Mines

Without many of the resources that have been mined over the years, much of our industrial and technological progress would not have been possible. However, with that progress comes risks and damage to human health and the environment. This is compounded as a result of many years of irresponsible practices. While current mining practices are a bit better, they do still present many of the same hazards as in the past. 

 

Mining for various resources found on the Earth has been ongoing for many thousands of years. The list of what materials are mined for and their uses numbers in the thousands. While the materials that mines extract may be vastly different, some of the negative impacts on the health of the people living near these mines are the same no matter what.

 

In many cases, closed mines present even greater levels of risks to communities than operating ones. Old mines fill up with water, and acid drainage has become a huge ongoing problem for decades. Giant piles of waste ore and mine tailings sit and blow around in the wind. Others leach their poisons into the water supply. Radioactivity continues to come from all the thousands of old uranium mines sitting open.

 

When the mining company decided it was no longer profitable to keep running, many operations simply took their machines and left everything else, including millions of tons of tailings, polluted lands and waters, open pits, and mine shafts. The toxic legacy, though, continued, and in many cases, still does today. 

 

Counting mines in only four states (Arizona, Montana, Utah, and Colorado), there are over 145,000 abandoned and inactive mines. These are staggering numbers. These mines left behind thousands of miles of streams and rivers polluted. In addition to that, continued acid mine drainage may never be fully controlled or stopped.

 

Most of the different types of mines that exist could have their own chapter. Each has its own story to tell because there is so much to say. However, some of the more common dangers are presented by the more common mining operations. The impacts of copper mines, gold and silver mines, and coal and uranium mines are representative of the hazards presented to humans from living near a mining operation both active and closed. While other mining operations not discussed in this chapter do pose unique hazards, many also fit into the general descriptions of hazards here. 

 

There are three main methods of mining. Surface mining involves large pits or strips of earth that are dug out, removing the ore. Underground mining entails shafts and tunnels being dug under the ground so the ore can be brought to the surface to process. In-situ, or leach pile, mines use chemicals either injected deep underground into the ore deposits or poured and soaked onto giant piles of ore on the surface so the chemicals can leach the desired mineral or metal into the solution, which is then processed to remove the target ore.

 

Mining operations like these create environmental issues which in turn create negative health issues. The mining industry as a whole causes more damage to the air, water, and soils in our country than many other industries combined, largely because regulations are weak

 

1. Particulate Matter

 

Depending on whether the mine is an open pit mine or an underground one, there may be a continuous cloud of dust surrounding the active mining area and processed ore storage areas. Coal mines and the towns they are near in particular frequently have levels of unhealthy particulate. On windy days, particles may even get into houses through any small crack to coat everything inside, including people’s lungs. The outside may have so much particulate matter that there seems to be a haze in the air and outside activity should be avoided. 

 

Dust from ore and waste rock is an unavoidable problem in mining. Depending on what is being mined, fine particulates, the type that our lungs can’t always filter out, get into our bloodstream and our organs. With particles of copper, gold, or especially anything radioactive, damage to our body is a distinct possibility. 

 

In Libby, Montana, a vermiculite mine that operated for decades had a very high concentration of asbestos as well. The dust and particulate matter from the mine released asbestos into the air, which all the residents in the town breathed for years. Vermiculite containing asbestos was used everywhere in the town, from baseball fields to insulation in buildings and homes. Over 400 people died from diseases directly tied to the mining in town. Thousands more were sick, including many children exposed to the dust. The town of Libby was declared a Superfund site by the federal government, and cleanup of hundreds of contaminated sites has stretched over 15-20 years.

 

In Westerly, Rhode Island, the beautiful beaches the visitors flock to in the summer hides a reality the residents live with year-round. Three granite quarries plague the town with dangerous levels of particulate matter. One of the mines puts eleven and a half tons of silica dust in the air each year. The quarries they mine the granite from consists of about 90% quartz.  That just happens to be the most common form of crystalline silica, which is on the EPA’s list of carcinogens. On top of that, the percentage of school age children with asthma is the highest in the state. According to 2016 Westerly Hospital patient data, about half the patients who are treated at the hospital have chronic asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

 

A study done by West Virginia University looked at every county in the state. They reviewed the health data for communities living near mines, especially coal mines. After adjusting for other factors such as smoking and poor access to health care facilities, they determined that people who lived near mines have a 70% increased risk for developing kidney disease, have a 64% increased risk for developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) such as emphysema, and are 30% more likely to report high blood pressure (hypertension).

 

2. Water Contamination and Depletion of Water Supplies

 

Mines impact water in numerous ways. Some of them contribute to the pollution of surface water and underground drinking supplies. Others pump millions of gallons of water from rivers and aquifers, drying up waterways and depleting safe, available drinking water for towns and communities.

