MICHAEL ETHAN LIGONES CHIU 8-DARWIN August 2, 2019

Mineral Resources -Use, exploitation and conservation, effect of mining on

environment
Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A(Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D
The article is very informative and surely gives you more knowledge about
minerals, its importance and impact towards the growth of human civilization, it’s
classifications, and types, categories, characteristics, its uses and the Indian Scenario.
Basically, a mineral is a pure inorganic substance that occurs naturally in the Earth’s
crust and is either a naturally occurring element or compound that formed over a long
period time. After that, the author then talks about the extraction of minerals, otherwise
called mining. The author proceeds to procure the stages into mining exploration, the
methods of mining and quarrying, the impacts of mining on the environment, possible
solutions, and the author’s conclusion on mining, respectively.
The condition of our mineral resources now is that it is on the verge of decline.
Mining is eventually happening around the world in the present due to the very huge
demand that minerals have on almost all industries and all materials. There is also a
huge waste of mineral resources due to the usage and acceptance of minerals which
are not even essential and benifial. Since minerals are non-renewable, we must learn
how to reuse them so that there will be no extinction of these valuable materials and
while doing that, we can help more people in our environment and our environment
itself.
In the article, the author states the outcomes that mining has on our environment.
The author puts a lot of are about what the said activity can do our environment and to
the species living within or near them.
First of all, mining really takes lots of planning since it needs certain conditions to
be met such as the temperature and also hoisting systems, and transportation. Mining
also significantly affects the water quality through contamination due to the release of
bad chemicals into water bodies which can significantly affect organisms living within or
near the body of water. It also affects the quality of the air due to the release of
methane, dust, Sulphur dioxide and possibly radioactive elements which would certainly
result to extremely worst disease in surrounding species. Mining can also possibly leak
out large amounts of chemicals on the land which will make the soil unsuitable for flora
and fauna. Mining also needs to cut down a huge quantity of trees in order for it to be
possible, therefore large-scale deforestation needs to be carried out in areas where
mining has to be done leading to more deforestation and pollution. Health of humans
and animals are also impacted by mining due to the pollution that it causes.
 Mining causes all of this through:
 Dredging and ocean mining which significantly disrupts our ocean.
 Disposal of nuclear wastes
 Drilling and production
 Leakage of acids
 Usage of resources which can negatively affect the environment
 Improper disposal of mining waste
 Burning of fossil fuels, and
 Disposal of nuclear wastes

In the article’s conclusion, the author talks about the selfish mindset of mining
companies. However, you’ll find out that the author never stated that the author was
against mining companies. The author is against irresponsible mining and wasting of
minerals. He focuses this, “It doesn’t matter how many resources you have, if you don’t
know how to use them, they will never be enough.” The mining here in our country must
be lessen and in some possibilities may be stop. He provided possible solutions and
tips that could be done by us and by mining companies to prevent further damages and
to recycle mineral sources. He wanted us to know what will be the result if mining will
still continue in the future.
Mining in some point is not too bad at what it looks like, it can also be good too. We
can’t exactly say that mining companies are a hundred percent evil, in fact, without them,
we wouldn’t be even able to have these amazing materials and certain products in our
households. However, mining companies should follow the rules and regulations especially
mining has evidently huge impacts on our environment. I also believe that we should try to
reuse them as much as possible since it take lots of years to grow back. Let’s all together
protect our environment and our nature.