A Mining Company Wants To Showcase Their Efforts To Protect The Environment Essay Sample

Summary of background

Mining, especially surface mining requires large pieces of land that is temporarily disturbed to allow for the different phases of mining to take place. The exploration activities have the potential to raise various environmental difficulties, including soil disintegration and sedimentation, clearing of vegetation and other types of disturbance to fauna, dust, noise, water contamination and effects on neighbourhood biodiversity. If steps are taken in advanced mining operations, then there is a high potential to minimize effects on all parts of nature. Mining businesses can achieve this by taking caution in the different phases of pre-planning projects and implementing different contamination control actions. They can also check the impacts of different mining activities and work on restoring mined areas.By so doing, the coal business minimizes the effect of its exercises on the neighbouring group, the immediate environment and on long haul land capacity (Sassoon, 2009).

Statement on purpose, audience and message

Mining has been known historically to have immense impacts of the surrounding environment. Luckily, the numerous advances in technology and other changes in the ways of management techniques applied, most of the negative impacts can be avoided. The main purpose of this paper is to reiterate on the efforts by the coal mining business to reduce the environmental impacts of coal mining. To achieve this, the business is working on minimizing the different footprints of the activities undertaken during and after the mining process through recycling and restoration of the previous ecosystem after closure of the mining site. This will be undertaken with the need to maintain the natural beauty of the fauna and flora in mind. There is a need to ensure that the mining process adheres to the regulations of the mining mineral act (Welchman & Aspinall, 2000).
The target audience for this presentation are the local communities, the policy makers, potential customers and suppliers. All these stakeholders play an important role in the whole mining and recovery process. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that they understand the drive and need for the business to ensure that the whole process is environmentally friendly as well as acceptable to the local community through adherence to the environmental and mining policies. The message of this presentation is on the emphasis, the coal mining business is putting on protecting the environment through caution in pre-planning, undertaking of control measures during and after the mining process as well as restoration of the ecosystem through rehabilitation procedures. The business will also work on ensuring that regular monitoring activities are undertaken to ensure the safety of the closure as well as measure the progress of the rehabilitating the environment (Mackasey, 2000).

Concept description

Mining impacts greatly on the environment including land disturbance that affects the ground water, soil and the native vegetation as well as the wildlife populations. In an effort to deal with the issue of land disturbance that will arise during the mining process, the organization will undertake environmental studies using computer simulations to determine how the process will impact the surroundings. By so doing, the organization will develop measures to curb all these impacts beforehand. In regards to the issue of mine subsidies that arises due to the space left by the coals mined, the coal business will use different engineering technologies to determine the patterns of the possible subsidies. Through the use of different pattern development and designs, possible subsidies can be avoided or controlled. This way, there is maximum safety as well as recovery of the coal mines while maintaining the land uses as well as the natural vegetation (Noble, 2006). Water pollution is also another key issue that arises during the process of mining and impacts greatly on the environment. The business hopes to curb this issue by proper water management as well as recycling. In order to deal with this, there is call for the separation of water runoffs in terms of undisturbed and disturbed water courses. Contaminated water will be treated and then applied for other uses like dust suppression as well as preparation of coal plants (Dutta, Rajaram & Robinson, 2005).
The other environmental challenge that arises from coal mining is dust and noise pollution. The issue will be controlled through suppression of dust by spraying water on the roads used by trucks delivering the coal. Conveyors can also be used to suppress dust. It is important to note that the main control measure for dust will be the installation of fitting drills that will collect dust. In regards to the case of noise pollution, the organization will purchase extra pieces of land and plant trees to act as buffers while retaining the natural vegetation around it. Sound enclosures around machinery will also be put up in a bid to minimize noise pollution.
The other aspect that will be focused on in an effort to protect the environment is rehabilitation of the land as mining is a temporary process. The process of rehabilitation will take place gradually. As coal mining is an underground activity, rehabilitation of land will take place with the contouring of soil piles to fill up the holes. The next step would be replacement of top soil in different phases and planting of grass and trees that will increase soil texture and restore the previous soil composition. Monitoring of the land will be undertaken regularly to determine the self-sustainability of the land and the surrounding vegetation. This calls for patience before the lands can be fully exploited.

Application

The video on environmental protection measures that the company plans on undertaking can be used for various applications either solely or with other tools. The first application of the video is in the initiation of the project especially in the early stages that is always faced by challenges from the community and environmental activities. The video can be used together with different regulatory documents to show the measures to be undertaken to protect the environment. The main aim of the video is to show that the need for environmental protection is a priority for the coal mining business. It is not easy to convince the public of this fact as most people think the main concern of mining businesses is to get the mineral and then leave the locals and the environment in a mess (Champigny, 2012). The other possible application of the video can be in creating awareness on the need for environmental protection by mining businesses. There are many mining organizations that fail to adhere to the regulations of pre and post mining leading to major destruction of land and vegetation. Therefore, this video can play a major role not only for the mining businesses, but also for the public to know that mining businesses are willing to take different measures to ensure that they play their role in protecting the environment. The video can also be applied in sensitizing the different mining businesses on the measure that should be undertaken to protect the environment. When used on different platforms, the video can pass across messages on the need for protection and conservation of the environment through different simple measures that will safeguard the natural vegetation as well as the wildlife and the ecosystem.

References

Champigny, N. (2012). International Survey of Mine Reclamation and Funding, Proceedings
of the 15th Annual British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium, The Technical
and Research Committee on Reclamation.
Dutta, S., Rajaram, R., & Robinson, B. (2005). Chapter 5: Mineland Reclamation, in
Sustainable Mining Practices -- A Global Perspective.Leiden: A. A. Balkema
Publishers.
Mackasey, W.O. (2000). Abandoned Mines in Canada, Prepared for MiningWatch Canada].
Available
Noble, B.F. (2006).Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment: A Guide to
Principles and Practice.Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press. Sassoon, M. (2009).Financial Surety: Implementation of Financial Surety for Mine Closure.
World Bank Oil, Gas, and Mining Policy Division.
Welchman, B., &Aspinall, C.(2000). A Sustainable Legacy: Utilizing Mine Assets Post-
Closure Island Copper Mine, Proceedings of the 24th Annual British Columbia Mine
Reclamation Symposium.
.