The issue of the damage to the environment by mining activities has been around for a quite a long but in recent years it has come more to the forefront as the adverse effects on people’s lives and health have become more pronounced. At the same time environmental groups and activists have been springing up across the globe as people today have become much more educated and conscious of the perils of mining if it is not conducted in an environmentally friendly manner and in accordance with established safety and health practices.
The list of disasters caused by mining activities across the globe is an exhausting one. However, fortunately many countries are implementing stringent laws and regulations governing mining in order to safeguard the environment and the health of their citizens.
This is what Kuensel’s Online, Bhutan’s daily news site of July 5, 2008 reported: “A village in danger of being wiped out, big boulders dumped regularly down a narrow school path, houses and people caked with coal dust, rivers and streams polluted, pristine environments destroyed and not restored, paddy crops washed away, laws violated, communities affected and authorities mum.”
It added: “This is a brief glimpse of how mining and quarry companies all over Bhutan have blatantly been breaking all the rules in the book and getting away with it right under the noses of tolerant government authorities, according to the first ever audit on mines and stone quarries by the royal audit authority (RAA), which throws up some unsavoury facts about mining in Bhutan.
One of the major findings was the damage to local environment, roads, property and community. One example is the affect on the people of Khorpham and Rishore villages by a coalmine of S.D. Eastern. “Villagers here complained that, if timely reclamation works were not done, their entire villages could get washed away due to unsafe mining methods,” said an audit official. The villagers also complained about air pollution from mine dust and noise pollution from vehicles. Similarly, in the case of the Khothakpa gypsum mine of Druk Satair, air and noise pollution, as well as effects of blasting vibrations on houses, were the main concerns of villagers. Near the Dhapar quartzite mine, paddy fields were damaged with waste material and excavations from the mine. This is pretty much the same picture for most other mines and quarries, big and small.”
Sahil Nagpal in 2008 also reporting on the damage in Peru reported: “Extreme environmental damage caused by mining has prompted the residents in the Peruvian city of Carro Pasco to move the entire town.
The move was approved in a meeting of residents, national media reported Wednesday. The city is the provincial capital and is located at 4,348 metres, making it one of the highest as well as one of the dirtiest cities in the world.
Residents in Carro Pasco, about 400 kilometres east of Lima, suffer from extremely high levels of lead in their blood as a result of open-cast mining of lead, zinc and other metals. The community’s children suffer from skin diseases, problems with bone formation and weaknesses in their sight and mental development.”
These two reports help to illustrate the severity of the damage being inflicted by unsafe methods and practices of mining.
Here in Guyana we have had our share of environmental damage caused by mining including the Omai spill. But the government through the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and other stakeholders have been working assiduously towards the legislation, implementation and enforcing of laws and regulations governing the mining sector which is playing an important role in our national economy.
The current compliance campaign which is being carried out by the GGMC among small and medium scale miners is therefore most commendable and it is hoped that it will be sustained.
Some miners though are complaining that adhering to regulations would increase their costs of operations significantly. However, while this argument may have some merit the bigger and longer term picture of the damage to the ecological effects on the environment and that of people’s lives. This profits before people and the environment attitude and culture has to change as it has been responsible for so much suffering throughout the world.
Manager of the Mines Division of the GGMC, Mr. Derek Babb, disclosed that notwithstanding these complaints, field staff will carry out planned inspections in each operation in each Mining District.
According to Mr. Babb they will be looking for compliance with key environmental regulations such as tailings waste management, low turbidity in nearby rivers and creeks, and proper use of mercury and retorts.
They will inspect compliance with rules against mining in buffer areas such as rivers and creek banks, road sides, and around communities and approved nature reserves and parks.
They will also inspect compliance with regulations on sanitation- garbage and toilets, mine safety, dredge licensing, tributaries, registered laborers and production books.
Miners found defaulting will be given citations and directed to comply, or will be given cease work orders until they comply.
There will be zero tolerance for miners found discharging turbid or muddy water into rivers and creeks; they will be closed down.
This is a most welcome approach by the GGMC because for long many miners have been flouting the laws and regulations and showing utter disregard for the safety of the environment and people. That is not to say, that all miners are guilty of such negligence as many have been doing their utmost to ensure they do their job in an environmentally friendly way.
