Saturday, March 16, 2013

သတၱဳ တူးေဖၚမွ ုေတြေၾကာင့္ သဘာဝပါတ္ဝန္းက်င္ဆိုင္ရာထိခိုက္ႏိုင္မွ ုမ်ား

ေၾကးနီသတၱဳတြင္းေၾကာင့္သဘာဝပါတ္ဝန္းက်င္ထိခိုက္ေစသည္မ်ား

ေၾကးနီသတၱဳတြင္းတူးေဖၚမႈေၾကာင့္ နည္းမ်ိဳးစံုေသာ သဘာဝပါတ္ဝန္းက်င္ဆိုင္ရာ ထိခိုက္မႈမ်ားျဖစ္ေလ့ရွိသည္။ အဓိကအားျဖင့္ ေရ၊ ေျမႏွင့္ေလထုမ်ားကို ထိခုိက္ေျပာင္းလြဲမႈျဖစ္ေစေလ့ရွိသည္။

ေရအရင္းအျမစ္မ်ားကို ပမာဏအရေရာ၊ အရည္အေသြးအရေရာထိခိုက္မႈျဖစ္ေစေလ့ရွိသည္။ ေရေဝေၾကာမ်ားပိတ္ဆို႕ ျခင္း၊ ခန္းေျခာက္ျခင္းႏွင့္ လမ္းလႊဲသြားေစမႈမ်ိဳးမ်ားျဖစ္ေစေလ့ရွိသည္။ တူးေဖါက္ျခင္း၊ က်င္းတူးျခင္း၊ ေဖါက္ခြဲျခင္းႏွင့္ သတၱဳသန္႕စင္ေရးလုပ္ငန္းတို႕မွ အညစ္အေၾကးမ်ားစြာျဖစ္ေပၚေစျပီး ထိုအညစ္အေၾကးမ်ားမွ ေရထုညစ္ညမ္းမႈျဖစ္ ေစ ေလ့ရွိသည္။ သတၱဳမိုင္းရပ္သြားေသာ္လည္း ထိုသို႕ေသာေရထုအညစ္အေၾကးျဖစ္မႈမ်ားႏွစ္ကာလရွည္ၾကာစြာ မရပ္ပဲ ဆက္ျဖစ္ေနေလ့ရွိျပီး၊ ျပန္လည္ေကာင္းမြန္ေအာင္လုပ္ေဆာင္ေရးအတြက္ ႏွစ္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာအခ်ိန္ယူရေလ့ရွိသည္။

Since mining moves large quantities of rock, land impacts are large. These impacts may be temporary where the mining company returns the rock to the pit from which they were extracted. Many copper mines, for example, extract ore that contains less than 1% copper. For many non-ferrous metals, virtually all of the mined ore thus becomes waste. Furthermore, these activities may lead to erosion and the localized destruction of river banks.

The act of mining, mineral processing, smelting, and waste disposal are responsible for air quality reduction. Huge amounts of dust are generated along with gases, tailings, and waste rock. The transportation of dust can cause reduced visibility, coating of houses, vegetation damage, and numerous health impacts. Mineral processing releases large quantities of toxic air particles and gases. Airborne toxins can harm both workers and citizens located at distant locations from the mine.

http://academics.uww.edu/cni/webquest/Fall03/mine/penny2.htm

The Marcopper Mining Disaster occurred on March 24, 1996 on the Philippine island of Marinduque, a province of the Philippines located in the MIMAROPA region in Luzon. It remains one of the largest mining disasters in Philippine history. A fracture in the drainage tunnel of a large pit containing leftover toxic mine waste led to discharge into the Makulapnit-Boac river system and causing flash floods in the areas along the river. One village, Barangay Hinapulan, was buried under six feet of muddy floodwater, displacing 400 families. Twenty other villages had to be evacuated. Drinking water was contaminated, fish, freshwater shrimp and livestock such as cows and sheep were killed, crops and irrigation channels destroyed. Following the disaster, the Boac River was declared dead.

