This category contains sites that address the effects on the environment caused by various types of mining.
Mining is the extraction of minerals or other materials from within the earth.
Environmental effects include acid mine drainage, contamination of ground and surface waters, erosion, loss of biodiversity, sinkholes, habitat destruction, noise pollution and dust pollution.
Please submit only sites that address the effects on the environment caused by various types of mining. If there is a specific subcategory for the effect or the type of mining, such as Mountaintop Removal, please submit directly to that subcategory.
Products, consultants, and other services for the environmental aspects of mining, including effluent treatment, mine reclamation and prevention of acid mine drainage should be submitted to Science/Environment/Mining/Products_and_Services.
Businesses engaged in other aspects of mining should be listed in the Business category or in Science:Technology:Mining, depending on scope.
Leaching is a form of extraction where particles of a material, such as gold, are removed from the solid that contains them by using an agent, such as cyanide.
Leaching agents include cyanide, thiocyanate, thiosulfate and thiourea.
Materials that are often mind by leaching include gold, zinc and copper.
Mountaintop removal is a surface mining practice in which up to 800 feet of the top of a mountain is removed by blasting, and the material is placed in a nearby valley, in order to get access to thin seams of coal in the mountain. The coal is then removed by a dragline excavator, and the mountaintop is restored or, more usually, a variance is granted that allows the mining company to develop the site for another use.
This practice is increasingly common in the eastern United States coalfields.
Please submit only sites whose primary focus is the science of mountaintop removal mining.
General informational sites or activist sites related to mountaintop removal mining will be held for consideration for a category that is being developed in the Society/Environment/Issues area of the directory.
Sites should be in English or have significant English content. Sites in other languages should be submitted to the appropriate World category.
Products, consultants, and other services for the environmental aspects of mining, including effluent treatment, mine reclamation, and prevention of acid mine drainage.
This category is for products, consultants, and other services for the environmental aspects of mining, including effluent treatment, mine reclamation, and prevention of acid mine drainage. Businesses engaged in other aspects of mining should be listed in the Business category or in Science:Technology:Mining, depending on scope.
Tailings are ground rock and process effluents that are generated in a mine processing plant. Mechanical and chemical processes are used to extract the desired product from the run of the mine ore and produce a waste stream known as tailings.