In a massive public relations exercise and a departure from past “Breaking New Ground”, an international report on Mines, Minerals and Sustainable Development mentions Natural Capital as one of the five forms of the capital. Interestingly, it suggests at the same time that ‘capital formation is at the heart of sustainable development’ and introduces the concept of “critical natural capital” which cannot be traded for improvements in financial capital stocks for the sake of critical sustainable development which ironically implies that there is uncritical natural capital which can be traded off. The report accepts that mineral extraction; processing and use do not benefit the local ecosystems. It callously mentions that ecological damage function of the mining has never been measured anywhere in the world.

Status of Minerals:

India produces 89 minerals, out of which 4 are fuel minerals, 11 metallic, 52 non-metallic and 22 minor minerals. In 2000-2001, the total value of mineral production other than petroleum and natural gas was Rs 306751 million and including them it was Rs 568070 million.

India is the largest producer of mica blocks and mica splittings. It ranks third in the production of coal and lignite, barytes and chromite. It is 4th in iron ore, 6th in bauxite and manganese ore, 10th in aluminium and 11th in crude steel. Limestone, magnesite, dolomite, barytes, kaolin, gypsum, apatite and phosphorite, steatite and fluorite account for more than 90 percent of non-metallic minerals. The entire metallic production includes Iron-ore, copper-ore, chromite and or zinc concentrates, gold, manganese ore, bauxite, lead concentrates, and silver.

Environment & Health Status in Mining:

The 1993 national mineral policy addresses in passing among other things the issue of adverse effects of mining to the environment in general and recycling of metallic scrap and mineral waste in particular. The policy also mentions admission of foreign technology and foreign participation in exploration and mining for high value and scarce minerals. These mining companies are notorious for their concentration on making profits sans any plan for pre-mining and post mining sustainable development.

The policy refers to protection of forest, environment and ecology from the adverse effects of mining, enforcement of mining plan for adoption of proper mining methods and optimum utilisation of minerals, export of minerals in value added form and recycling of metallic scrap and mineral waste. As an important conservation measure, recycling of metallic scrap like steel, copper, aluminium, zinc, lead etc. has been envisaged. Similarly, utilisation of low-grade minerals, mineral wastes and rejects should have been encouraged through appropriate incentives.

The policy recognizes that mining activity often leads to environmental problems like land degradation particularly in opencast mining, land subsidence in underground mining, deforestation, atmospheric pollution, pollution of rivers and streams, disposal of solid wastes, etc. affecting the ecological balance of the area. Open-cast mining in areas with actual forest cover leads to deforestation. Prevention and mitigation of adverse environmental effects due to mining and processing of minerals and repairing and revegetation of the affected forest area and land covered by trees in accordance with the prescribed norms and established forestry practices shall form integral part of mine development strategy in every instance.

It rightly opines that mining operations shall not ordinarily be taken up in identified ecologically fragile and biologically rich areas. Strip mining in forest areas should as far as possible be avoided and it should be permitted only when accompanied with comprehensive time-bound reclamation programme. No mining lease would be granted to any party, private or public, without a proper mining plan including the environmental management plan approved and enforced by statutory authorities. The environmental management plan should adequately provide for controlling the environmental damage, restoration of mined areas and for planting of trees according to the prescribed norms. As far as possible, reclamation and afforestation will proceed concurrently with mineral extraction. Efforts would be made to convert old disused mining sites into forests and other appropriate forms of land use.

But in reality all this appears to be lip-service because till date there has not been a comprehensive assessment of recycling and storage of dumps. Most of the mines do not make any concerted effort to conserve original topsoil. There has always a need to ensure that overburden and waste dumps are maintained below a 45 degree slope and keeping it away from locations where they can be destabilised by winds, rains and earth quakes. All dumps must be provided with ponds to collect liquid run offs and recycling systems in the operational mines.

Mining and ore-benificiation along with asbestos and asbestos based industries are one of the 64-industries/industrial activities identified by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) as heavily polluting industries, which classified as “ Red Category” industries on the basis of their emissions/discharges of high and having significant polluting potential or generating hazardous waste and which is covered under the Central Action Plan.

Occupational health in mining has so far been a neglected area. Dust related occupational disease has not received the attention that it deserves in our country. It is known that there is no curative treatment for such diseases such as asbestosis, silicosis etc, particularly in the advanced stages. Ideally, therefore, it is necessary to create a mine environment where the respirable dust is within permissible limits. The surveillance measures should be strong enough for early detection of the disease so that the same can be controlled and arrested without causing major injuries to health. As has been the case in the past, individual workers’ health is not receiving the priority it deserves.