The Marinduque Marcopper Mine dumped toxic waste into the shallow bay of Calancan for 16 years, filling it with 200 million tons of toxic tailings.^[2] When exposed to the ocean breezes, the tailings sometimes become airborne and land on the rice fields, in open wells, and on village homes. The locals apparently called this their "snow from Canada".^[3] This "Snow from Canada", consisting of mine tailings, has forced 59 children to undergo traumatic lead detoxification in the Philippine capital of Manila. Unfortunately, at least three children have died from this heavy metal poisoning.^[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcopper_mining_disaster

One of World's Worst Mine Disasters Gets Worse – BHP Admits Massive Environmental Damage at Ok Tedi Mine in Papua New Guinea, Says Mine Should Never Have Opened

Wednesday, August 11, 1999

Source:

Mineral Policy Center – MiningWatch Canada – MineWatch UK

Environmental Groups to BHP: "Don't Abandon Environmental Responsibilities or Affected Communities"

Contacts:
Stephen D'Esposito, Mineral Policy Center, 202.887.1872
Joan Kuyek, MiningWatch Canada, 613.569.3439
Geoff Evans, Mineral Policy Institute, + 61.0.2.9387.5540
Danny Kennedy, Project Underground, 501.705.8981

(Washington D.C. and Ottawa) — Today in Papua New Guinea the Ok Tedi Mining Ltd. (OTML), a subsidiary of BHP, announced that the environmental impacts of the Ok Tedi mine on the surrounding environment "would be far greater and more damaging than predicted." OTML was expected today to formally hand over to the PNG government, documents describing the environmental impacts of the mine. OTML was also expected to publicly release 25 scientific reports and a risk assessment report. The company also announced that none of the solutions it has studied, to date, would adequately solve the mine's environmental problems.

According to a press statement from BHP, "From BHP's perspective as a shareholder, the easy conclusion to reach, with the benefit of these reports and 20/20 hindsight, is that the mine is not compatible with our environmental values and the company should never have become involved."

In a significant related development, BHP has hired a law firm to determine whether it has already met its "legal" obligations to PNG landowners from environmental damage caused by the Ok Tedi gold and copper mine. In 1996, landowners got an out-of-court settlement from BHP which obligates the company to dredge the river, to compensate some of the affected communities, and build a tailings retention system. BHP's recent actions have prompted concerns, amongst environmental groups and community leaders, that BHP will abandon its commitment to environmental cleanup and social compensation. BHP's CEO has announced that he will consult with NGOs and other before making a decision on BHP's future role.

The Ok Tedi mine dumps 80,000 tons of contaminated waste rock and tailings per day from the mine-site into the Ok Tedi and Fly Rivers. According to OTML, mine waste could impact up to 1,350 square kilometers along the rivers.

OTML has three major shareholders: BHP owns 52 per cent, the PNG Government owns 30 per cent, and Inmet Mining Corporation, a Canadian owned company, owns 18 per cent. The Ok Tedi mine contributes an estimated 20 per cent to PNG's exports, and 10 per cent to its gross domestic product.

Today in PNG, environmental groups including Mineral Policy Institute of Australia, Greenpeace Pacific, and the Environmental Law Center called on BHP to "bear the environmental cost of mine closure, and should not be allowed to offload their environmental responsibilities onto the PNG taxpayer and the government of PNG." They also stated that "river systems should not be used to dispose of mine waste." Mineral Policy Institute called for BHP to channel its Ok Tedi profits back into cleanup costs, compensation for the landowners, and economic transition costs. A full statement is available from Simon Divecha, Mineral Policy Institute, +61 (2) 9387 5540 or Brian Brunton, Greenpeace Pacific, +675 326 0560.

