What are some of the controversy of mining today?

Answer 1

Mining is one of the main sources of energy for the planet today. We must mine for coal, oil, and natural gas, as they are not available anywhere else than under the ground. Mining also must be used to obtain raw metals such as iron, gold and tin, and raw materials used in fusion, such as uranium.

ADVANTAGES:

• Mining allows us to obtain materials and fuels that otherwise would not be available to us.
• Mining creates jobs for people
• Mining is essential to most economies
• Mining today can be done reasonably cleanly
• Closed mines don't damage the aesthetic environment.
• Mining nowadays is quite efficient and alot less dangerous.

DISADVANTAGES:

• Mining is very polluting to the environment. Large machines are used to drill the wanted product out of the rock/ground.
• Mining is not sustainable, especially with fuel mining. Fuels such as oil are being mined at a much faster rate than is naturally being produced.
• Mining creates conflict between countries and govenrments. Desert countries such as Iran hold the most amounts of oil, which can often lead to larger countries battling each other to claim it.
• Open mines are not aesthetically pleasing. In places such as the Amazon rainforest, they destroy natural habitats.
• If not correctly done, mining can cause very large amouns of waste, and if not dealt with efficiently (many illegal mining companies do this) end up destroying areas and polluting habitats such as seas and freshwater rivers.
• Spillages are often very damaging to the environment. Take the BP oil spill!