Mineral Resources Management and the Environment

The book deals with ways and means of making the mineral industry safe, efficient and ecologically sustainable, through the understanding of the linkages between the geologic setting, mining and process technologies, economics, environment and stakeholder communities. The volume has 10 chapters. The first chapter gives a review of the present status of the world mining industry, and the environmental challenges facing it. Chapters 2 and 3 bring out the linkages between the mode of occurrence of a mineral and the ways of mining it. The impact of mining on the environment is elaborated industry-wise (Chapter 4), and waste-wise (Chapter 5). The health consequences arising from the various hazards of mining are dealt with in Chapter 6. The next 2 chapters are devoted to environmental impact of process technologies, and control technologies to make the mining industry ecologically sustainable. Chapter 9 deals with the various methods of rehabilitation of mined land, and reuse of mine wastes and mine water. The socio-economic dimensions of the mining industry are dealt with in the last chapter. The 5 appendices deal with particulars of the important metal mines in the world, list of mining accidents, and Industry Standard (ISO 14001).