In Washington D.C. and Ottawa, Mineral Policy Center and MiningWatch Canada announced that North American and European NGOs were endorsing the call for BHP and OTML to live up to their environmental and social obligations. In a letter, environmental and human rights groups including Mineral Policy Center, MiningWatch Canada, Mineral Policy Institute, MineWatch UK, Calancan Bay Villagers Support Coalition, the Environmental Mining Council of British Columbia, Friends of the Earth, Pacific Environment and Resources Council, Project Underground, and others endorsed the position of Pacific-based NGOs.

"BHP is right. This is an example of a mine that should never have been built, but now that they've made this toxic mess they have no choice but to clean it up, completely," said Stephen D'Esposito, president of Mineral Policy Center. "BHP's new leadership is being put to its first environmental test. How BHP responds will determine their environmental reputation for the next twenty years. Unless they want a label as mining's worst polluter, they need to cleanup their mess."

"We wouldn't let a mining company walk away from a mess like this in Canada and we shouldn't let BHP and Inmet walk away from this in Papua New Guinea," said Joan Kuyek, national coordinator of MiningWatch Canada. "If BHP wants to be taken seriously as an environmental leader they have an obligation to cleanup Ok Tedi, whatever it costs."

"BHP would never have been allowed to dispose of toxic mine waste directly into rivers in Australia. Yet BHP does this in Papua New Guinea, and continues to do so," said Geoff Evans, director of Mineral Policy Institute, an Australian NGO.

"Before a bulldozer hits the dirt, mining companies and the financial institutions that back them need to assess the true costs of operating and closing a mine responsibly," said Dr. Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth - US. "In a case like Ok Tedi, the human, environmental and financial costs simply were far too great."

"BHP has known since 1984 that direct dumping of mining waste into the Fly river system is hazardous to everything except its profits. Having irrevocably despoiled the environment of the Fly river and the territory of its peoples, having tried (yet failed) using questionable methods to silence opposition, protest and appeals for compensation from the affected land owners the OTML now offers the alternatives of further pollution or abandoning the area and people to the mess they willfully created. OTML are fully responsible for the current situation. Their motives now are to squeeze extra profit from the area and at the same time divert attention from the real issue which is their obligations arising from past gross abuses. OTML needs to clean up the area that it knowing despoiled and compensate local landowners adequately for the destruction of their future. After this the blackmail of the current choices may be replaced by a real choice for local people," said Geoff Nettleton, coordinator Minewatch Asia Pacific Project, MineWatch UK.

"BHP's announcement comes as no surprise. For years, reports of the mine's impacts have been ignored by the company. In 1989, I published an editorial in the Times of PNG where I predicted that if they didn't stop dumping, at stake was nothing less than the future of the entire Fly River. The company ignored these reports and unfortunately did nothing to prevent these problems from coming to fruition. Now they must bear full responsibility for cleaning up the mess," said Professor Stuart Kirsch, a cultural anthropologist at the University of Michigan.

"BHP's backflip raises red flags for other companies pursing similarly destructive mines such as Freeport McMoRan Grasberg mine in Indonesia or Newmont's Yanacocha Complex in Peru," said Danny Kennedy, director of Project Underground. "Such mines may simply be too big to be sustainable, as Ok Tedi has proven to be."

"Now that BHP finally acknowledges the severity of the damages it has caused at the Ok Tedi mine, an ecological disaster the company has for years denied in engagements with concerned NGOs, it will be interesting to see whether Placer Dome Inc. will finally respond to calls for that company to stop dumping its tailings from the nearby Porgera Mine into the same river system," said Catherine Coumans of the Calancan Bay Villagers Support Coalition.

http://www.miningwatch.ca/one-worlds-worst-mine-disasters-gets-worse-bhp-admits-massive-environmental-damage-ok-tedi-mine-papu

