Surface mining
Habitat destruction, alongside air, noise, and water pollution, are all significant negative environmental impacts caused by the side effects of surface mining.
Open-pit mining refers to a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth through their removal from an open pit or borrow.
contend that mountaintop removal is a disastrous practice that benefits a small number of corporations at the expense of local communities and the environment.
Blasting at a mountaintop removal mine expels dust and fly-rock into the air, which can then disturb or settle onto private property nearby.
[11] Although MTR sites are required to be reclaimed after mining is complete, reclamation has traditionally focused on stabilizing rock and controlling erosion, but not always on reforesting the area.
In gravel-filled river valleys with shallow water tables, a floating dredge can work its way through the loose sediment in a pond of its own making.
[16] In highwall mining, the coal seam is penetrated by a continuous miner propelled by a hydraulic pushbeam transfer mechanism (PTM).
A typical cycle includes sumping (launch-pushing forward) and shearing (raising and lowering the cutterhead boom to cut the entire height of the coal seam).
Mapping of the outcrop, as well as core hole data and samples taken during the bench-making process, are taken into account to best project the panels that the highwall miner will cut.
parallel lines represent the drive cut into the mountain (up to 1,200 feet (370 m) deep (2015 records),[citation needed] without heading or corrective steering actuation on a navigation azimuth during mining results in missing a portion of the coal seam and is a potential danger of cutting in pillars from previous mined drives due to horizontal drift (roll) of the pushbeam-cuttermodule string.
highwall miners have penetrated more than 1,200 feet (370 m) (2015 ongoing records[citation needed] into the coal seam, and today's models are capable of going farther, with the support of gyro navigation and not limited anymore by the amount of cable stored on the machine.
The maximum depth would be determined by the stress of further penetration and associated specific-power draw (torsion and tension in screw transporters string), but today's optimized screw-transporters conveying embodiments (called pushbeams) with visual product development and discrete element modeling (DEM) using flow simulation behavior software shows smart-drive extended penetrations are possible, even so under steep inclined angles from horizontal to more than 30 degree downhole.
[17] In some cases, even with proper legislation in place for surface mining some negative human health and environmental impacts remain.
Large tailing piles left behind may contain heavy metals which can leach out acids such as lead and copper and enter into water systems.
Throughout the Appalachians in states such as Kentucky and Virginia, mountaintop removal is a common mining method where whole forests are cleared and the area becomes vulnerable to possible landslides, with restoration sometimes being too difficult/costly.
[24] Water and noise pollution is a concern that must be monitored because marine life is very sensitive and vulnerable to drastic and harmful changes within their ecosystem.
[25] Highwall mining - Has a lower environmental impact than mountaintop removal because of the smaller external surface area present but there are still negative side effects.
[15] Air and noise pollution from blasting are common environmental effects along with the large tailing piles, which can leach into waterways and numerous ecosystems.
[26] Properly cleaning, restoring, and removing hazards from a once operational surface mine requires a large sum of money and extensive environmental remediation.
In the United States, when the company does not exist anymore or is otherwise unable to clean the site, special taxes on hazardous waste producers (i.e. the Environmental Protection Agency Superfund) can be used to fund remediation projects.
[28] In Canada, there is a complex interaction between the evolving mining industry technologies, environmental protection legislation, and reclamation efforts.