 

Mine drainage, however, is one of the largest threats to our water supply. Millions of gallons daily, containing arsenic, lead, and other toxic materials flow out of some of the most contaminated mining sites in the country. They drain directly into the streams, rivers, and ponds nearby without ever being treated to remove any of these contaminants. Metals such as aluminum, cadmium, thallium, and manganese are frequently found in toxic levels in the runoff from mines into rivers and streams.

 

Underground mining often uses vast pumps to prevent underground water from filling in the tunnels and shafts. The millions of gallons being pumped out goes into nearby streams and rivers, increasing sedimentation and blocking natural flows of the waters. This may cause flooding in previously dry areas along the waters, such as farms or developments.

 

Open pits used for mining can be giant. Many are up to 1,000 feet deep and several thousand feet wide. Pits dug this deep frequently dip below the water table. To keep the pit dry requires continuous pumping of water, which draws down the level of the water table as millions of gallons are pumped from the working pit. Once the mining is done in the pit, it usually is allowed to fill up again with water, and it quickly turns into a contaminated lake with acids, arsenic, and metals, reacting with the water and the rocky pit. This becomes toxic to wildlife, and any runoff from the pit may contaminate the groundwater and other sources.

 

In Salt Lake City, Utah, the open pit copper mine, known as the Bingham Canyon Mine, has the largest known plume of contaminated groundwater in the world underneath it. If the plume moves or gets released into the Great Salt Lake, unimaginable environmental disasters could occur.

 

Specific risks of water pollution occur in three major categories.

 

1. Acid Mine Drainage 

 

Acid drainage is a natural process that occurs on a small scale in nature. Nature’s process is called “acid rock drainage.” It happens naturally when sulfide compounds in rocks are exposed to air and water. When that happens, the sulfide in the rock combines with the air and water to make sulfuric acid.

 

In mining operations, however, this process is multiplied many thousands of times over. Large quantities of rock are exposed to the air and water both in open mines on the surface and in underground mines along the tunnels and shafts. The dangerous chemical reaction happens not only when the mine is in operation but also afterwards. And it happens for hundreds of years, creating hundreds of thousands of gallons of sulfuric-acid-contaminated water.

 

According to a 2019 Associated Press story on acid drainage from mines, every day over 50 million gallons of untreated wastewater is released. AP reviewed the records of 43 mining sites on which hundreds of individual mines had operated for their report. The contaminated water drains into groundwater supplies, streams, rivers, and ponds. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon with abandoned mines and even currently operating ones.

 

The most acidic water ever found is mine drainage leaking out of an old mine at Iron Mountain near Redding, California. A researcher at the U.S. Geological Survey called it, “the world’s worst water.” The acid level of the water was measured off the charts literally. The PH level tested in some places at a -3.6. For comparison, battery acid measures a respectable .3 on the PH scale. The water set a record for the most acidic ever discovered outside of a laboratory. 

 

Acid mine drainage has been an ongoing issue for over 100 years, and it is not going away anytime soon.  If anything, it’s getting worse.

 

1. Chemical Pollution

 

Some mining operations use chemicals such as cyanide or acids to process ores and remove the minerals or metals they are after. These chemicals frequently leak off site and find their way into the soil and water. In addition, much of the ore taken from the mine and its surface areas contains heavy metals, such as arsenic, lead, copper, cobalt, and others.  These metals can leach into the water and contaminate it. When combined with acid mine drainage, the amount of heavy metals dissolved in the water drastically increases. 

 

These materials end up in the same water that communities depend on. The toxicity of the water supply increases, and water treatment plants in many cases are unable to remove all the metals and toxins it contains.

 

In eastern Oklahoma’s Tar Creek mining district, waterways are devoid of life, and elevated lead levels persist in the blood of children despite a two-decade effort to clean up lead and zinc mines.

 

1. Depletion of Water Supply

 

Mines use tremendous amounts of water in some of their operations. They take the clean water from water supplies and put back dirty and sometimes contaminated water. Many of these mines operate in places where water is a precious commodity with little rainfall to replace it.

 

In northeast Nevada, local tribes and environment groups are fighting a proposal from a mining company that would pull billions of gallons of water from the underground aquifers. The pumping of the water would change the natural flow of water, which currently supports a wetlands area containing 88 springs. The mining company says they will replenish groundwater by leaching the used dirty water back from the surface. 

 

In addition the mining company will need to lower the water table to be able to work the mine. A hydrologist studying the project said the actions by the mine would lower the water table hundreds of feet in the area of the mine and affect the water table possibly up to 30 miles away. As of May, 2020, the battle continues. 

 

3. Radioactivity

 

In the western part of the U.S., there are about 4,000 abandoned uranium mines. While they may not be actively mined any longer, their toxic legacy and effects linger on. Many towns located near these mines have been tested for radioactivity and are contaminated to some level. It is not just the level in the air that is concerning. Many towns even used old mine tailings and waste ore to line their streets and build structures.

