Mining

ISSUES

Mines and quarries

Mankind uses about 32 billion tons of mineral and energy resources every year. There are 5 main categories: building materials, industrial materials, metals, energy minerals and precious substances.
These resources are spread very unequally throughout the world. Some minerals are relatively common, like iron – the most mined mineral in the world. Its production reached 1.6 billion tons in 2006 and is currently increasing by 10 % a year. The three largest producers are, in order, China, Brazil and Australia. Other minerals are rarer, like hafnium, which is used to make filaments and electrodes. The world stocks are estimated at 1 million tons in total (most of this is in South Africa).
Open air or underground mines
There are different types of mines. An open air mine is a huge basin with rows that are dug by layers of rock being successively scraped. A recent technique which causes many problems is called Mountain top...

NEWS

Sorry, most of the news are only available in French language for the moment.

FRANCE - PARIS (AFP) - "D'où vient votre or ?": l'organisation écologiste WWF a appelé vendredi les amoureux de la Saint...

UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND - The Church of England has dealt a significant blow to Vedanta Resources plc by pulling £3.75 million worth of...

EL SALVADOR - Environmental activists in El Salvador allege that managers of a gold mine owned by a Canadian corporation are...

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DEBATES

Provocative New Study Warns of Crossing Planetary Boundaries

Carl Zimmer

Human civilization has had a stable childhood. Over the past 10,000 years, as our ancestors invented agriculture and built...

Some Issues and Trends Currently Affecting Options in Rehabilitation

We know that knowledge of rehabilitation techniques, both...

Mine closure is an important issue to many governments and...

INITIATIVE

Survival to the rescue of the Bushmen

The Bushmen are among the oldest inhabitants of southern Africa where they have been living for more than 20,000 years. Part of these hunter-gatherers was living in the Central Kalahari Nature Reserve, in Botswana, until important diamonds deposits were discovered...

VIDEOS

08/02/2010	Sortie prévue le 10 février, voici le trailer d'un film qui enquête sur...	30/11/2009	L'exploitation d'une mine d'uranium au Niger entraîne la contamination des...
06/11/2009	Entre 3000 et 4000 chercheurs d'or travaillent illégalement en Guyane...	17/06/2009	Une semaine avant les affrontements du 5 juin, près de 10.000 personne se...

GREEN TIPS

Quarries Can Encourage Biodiversity

Disused quarries can represent a real opportunity for biodiversity. In France alone, these sites provide a...

INDICATORS

GDP per capita
Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)

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