Have you been discouraged from conducting mining activities on your rural land because of environmental concerns? Read on and discover some common environmental myths about mining that you should not believe.
Myth 1: Mining Adversely Affects Water Supplies
Many jurisdictions have standards governing the quality of effluent from mining activities. Such regulations may even be the basis upon which authorization to begin mining is granted. This oversight is intended to prevent or limit any contamination of groundwater resources in the areas where mining activities are taking place. Thus, it is no longer a foregone conclusion that mining will have an adverse effect on the water supply of an area. Only mines that go against effluent management guidelines negatively affect the quality of the water in that area.
Myth 2: Mining Uses Huge Tracts of Land
Some people think that mining takes up a huge fraction of the available land to the detriment of other economic activities, such as agriculture. However, the reality is that mining takes up a very small fraction of land in several countries. For instance, mining only takes up about 0.1 percent of the total land area in the United States of America. Consequently, you should not feel guilty about using your land for mining due to the mentality that you will be contributing to the stranglehold of mining on land use around the world.
Myth 3: Mining Activities Are Invasive to the Environment
The proponents of this myth say that the natural environment will be drastically changed in the worst possible way once mining takes place in an area. While this was the case in the past, many jurisdictions now require mining companies to avail mine closure plans before mining activities can begin. Such mine closure plans are expected to outline how the mine site will be restored to its pre-mining state, or to a condition that can allow it to be used for another purpose, such as agriculture. Consequently, it may no longer be correct to assume that any mining activity will leave the site as a wasteland where no other productive activity can ever take place.
As you can see, a lot of what people say about mining may be based on myths that have no factual basis. You should therefore contact a mining professional in case you have heard something and it is holding you back from conducting mining activities on your land.
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