Impacts of

Mining 
Aanya Sharma 
Introduction 
• Mining is important to obtain recourses for our use and for
the development of a country but unfortunately this
has many negative environmental impacts
• Many positive and negative social aspects also come along
with mining 
• Next are some environmental mining impacts
Environmental
impacts: Air pollution
• Mining operations cause many types of
pollution, one of them including air pollution
• Wind erosion and nearby vehicular
traffic causes unrefined materials that are
exposed on the surface to be airborne and
hence, pollute the air 
• In these particles, toxic elements such as;
Lead, arsenic, cadmium are present which
can damage the health of the miners working
there as well as people living nearby the mine The image above shows
site a graphical representation
of air pollution caused
by gold extractions from
1970-2012 in Ghana
WATER POLLUTION
• Water pollution is also caused when air carries the toxic minerals and
pollutants from mine sites to nearby lakes or rivers, or, when the acidic
water from coal/metal mines is drained into rivers
• Pollutants released from processing plants, tailing ponds, underground
mines, waste-disposal areas etc., are some of the top sources of water
pollution
• This pollution harms and impacts aquatic animals, fishing, irrigation,
domestic water supply etc. Along with other activities that require the
use of these water bodies
• A study that investigated the water pollution
impact of mine drainage from an underground
colliery that had stopped mining 8
years earlier(in 2015) 
• After more than a century of operating, the
mining stopped. Later, pumping ceased and
groundwater accumulated, causing the flooding
of the deepest sections of the mine workings. 
• This then caused the mine to free-drain into an
adjacent river, and this was hazardous to the
river as the water drained had toxic materials
Loss of biodiversity and land 
• The destruction caused of the land and habitat by mining is observed
usually after the mining has been completed, and it's one of the worst
effects of mining 
• The clearing or drastic change of an area pre-mining has a huge loss
for the animal habitat and the flora and fauna of that area. This
especially poses a risk to endemic creatures who are at the risk of
extinction
• Long time ill-effects are also caused as it takes a long time for the land
to heal post-mining. And sometimes, it doesn't recover. Remediation of
an area doesn't always ensure that biodiversity is restored
Social Aspects
• Positive social impacts of mining include; 
• Employment opportunities and community development projects 
• Although, there are many more negative social impacts such as;
• It effects the health of miners working there
• Exposes miners to harassment by mine or government security
• Changes the social dynamics of a community
• Provides poor working conditions to the miners 
• Increased social conflicts
• Many gendered impacts of mining towards women are also
experienced 
References and
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
• Slide 3:- Sources, www.worldatlas.com and Graphical picture reference
taken from www.sciencedirect.com , article of Gold Mining Pollution
and the Cost of Private Healthcare: The Case of Ghana
• Slide 4 and 5:- Sources taken from www.worldatlas.com and Springer
Link- Article :Increased Water Pollution After Closure of Australia’s
Longest Operating Underground Coal Mine: a 13-Month Study of Mine
Drainage, Water Chemistry and River Ecology(graphical representation
taken from the same)
• Slide 6:- Sources, www.worldatlas.com ; Graphical representation from 
www.bbc.com  Nature's emergency: Where we are in five graphics
• Slide 7:- Sources, www.oxfam.org.au and Graph representation from 
www.researchgate.net Social assessment of raw materials supply
chains. A life-cycle-based analysis uploaded by Lucia Mancini