Mining and the environment. From ore to metal / Горнодобывающая промышленность и окружающая среда. От руды до металла

The history of mining is replete with controversy, but in recent decades there has been increasing pressure to improve the environmental performance of mining operations, following from greater awareness of global environmental issues. Although Rachel Carson’s 1962 ground breaking text, ‘The Silent Spring’, focused on pesticide damage, it brought attention for the fi rst time to the worldwide scale of environmental degradation associated with the development of an industrial civilization. This introductory chapter will examine the many facets of the relationship between mining and the environment which follow from the demands of that civilization.

The history of mining and the minerals cycle, of which mining is just one part, reveal the complex linkages between mining and society. Mining operations function within the formal and informal institutional frameworks of the country which hosts the mining project, and therefore inevitably acquire a political dimension, as well as strong links to its economy, ecosystem, and local communities; while these latter almost inevitably come to depend on minerals production for employment, income, and broader development. Unfortunately the perceived divergence between mining based development and environmental conservation, usually focused around the mine site and associated communities, often becomes the subject of controversy in which mining companies find themselves at the centre. <...>