Managing Mine Tailings To Protect Scarce Water Supply - Candelaria, Chile

Location	Candelaria, Chile
Pollutant	Copper mine tailings
Cause	Open pit mining and mineral processing activities could contaminate limited water sources in the desert.
Health Impact	Tailing slurries with toxic components (such as cyanide) would contaminate groundwater from limited existing sources and cause nervous ad immune system damages.
Output	A tailing impoundment/cut-off wall system was constructed to dispose of tailings and conserve scarce water in the desert region. 80 percent of the water bound up in the tailings is treated and recirculated into the supply system.
Outcome	The multi-stage treatment process ensures trapping of tailings with toxic chemical content such as cyanide. The system, as a whole, collects around 365 million tons of tailings and treats the water content found in these materials.
Implications	Successful design and implementation of this comprehensive system serves as a prime example for tailings management in development countries, which is one of the most severe and underestimated environmental and health issues.
Remaining Challenges	Extract and treat the last 20 percent of water bound up in the tailings

Context

As mentioned in the 2008 Report, mine tailings are the waste materials after the minerals are separated from the ore in a mineral processing plant. “Typically, the original rock is crushed or ground to a particle size of less than 0.1 mm in order to release the valuable constituents.”^[1] They typically contain the valuable constituents in low concentrations, unrecovered by the process, and may also contain toxic residues of chemicals used in the separation process. Water is used as a binding agent in the impoundment process to extract the valuable
mineral constituents. Supernatant water, once released into the environment, would change the current pH and heavy metal content of groundwater supply. Cyanide, which damages the brain and the heart, is commonly found in mine tailings. The U.S. EPA identified cyanide in at least 471 of the 1,662 National Priorities Listed sites for pollution remediation under Superfund.

Site Details

The Candelaria Copper Mine is located in the Sierra El Bronce mountain range in the Copiapó River valley approximately 20 km southwest of Copiapó in the Atacama region of Chile. At a 600-m elevation, this mine has an estimated life of 20 years. Although biodiversity is relatively low in this desert environment, its scarce water resources are integral to agricultural irrigation, urban residential and commercial, and industrial purposes. Mining
is the most significant source of economic profit for the region, followed by agriculture and small-scale industry such as copper refinery ^[1].

Health Impact

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states shortness of breath, seizures, and loss of consciousness as the early indications of cyanide poisoning. Short-term exposure causes brain damage and coma. Miners exposed to high levels of heavy metals could experience breathing difficulties, chest pains, vomiting, headaches, and enlargement of thyroid glands.

Exposure Pathways

The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the International Council on Metal and the Environment (ICME) report on tailings management cited exposure pathways include being in contact with tailings transported by wind and water erosion and consuming ground and surface water contaminated by toxins including cyanide, sulfates, or other dissolved metals.

Intervention

The Candelaria project focused on proper disposal of tailings with impoundment technology as well as effluent leakage prevention. A baseline study was conducted to determine the content and extent of tailings Effluent with tailings content is trapped by spill collection systems and a temporary containment pond and re-circulated back to the processing facility for treatment. This facility thickens tailings to 50 percent solids content for easier disposal. “The major component of the 450-hectare tailings disposal facility is the dam constructed of mine waste material.” Construction of this dam is divided into multiple stages to comprehensively trap and filter tailings from the water. This tailing impoundment/cut-off wall system was designed to contain more than 365 million tons of tailings combined and prevent storm surge with tailings content from entering the water treatment system. As a result, water pollution is prevented and through the recycling process, the quantity of limited ground and surface water supplies are preserved in this desert environment.

Implementing Organizations

The Compañia Contractual Minera Candelaria (CCM Candelaria)—a former joint venture of Phelps Dodge Corporation of the USA and Sumitomo Metal Corporation of Japan, currently owned by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc.

Remaining Challenges

Treatment systems similar to the one installed at the Candelaria copper mine are able to extract and treat a majority of the water locked up in tailings. The remaining 20 percent of water bound up in tailings is generally difficult to remove. Additionally, design of the tailings disposal/water treatment structure must be able to confine the smaller particles of tailings, as leakage of these toxic materials could yield negative environmental and health impacts.

