Conflict minerals are used in many commercially available items, such as many electronic devices and much jewelry. These minerals are Tin, Tantalum, Tungsten and Gold. Mines, in which these minerals are collected, are often sites for violent armed groups, hence the name conflict minerals. This problem is especially prominent in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also takes place in many other nations such as the Central African Republic, Tanzania and Angola as well. These nations often do not have the control over their natural resources that is necessary the to prevent the monopolization of vital minerals by violent militant groups. Additionally, the mining of conflict minerals leads to many human rights violations as well as environmental damage. People are often forced into working with death threats or to protect their family. The public is also frequently subjected to attacks from armed groups that control mines. Working conditions are terrible and involve much heavy lifting, which can result in injuries as well as bad quality tools. As for environmental effects, mining causes sinkholes, contamination and the loss of biodiversity. Furthermore, profit from the mining of conflict minerals often goes towards personal profit or to armed groups that use the money to advance their violent causes. The minerals are frequently smuggled into neighboring countries, smelted and then distributed worldwide. The process of smelting the minerals makes it hard to determine the
Some important things made from metals include cars, bridges, appliances, power generation, infrastructure, and obviously many more. Everything electrical needs copper, (which is mined), to function. A major concern for the mine is that it will pollute and destroy the nearby natural
Minerals can affect society in many ways for example; Surface mining destroys vegetation across large areas, increasing erosion. Open-pit mining uses huge quantities of water. Acid mine drainage is pollution caused when dissolved toxic materials wash from mines into nearby lakes and streams. Minerals is approximately 80 percent of mined ore consists of impurities that become wastes after processing. These wastes, called tailings, are usually left in giant piles on the ground or in ponds near the processing plants (Figure 12.9). The tailings contain toxic materials such as cyanide, mercury, and sulfuric acid. Left
The mining has become a controversial topic due to the mass publicity regarding the potential danger of nuclear power and uranium mining, not to mention the objections by some Indigenous groups. The controversy is significant
One of the current disasters that everyone doesn’t realize is the pollutions within our waters, it is such a vital things in our lives, yet the business don’t care about the future’s wellbeing. Thus they are allowed to do whatever they want because the earth believes that our Economy is much greater than our environment. I believe that the Gold King mine was the biggest disasters within the United States , because how much it affected the people that live near the area, and how fast it spread to other people that were not aware.
In chapter three of Extracted, the author one of those minerals considered as conflict-minerals, gold. Throughout this chapter, the author did not use the term conflict-minerals. He calls them precious metals or metal commodities. The author talks about how obtaining these minerals by waging war on countries that had them created a complex society. For example, the British Empire was built on gold, the Persian Empire, and may more.
These minerals are most commonly known as conflict minerals because many believe the trade for these minerals is funding the third world war. Most of the technology we can’t live without is funding a country that is tearing itself apart with war. In the Congo, women and young girls are being sexually traded for weapons, everyone is working hours longer than any of us have ever known, and these people are not being paid well enough for their work. All of these issues and more are being explained by many people across the country.
Mining is one of Canada’s primary industries and involves the extraction, refining, and/or processing of economically valuable rocks and minerals. Mineral products – including gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, nickel – are critical to modern industrial society. Although mining has been key to Canadian settlement and development, in recent decades the industry has also been criticized for its environmental and social impacts. Canada remains one of the world’s leading mining countries and has become a centre of global mining finance and expertise.
Despite all these positive economic impacts, this industry is plagued with contention and conflict. (Sagebien, 2008) Anti-development effects of mining thought of as the “resource curse” includes twisted economics, unfavourable social and environmental consequences at the community level, domestic economic dependence on extraction to the exclusion of other more sustainable industries, loss of
Metal mining is the process of extracting ore or minerals underneath of the earth. Mining produces economic gains for countries that have plenty of metallic ore deposits, however the mining industry has a record of causing environmental disasters by releasing heavy metals such as (lead, lithium, cadmium) and other chemicals. Also mining has increased air pollution, loss of habitat for many species and the impact on the human health can be devastating.
Underground mining involves large scale movements of rock and vegetation, which creates potential risks of land and tunnel collapse. Furthermore, this process of mining can release toxic compounds into surrounding water bodies. As the water takes on harmful concentrations, it can pollute the region surrounding the mine, as well as neighbouring water bodies. This can affect the growth of vegetation, animals and humans living in the surrounding areas. This form of mining also has high demand for water, which can deplete supplies in the surrounding region (Web.mit.edu, 2017). When copper is mined, toxic compounds are released into the air. The dust released during the mining of copper can release a variety of impurities associated with common health problems. Mining is also dependent on fossil fuels, which when released have harmful effects on the atmosphere (Web.mit.edu, 2017).
Minerals are a natural resource that is very important to Canada and its industries development. Canada is one of the leading countries when it comes to minerals due to the mining industries. Mines that provide us minerals in Canada include the Diamond Production in the far North, Voiseys Bay in Labradors, the Sudbury region, Arctic and Taiga region, and the boreal shield region. Miners play an effective role when it comes to minerals since they are really the ones providing us with these minerals. As well as the workers in industries who make oil and different things out of them. There have been many recent developments in Canada in the mineral industry, such as; Diamond production in the far north that is Canada’s latest mining success stories.
Barrick Gold Corporation has been struggling with its relationship with the people of Tanzania – specifically in North Mara. Despite numerous efforts to fix this issue, the North Mara mining site is still experiencing a large amount of discontent between the company and, more importantly, the citizens. Barrick Gold Corporation must find a solution for this problem to become more socially responsible, build a stronger relationship with the citizens in North Mara and to allow the company to flourish in Tanzania. At the moment, there are no time constraints, but as a result of a long string of events, the situation has reached an unsettling point, where theft and murder is occurring. As a result, the matter must be resolved in no more than a year.
In our days, mining for resources is inevitable. The resources we need are valuable in everyday life. Such resources mined up are coal, copper, gold, silver, and sand. However, mining poses environmental risks that can degrade the quality of soil and water, which can end up effecting us humans if not taken care of and many of the damages are irreversible once they have occurred.
Another perspective to look at it is that social impact mining has. Though it can be difficult to separate the economic impact from the social, because many social issues are the result of poverty. Meaning that if the mining
Mining Many of the planet's rainforests lie over rich mineral deposits. The mining process releases harmful toxins, like mercury and cyanide which are often used in the gold extraction process, into local streams and river, polluting both the waters and the surrounding lands. There is, however, good money in the mining industry and many residents are encouraged to work in the mines.