt, so to speak, in our initial attempts. The next step will be figuring out how to economically recover metals from these underutilized sources. So far we’re just determining which metals are present and don’t yet know the scale of what might be out there in waste, waiting to be mined.</p>
<h2>Waste as a sustainable resource?</h2>
<p>We can obtain the metals modern society needs in two ways: by mining them from mineral deposits in the Earth’s crust or by reusing society’s discarded metals. Metals are finite and do not decompose in the environment. The main issues related to mining them from the Earth’s crust include <a href="http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/going-critical-being-strategic-with-our-mineral-resources/">supply, scarcity</a> and the costs of extraction, concentration and purification. Moreover, there are <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015GL063345">potential environmental consequences</a> related to their extraction, processing, use and disposal.</p>
<p>The General Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme says <a href="http://www.unep.org/Documents.multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=71&ArticleID=932&l=en">sustainable development</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and does not imply in any way encroachment upon national sovereignty.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Finding sources of metals that might be “mined” from society’s wastes can reduce our need for primary resources, reduce our need to import some metals, offset waste disposal costs and conserve space in landfills, reduce dissemination of potentially harmful metals into the environment, and contribute to a sustainable society.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94554/original/image-20150911-1572-188sbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94554/original/image-20150911-1572-188sbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94554/original/image-20150911-1572-188sbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94554/original/image-20150911-1572-188sbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94554/original/image-20150911-1572-188sbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94554/original/image-20150911-1572-188sbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94554/original/image-20150911-1572-188sbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94554/original/image-20150911-1572-188sbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There’s gold in them… sewage treatment pools?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sawater/15978748831">SA Water</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Prospecting in sewage</h2>
<p>Municipal <a href="http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/wastewater/treatment/biosolids/">biosolids</a> are a mixture of a lot of stuff sent down the drain by homes and businesses that wastewater treatment plants then turn into <a href="http://www.wef.org/Biosolids/page.aspx?id=7513">treated sewage sludge</a>. Currently a little more than half of the biosolids generated in the US are used as fertilizer, with the balance disposed of in landfills or by <a href="http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/wastewater/treatment/biosolids/genqa.cfm">incineration</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95237/original/image-20150917-7512-130bo9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95237/original/image-20150917-7512-130bo9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95237/original/image-20150917-7512-130bo9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95237/original/image-20150917-7512-130bo9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95237/original/image-20150917-7512-130bo9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95237/original/image-20150917-7512-130bo9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95237/original/image-20150917-7512-130bo9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95237/original/image-20150917-7512-130bo9a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Preparing a biosolids sample back in the lab.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">USGS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But beyond human waste – ok, poop – we knew there was other useful stuff in these municipal biosolids. We and our colleagues at the USGS <a href="http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2015/march/sewage-yes-poop-could-be-a-source-of-valuable-metals-and-critical-elements.html">have measured</a> gold, silver, platinum, copper, zinc and other precious and industrial metals in biosolids. Scientists at <a href="http://ssebe.engineering.asu.edu/">Arizona State University</a> also report finding <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es505329q">numerous metals in biosolids</a>. </p>
<p>We are still trying to determine the ultimate sources of many of these metals in biosolids. For example, gold could be coming from <a href="http://www.food.gov.uk/science/additives/enumberlist">food products</a> (both eaten and disposed down the drain) that include it as an additive, dental fixtures or perhaps <a href="http://www.gold.org/technology/gold-medicine">medical facilities</a>. (Gold is used to treat arthritis and cancer as well as in some surgical and diagnostic procedures.) Silver could be coming from some of those same sources. Also, microscopic silver particles are used in a <a href="https://www.silverinstitute.org/site/silver-in-technology/">variety of consumer products</a> due to their <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-02-16/health/ct-nanosilver-met-20140216_1_consumer-products-other-antibiotic-drugs-germs">antibacterial properties</a>, and so could go down the drain with laundry water.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tTkz_dTgGAc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">One of the authors describes their work.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s not like we’re modern-day <a href="http://www.luckypanner.com/history-of-california-gold-rush-and-the-forty-niners/">“forty-niners”</a> finding visible gold flakes and nuggets at wastewater treatment plants. But we are able to measure concentrations of some metals in the biosolids material – about one part per million of gold, for example – that greatly exceed naturally occurring <a href="http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/801/">soil metal concentrations</a>. If this gold were in rock instead of biosolids, the amounts we’re finding would be similar to the concentrations measured in low-grade, currently subeconomic <a href="http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/prospect2/prospectgip.html">gold deposits</a>. We’ve even identified a few very tiny, microscopic gold particles we call “nanonuggets.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94555/original/image-20150911-1551-ee0es.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94555/original/image-20150911-1551-ee0es.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94555/original/image-20150911-1551-ee0es.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94555/original/image-20150911-1551-ee0es.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94555/original/image-20150911-1551-ee0es.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94555/original/image-20150911-1551-ee0es.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94555/original/image-20150911-1551-ee0es.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94555/original/image-20150911-1551-ee0es.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Historical mining waste-rock piles could be potential sources of mineable ores containing metals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">USGS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Recycling historical metal mining waste-rock piles</h2>