 

In the town of Monticello, Utah, uranium ore from mines was processed at a mill owned by the federal government. Residents used waste ore, which the residents were not told was radioactive, to build sections of the town. Monticello wound up with two Superfund sites due to all the radioactivity. Over the years the residents have had cancer clusters and increases in rates of birth defects.

 

4. Mercury

 

In gold operations particularly, mercury is leached when the ore is processed to remove the gold. Mercury is released into the air, especially when a mining method that requires the ore to be roasted is used.

 

In the big gold mining days in the late 18th and early 19th century, California produced almost 90% of the mercury in the United States. Over 220 million pounds were used around the world for gold mining and other purposes. Many tons of mercury were poured into streams and rivers in the California mountains used in gold mining to extract the gold from the ore. More than half of the waterways in the northern half of California are contaminated with mercury dug from mines and leftover from use in the gold mining operations long past but still contaminating the waters. There is a state park named for the metal, Quicksilver Park in the town of New Almaden. Signs warn visitors of the nearby toxic mercury mines throughout the area. There were more than 100 mercury mines feeding tons of mercury to the gold miners to use. 

 

The dangers of mercury poisoning were not recognized until the early 1970s when it was way too late. The historic park was originally bought to be used as a recreation area back in the 1970s, but after mercury contamination was discovered, the park was placed on California’s Superfund list. Many towns in California from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to San Francisco Bay remain hot spots of mercury contamination as do many rivers still under “do not eat the fish” advisories. 

 

In California, there are over 150 reservoirs and lakes still polluted with mercury from the gold mining days. Clear Lake is considered the most mercury-polluted lake in the world. The nearby Sulfur Bank Mine still has pollution leaking from beneath a dam built by former mine operators. The EPA has spent almost $40 million over twenty years, and not much progress appears to have been made. The mine is a Superfund site, and the creeks in the area are still high in mercury, contaminating the fish, which people regularly eat, and sending mercury down waterways to San Francisco. 

 

San Jose, California, has so many of the old mercury mines it is referred to as the largest source of mercury along San Francisco Bay. The state environmental regulators are overwhelmed by the sheer number of old mines throughout the state and do not even have a portion of the financial resources to clean up more than a few of the worst ones. 

 

5. Smelters

 

Smelting has been used for about 5,000 years. Bronze, copper, and tin were some of the first metals to be made into their pure form through smelting. Now, the process requires an industrial-sized machine to heat up the ore and uses another compound to cause a chemical reaction to separate the pure metal from the ore.

 

Even though they are especially hazardous, many smelters operate across the country today in various industrial locations. The mining industry uses smelters extensively in the final processing of the ore. Many of these plants were built either near the mines or as part of a large operation. After the ore is processed, it is sent to the smelter to remove the metal from the ore. 

 

Smelters are some of the dirtiest places and put out tremendous amounts of chemical pollution. At a lead smelter in Missouri, very high levels of lead have been detected in soil, dust, and air samples taken in the community nearby. Tests on children found lead levels above safe in 28% of them. Women in the community had lead levels in their blood twice the national average. High lead levels affect children’s brains and learning, and high lead levels in pregnant women has a very negative effect on the development of unborn babies.

 

Mining communities are presented with unique hazards that many cities and towns luckily never have to deal with. From the giant piles of waste to the millions of gallons of hazardous water, the scale of these hazards are as large as the mines that create them. Sadly, the health risks presented do not go away when the mine closes down. They remain as a toxic legacy in the town and a reminder of their roots. 

 

Many new mines are opening and exploiting resources in new ways, in some cases creating even larger environmental problems than before. Expansion of existing mines to get even more yield out of them is pushing areas to their limits in coping with dust, toxic water, and other hazards on a daily basis. Even with the jobs mines bring, in many cases they do not give the people working them nearly enough compensation for the hazards they face. 

 

Any mining operation brings with it issues that are unable to be completely controlled. Particulate matter is impossible to prevent or in many cases even reduce. Breathing the metals, coal dust, and airborne chemicals is part of life for those who live nearby. 

 

While Tony and I do not want to say moving to or living near a mine is entirely bad, we have to speak our minds and admit we would never consider this as an option if given a choice. Much of what is being discharged will never fully be admitted to and accounted for. That is a simple fact of doing business at the large scale these operations do. 

 

Consider all the facts when you have a mine nearby, not just what the mine chooses to tell you. Many of these mines may cover hundreds or even thousands of acres. Adding in areas for tailings disposal, that makes for a huge footprint to stay away from. If you can be assured there are no closed, active, or proposed mines within five miles of your location, that may be as safe as you can be in an area where mining activity is commonplace. Even still, carefully monitor your water, having an annual test for metals and radioactivity in addition to checking its PH level regularly yourself.