References

Mine Tailings. Superfund Basic Research Program: The University of Arizona. 2008.
→ http://superfund.pharmacy.arizona.edu/Mine_Tailings.php
U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Department of Health and Human Services. Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry.
→ http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts8.html#bookmark05

Case Studies on Tailings Management. United Nations Environmental Programme and the International Council on Metals and the Environment (ICME). 1998
→ http://www.goodpracticemining.com/tailings/search.php?action=moreinfo&id=13

http://www.worstpolluted.org/projects_reports/display/70

Paiutes welcome copper mining, recall devastation

YERINGTON, Nev. (AP) — You can't drink the water on the Yerington Paiute reservation because it could kill you.

The ground water was poisoned by the old Anaconda copper mine, which stopped production in 1978 but still is designated as a federal Superfund site, according to the EPA.
Federal law requires that the reservation's drinking water must be bottled and provided by British Petroleum, the responsible party for the Anaconda ecological disaster.
But if Congress passes a bill that will allow for a 19-square-mile federal land transfer to the city of Yerington, copper mining would return to Lyon County and create hundreds of jobs.
The Native Americans desperately need those jobs — unemployment on the reservation is 65 percent — but they are wary of the environmental damage more copper mining could cause.
For 10,000 years, Mason Valley has been the Paiutes' land to nurture and respect, they said. The scar from the Anaconda copper mine cuts deep into their psyche.
"They got the minerals out and left," tribal member Vernon Rogers told the Reno Gazette-Journal about the Anaconda operation. "That (mine site) is like our living room. That is like us going into their house, digging up their living room and leaving. That's what we've got here. These mining companies come in and do this and then the permanent residents suffer the consequences."
Caring for Mother Earth is a duty handed to the Paiutes by ancestors. They view earth — the dirt, sky, water and vegetation — differently than others.
"We not only have to think of our generation, but we have to think of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren," said LaVerne Roberts, a Yerington tribe member.
That is why some tribe members are wary about the rebirth of mining around Yerington, even though it could be an economic godsend to Lyon County — Nevada's most economically depressed county.
The future of copper mining around Yerington is now being decided in Washington, D.C. If Congress passes a bill allowing for the land transfer, the once-thriving copper mining economy of Lyon County could return in a big way.
The land surrounds the Nevada Copper project. It would not only provide room for ancillary mining business, but also room for a recreational area, business park and outdoor concert venue in a grand plan to erase the economic disparity.
The Nevada Copper project is expected to eventually create 800 mining jobs with an $85,000 average salary and up to 2,000 more jobs indirectly tied to the mine, according to county officials.
Employing Native Americans
The Yerington Paiutes have not opposed Nevada Copper's Pumpkin Hollow mine in any legal way. Some may be wary but realize the return of copper mining is inevitable.

Instead of opposing the mine, they would like to share in the economic relief. Lyon County's unemployment is a state-leading 18 percent. Yet tribal officials estimate the unemployment at the Yerington Paiute reservation is about 65 percent. An official from the nearby Walker River Paiute Tribe told county commissioners that unemployment is about 80 percent among her people.

"We are not saying that the mine would be such a bad thing," said Gayleen Roy, Yerington Paiute education director. "We need jobs, too."
The tribe is only trying to better the lives of its members, Roy said.
"We, as a tribe, have to move with the flow of things," she said. "We have to change and adapt, just like everybody else."
Once hurdles like Congress and state permitting are finished, Nevada Copper will then focus on job training, including for Yerington and Walker River Paiutes, a top executive for Nevada Copper said.
"We will make the opportunities available for all locals, tribal members and whoever is local," said Tim Dyhr, Nevada Copper's vice president of environment and external relations.
Nevada Copper is teaming with the state's Nevada JobConnect to train a workforce.
"We believe there are people in the valley who want to work but don't have the necessary skills now," Dyhr said. "The job of an underground miner — nobody has experience in underground mining. We just can't send people underground. You have to have a certain kind of training. The same thing applies to every function within the project."

Dyhr said he gave talks about employment potential to the Yerington and Walker River tribal councils.