What is Mine Waste?

Whenever mining is done, it generally implies digging to reach the source of the mineral. The entire operation brings out all sorts of unwanted materials which is nothing but waste. Rubble, which remains after minerals have largely been extracted, is also a waste. Also at end of the processing of the minerals there is toxic waste generation. Mining operations of all kind produce waste. Since India produces 89 minerals, these result in diverse kinds of potentially hazardous waste.

If we take the case of manganese ore to product and
ore to waste ratio-for an average grade of 30 percent the ore to overburden ratio is that for every 13 million tones for ore mined 9 million tones must be disposed of as waste. Similarly, according to Sridhar of mines, minerals and People-for every 5 gram of gold produced there is 1 tonne waste produced, for every 20 percent of coal produced there is 80 percent waste generation and for 12-14 gram of copper 1 tonne of waste is being generated in Malanjkhand copper field, Madhya Pradesh.

How is Mine Waste produced?

In general, there are four ways in which mine waste is produced:
1.Overburden-the soil and rock that must be removed to gain access to a mineral resource.
2.Waste rock-rock that does not contain enough mineral to be of economic interest
3.Tailings- are finely ground host rock from which the desired minerals have largely been extracted. The residue takes the form of slurry of ground-up ore that remains after minerals have been largely extracted.
4.Heap leach spent ore-Here the crushed ore is placed on a membrane-lined pad and irrigated with the appropriate reagent.

For instance, sulphuric acid in the case of copper or uranium the rock remaining in a heap leach facility after the ore has been extracted.

Consequences of Minerals Waste: Most of the mining waste is dumped on land but there are companies, which discharges waste rock or tailings in the sea and in some cases even in the river system. This is ecologically disastrous. The most widespread problem associated with waste dumps is acid drainage, which can have serious impact on the productivity of the ecosystems.

For the last two decades a massive pile of asbestos waste mixed with chromite has been lying on hilltops in Chaibasa, west Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Over the years this ‘indestructible’ waste has seeped into the water, soil, vegetation and bodies of people living around the abandoned mines, poisoning the local community and the environment. All these years, no one has bothered to assess the fate of the waste dumped improperly on top of the Roro hills. This is common practice in most operational and abandoned mines in India. The health risks to humans and the environment are far greater because asbestos and chromium are known carcinogens.

“Leaching of heavy metals and its impact in communities is a huge problem”. Although scientists believe that no impermeable sheeting is impermeable enough, dumps, which are susceptible to acid drainage, require permanent impermeable sheeting. Acid drainage persists in the environment and has serious impact on surface and groundwater and aquatic life. It can lead to alarming reduction in our Natural Capital. Once the process of acid generation starts, it is difficult to stop it. The combination of acidity and dissolved toxic contaminants kills almost all forms of aquatic life. This renders water from the streams unfit for human consumption. Even the science, which can predict such occurrence, is imperfect since it has only probable answers. This issue is dealt largely away form the publics view, as they are deemed too technical for them to understand in the conventional manner where regulatory process is disguised in jargons and is kept non-transparent. In all these cases the benefits are immediately visible and the costs are remotely manifest.

How to manage it?

Its management requires consideration of the geological characteristics of the area in question, topography and its hydrology. There is also a need to consult local communities at the time of planning and enforcing any waste disposal mechanism at the outset of the operations and even afterwards. Given the global evidence against asbestos fibers, the mines still operating in India must be closed with immediate effect. Also import of asbestos fibers from Quebec mines must be banned. The logic of managing mine waste without life cycle assessment is compelling but these too should begin with communities. What needs to be worked out is mining industry specific solutions and reuse and recycling of materials in order to deal with the waste problem, which is taking a heavy toll on our top soil. The necessity of having mining and processing industry in proximity is very important.

Mine wastes are occasionally seen as a resource and are considered for road construction and building materials. Our Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council, Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation has undertaken the work of using mineral waste to make composite materials. The health and environmental impact of these materials are highly suspect. There are attempts being made by Indian Institute of Science to use microbes, which can eat heavy metals in Hutti mines, near Kolar in Karnataka to manage mineral waste. Mangrove forests are also being used to neutralise leaching of heavy metals containing wastes. The corporations responsible for the environmental and occupational health hazards must be held liable for reclamation of land and for treatment of the exposed workers and citizens.