Open Pit Mining at Its Best free essay sample

Taking away layer after layer of land creates a gigantic, open hole (or pit) that keeps getting deeper and deeper until there is nothing left to bring out. Explosives (like dynamite) are used when the miners want to get large blocks of materials out of the earth. Most of the time, when the mining company is done with it, the pit is used as a landfill. A landfill is used as a dump to get rid of our garbage. When it is filled with garbage, it is covered over with layers of dirt. After the garbage rots a long time, the land can be used again. Some examples of locations of open pit mining in Australia are: (Super Pit)  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ gold mine near  Kalgoorlie, Western Australia (Cadia mine)  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ gold and copper mine located near  Orange, New South Wales (Boddington Gold Mine)  Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚  Boddington, Western Australia (Telfer Mine)  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Gold and copper mine in  Pilbara,  Western Australia (Ranger Mine)– Uranium mine east of  Darwin  in the  Northern Territory,  Weipa, Queensland. We will write a custom essay sample on Open Pit Mining at Its Best or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page To get at the mineral, rocks and wealth just below the surface, the entire area needs to be stripped of all vegetation and natural animal habitats. For example, Brazil has some of the largest open pit mines in the world, which have been created by removing thousands of acres of rain forest, which sustained countless numbers of animal species. Mining requires loads of machines to dig out the minerals, large trucks to take them away and further machines to process the resource. These all run on carbon-based fuels which lead to emissions. This contributes to global warming and has unknown effects on the local area. Charcoal is often used as a fuel for some machines, and although it is not as polluting as oil and coal, it does require the felling of trees to make the fuel. This causes even more destruction to local habitats. Chemical use is use in g open pit mining, which involves the use of harsh chemicals to extract minerals from the rock. These chemicals seep into the soil which makes it harder for anything to grow and can run off into water sources which poisons animals and plants. After mining finishes, the mine area must undergo  rehabilitation. Waste dumps are used in the pit to flatten them out. If the ore contains  sulphides  it is usually covered with a layer of  clay  to prevent access of  rain  and  oxygen  from the air, which can oxidise the sulphides to produce  sulphuric acid, known as  acid mine drainage. This is then generally covered with  soil, and vegetation is planted.