<p>Old, inactive hardrock mines in the western US are a result of the California gold rush of the mid-1800s and the other mining booms that followed. Hardrock miners focused on certain metals – including gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc – that were essential for the industrial revolution in the eastern US, and later for war efforts such as the Civil War and World Wars I and II. Near mining sites, piles of waste rock were often left behind.</p>
<p>This waste rock could contain metals with concentrations that were too low to be economically recoverable at the time or metals that weren’t of interest then, but that now have new high-tech applications. At many old inactive mining sites, waste-rock piles and tunnels driven into the hills can be sources of mine drainage waters that may contain high levels of environmentally detrimental, but potentially useful, metals.</p>
<p>There are potential environmental and safety issues and costs associated with any kind of work at these historical mining sites, as demonstrated by the recent <a href="http://www2.epa.gov/goldkingmine">Gold King mine spill</a> into the Animas River in Colorado. From 1997 to 2008, federal agencies spent <a href="http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-834T">at least US$2.6 billion</a> to clean up abandoned hardrock mines on federal, state, private and Indian lands. And there are many more abandoned mining sites on federal lands that <a href="http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-830T">remain to be inventoried and assessed</a>. Metal recovery from waste and drainage waters at some of these abandoned hardrock mining sites might help offset clean-up costs.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95234/original/image-20150917-7534-xaqyge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95234/original/image-20150917-7534-xaqyge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95234/original/image-20150917-7534-xaqyge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95234/original/image-20150917-7534-xaqyge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95234/original/image-20150917-7534-xaqyge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95234/original/image-20150917-7534-xaqyge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95234/original/image-20150917-7534-xaqyge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95234/original/image-20150917-7534-xaqyge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sampling at an historical mining waste pile with associated drainage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">USGS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We have measured in samples from waste-rock piles some metals – such as indium, tellurium and some rare earth elements – that are needed for industrial, green industry and high-tech applications. Not all mining waste-rock piles are the same, because they come from different geological sources and contain various combinations of different minerals and metals. We’re investigating whether, by knowing about the geology and mining history of these sites, it may be possible to predict which ones will have elevated levels of useful metals. We have also looked at whether waters draining from mines and mining wastes with appropriate geological characteristics can be targeted for <a href="https://www.imwa.info/docs/imwa_2013/IMWA2013_Smith_470.pdf">economic recovery</a> of useful metals.</p>
<p>Recovering and reusing metals from these sites could possibly offset the need for some new mining. There’d be less metal that we’d need to mine from virgin sources and a decrease in the associated environmental costs. That could increase sustainability by offsetting reclamation costs and reducing the amount of waste material that needs to be reclaimed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94556/original/image-20150911-1547-ol0f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94556/original/image-20150911-1547-ol0f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94556/original/image-20150911-1547-ol0f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94556/original/image-20150911-1547-ol0f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94556/original/image-20150911-1547-ol0f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94556/original/image-20150911-1547-ol0f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94556/original/image-20150911-1547-ol0f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sampling at a historical mining waste pile with associated drainage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">USGS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Can we scale up this kind of recovery?</h2>
<p>Knowing that metals are present in waste is just the first step. Next we need to investigate whether the metals can be extracted from the waste and recovered in a usable form. </p>
<p>We are currently leaching samples of biosolids and mining wastes in the laboratory using chemical solutions that are similar to extractants used by the mining industry to recover metals from hardrock ores. For example, dilute sulfuric acid is used by the mining industry to leach copper ore, and thiosulfate is sometimes used to leach gold ore.</p>
<p>We mix our ground-up samples with these chemical solutions in a container for different amounts of time (from minutes to several hours), pour off or filter the leachate solutions and then analyze the solutions to see which metals have been dissolved. Our results so far show some promise. For biosolids, leaching may provide the additional benefit of extracting some metals, such as copper and zinc, that presently limit the use of some biosolids as a fertilizer.</p>
<p>Thus far, we’ve shown what’s possible at a very small scale in the lab. We hope our work will spark additional interest in metal recovery from wastes on the part of experts in metal and mineral processing. Potential liability concerns have hampered re-mining and metal-recovery activities at historical mining sites. To reduce these liability obstacles, successful projects will likely need to involve partnerships between federal and state regulatory agencies, private entities, and the mining and mineral processing industries.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43766/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathleen Smith receives funding from the US Geological Survey, Mineral Resources Program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoffrey Plumlee received funding for this paper and related work from the US Geological Survey's Mineral Resources Program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip L Hageman received funding from the US Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program for this research.</span></em></p>Mining waste rock from historic mines or even treated sewage to find useful metals and minerals could be a sustainable way to meet demand for these finite resources.Kathleen S Smith, Research Geologist, US Geological SurveyGeoffrey Plumlee, Research Geochemist—Environment, disasters, and health, US Geological SurveyPhilip L Hageman, Research Physical Scientist, US Geological SurveyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.