Sand mining

[6] Various animals depend on sandy beaches for nesting clutches, and mining has led to the near extinction of gharials (a species of crocodilian) in India.

Removal of physical coastal barriers, such as dunes, sometimes leads to flooding of beachside communities, and the destruction of picturesque beaches causes tourism to dissipate.

[8] In the 1940 mining operations began on the Kurnell Peninsula (Captain Cook's landing place in Australia) to supply the expanding Sydney building market.

Ocean waves pounding against the reduced Kurnell dune system have threatened to break through to Botany Bay, especially during the storms of May and June back in 1974 and of August 1998.

[16] Conservation and environmental NGO Awaaz Foundation filed a public interest litigation in the Bombay High Court seeking a ban on mining activities along the Konkan coast.

[17] Awaaz Foundation, in partnership with the Bombay Natural History Society also presented the issue of sand mining as a major international threat to coastal biodiversity at the Conference of Parties 11, Convention on Biological Diversity, Hyderabad in October 2012.

[18][19] D. K. Ravi, an Indian Administrative Service officer of the Karnataka state, who was well known for his tough crackdown on the rampant illegal sand mining in the Kolar district, was found dead at his residence in Bengaluru, on 16 March 2015.

[23] When an application was lodged in 2005 to mine iron sands on the seabed of the coast of Raglan local residents organised in opposition to the scheme.

A proposal to begin sand mining in Bream Bay was among 149 initiatives invited to apply for resource consent in a streamlined process under the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024, an inclusion which drew widespread opposition amongst the local community.

The recent boom in silica sand mining has caused concern from residents in Wisconsin that include quality of life issues and the threat of silicosis.

As of 2013, industrial frac sand mining has become a cause for activism, especially in the Driftless Area of southeast Minnesota, northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin.[why?]

[29][better source needed] In 2020 the Coast Guard Administration of the neighboring country of Taiwan expelled or detained nearly 4,000 Chinese sand dredging vessels.