"It has been a while, but if I went back today, I'd tell them the same thing: Somewhere in the future we'll have jobs (available) and we'll have to figure out how to get people trained."

Wovoka wilderness area

The Yerington Paiutes and the Walker River Paiutes also have another reason to support the bill.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Las Vegas, made it clear a few months ago that he would only support the Yerington land transfer if it included a wilderness area named after the venerated Paiute holy man of the 19th century, Wovoka.

Republican politicians like U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, were critical of Reid's meddling but realized they must acquiesce to the Senate leader or the land transfer was dead.

Last month, Lyon County commissioners approved a 48,000-square-acre wilderness area south of Yerington called the Wovoka Wilderness.

Although Reid has helped the Yerington Paiutes with issues surrounding the Anaconda site, Paiutes said they were never consulted about the wilderness area but are ecstatic to get it.
The wilderness area is sacred to the Paiute people of the region.

"We have ties to that land," Rogers said. "Our people go up there and we gather pine nuts. There are also a lot of sacred sites up there. It has a lot of petroglyphs. There are burial sites up there."

Animosity toward Reid
Some tribal members and others associated with the tribe said they were surprised by the anti-Reid vitriol expressed by some Lyon County citizens during an early December Lyon commissioners meeting about the Wovoka wilderness.
Some ranchers were against the wilderness, fearing it would limit grazing. Others feared it would limit many outdoor recreations.
"There was so much negativity toward Sen. Reid," said Lauryne Wright, the Yerington Paiutes' environmental director. "It was like, 'I'm against anything Sen. Reid is for.' "
Former Sen. Richard Bryan, a consultant for Nevada Copper, flew into Yerington for the next commission meeting and preached compromise. People bought what he was saying, and the wilderness area was approved.
"Compromise is part of the big picture," Bryan said. "By way of analogy, some people just hate wilderness, but many of them were prepared to say, 'Look, I don't like wilderness but there is another issue that was important and those concerns were that Yerington and Lyon County has some of the highest unemployment in the country and this was an opportunity for some economic development."

"So some who were not exactly rhapsodic about wilderness said, 'Look, for the greater good of the community, I think I can support this.' That's how I saw the compromise," Bryan said.

Mining concerns

Despite the promise of jobs and the wilderness area, Paiutes remain concerned about potential ecological damage that could be done by the Nevada Copper project.

The same ground-water pollution that doomed their side of the valley could be repeated, Paiutes fear.

And this time, it could be worse, they warn. Since the water runs south to north in the valley, some Paiutes are concerned the mine could potentially spoil municipal drinking water in Yerington and the down-river water supply of the Walker River Paiute Tribe.

Yerington Mayor George Dini doesn't share the concerns: "Not one bit," he said.

Dini points to advanced mining technology, new federal regulations and stringent environment standards of the EPA.

"I don't believe that there is any potential for the Yerington water system to be contaminated by Nevada Copper," Dini said. "Nor do I believe that the Walker River could be contaminated in any way."
Dini is correct that environmental constraints are much more stringent compared to when the Anaconda mine was producing some 40 or 50 years ago, said John Hadder, director of the Great Basin Resource Watch.
"There have been significant changes since the Anaconda mine was in place," Hadder said. "We have better state regulations. We have a better calculation of the bonding that is necessary in case there is a problem. We have improvements in place in terms of the regulations. That being said, there still could be problems there with the existing regulations."

Nevada Copper has done significant studies on ground water, and those studies will be shared with the public after they are submitted to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.

Dyhr understands the Paiutes' wariness, since they have yet to see the studies.

"Their fears are legitimate because they have not seen anything to say, 'Do we know whether this will pollute the ground water or not?' I would not ask them to do that. I would ask them to listen with an open mind to the information that we have developed and not prejudge it to think it will be contaminating their water supply."

http://www.mynews4.com/mostpopular/story/Paiutes-welcome-copper-mining-recall-devastation/rmiLf2uSRE-6vP2Lm2nYxw.cspx