It was thought that “with improved maps and measurements, mining could be rationalized and systematized; obstacles could be overcome with powerful new machines and techniques.” (LeCain, 36). With these improvements, controlling complex underground spaces would be possible. In addition, with these technological renovations miners could work and survive in better conditions than before, what might allow them to improve their productivity. Some examples are the hydraulic mining and the deep hard-rock mining operations. The hydraulic mining needed costly tools and only who could afford it were possible to access to this technique. However, if there were any kind of problems, the consequences that followed these systems failures were disastrous and dangerous. Some enormously devastating consequences of the hydraulic mining are the destruction of fisheries or even the transformation of good farmlands into lands affected by the huge quantity of sand and gravel.
Regarding the mining processes, before they start in mines, some negatives aspects can be highlighted as the deterioration of the landscape, as it is necessary to excavate to get to the minerals miners want to extract, something that also happens during the process. As perceived in the second article, if we wanted to clean the mines “and if toxic material is removed from an abandoned mine, what assurance can be given that mobilizing the material will not introduce new risks?” (Sandlos and Keeling, website). So it seems it is not likely to find a radical and definitive solution for the cleaning of mines. Therefore, it does not look like that human beings, the environment and mines may live together.
First off i would like to start off by saying i enjoyed your reading. There has been many finding that mining has a bigger negative impact on the world around us than a positive one. Mining is necessary in this day an age just to have a ice cold drink on a hot summer day. We want to save the world but many of us are not willing or unaware of the solutions to help a lest degrade mining in the world. Just in General for humans to live in the world we will mostly create a negivite impact no matter what we do.