how do mining companies maneuver around the reclamation law

Underground mining may lead subsidence. Two aspects of mining and beneficiation noted above, however, bear on these more general questions. The project also included the relocation of a roadway, the stream, and a natural-gas pipeline. [13][14][15] Although soil restoration in post mining land brings many challenges, it also bring opportunities. A company sometimes can be held responsible for damages retroactively, following changes in laws and regulations. The project incorporated some of the largest state-of-the-art crushing, conveying, grinding, flotation, and filtration equipment available in the industry. But when surface and. In 1990, Congress authorized the federal government to invest the unspent balance in U.S. Treasury Securities. When this happens, mine closure and rehabilitation (or reclamation) occur. A critical issue for public is the size of the bond: high enough to ensure that mine operators actually perform the required work rather than simply forfeit the bonded money, but not so high as to discourage mining. Subsidence and contaminated mine water are the most common sources of postmining damages for which companies may be required to pay fines or compensation. Companies also often have to carry out detailed assessments of the environmental impacts of proposed mineral development, which in turn are used by governments in deciding whether to permit mine development at all. Reclamation law determines how the costs of constructing reclamation projects are allocated and how repayment responsibilities are assigned among . The smelter will generate 85 percent of its own electrical energy through steam recovery from the furnace gases and emission-control equipment, eliminating the need to burn additional fossil fuel to provide power. Mine operators must pay a tax of $0.12 per ton for underground mined coal and $0.28 per ton for surfaced mined coal; the proceeds from this tax are put into the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund (created by SMCRA) to pay for the reclamation of abandoned mines. 1994. Federal regulations aimed directly at the mining industry have not yet been put into a place, but broad-based statutes such as the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and numerous others apply to mining activities. The remaining ore is loaded on rail cars for transport to the older North Concentrator. About 80 percent of the ore is hauled to the in-pit crusher and then conveyed to the Copperton Concentration for grinding and flotation. 5. The most common mechanism for ensuring that appropriate procedures are followed is reclamation bond or fund. In some cases, a company can held responsible for damages caused by subsidence and polluted mine water, even if it acted prudently and within existing laws and regulations or was only partially responsible for the damages. SMCRA also created the Office of Surface Mining, an agency within the Department of the Interior, to promulgate regulations, to fund state regulatory and reclamation efforts, and to ensure consistency among state regulatory programs.[1]. All rights reserved. 4 year 2009 concerning the Mineral and Coal Mining in Article 99 paragraph (1) says " Every IUP and Sow the native species of early successional species of plants and grasses. [22], The Research Institute of Post-Mining develops monitoring processes both at the pithead and below ground and prepares the scientific principles for a sustainable pit water concept. In this respect, the institute works closely with mining and old companies, as well as authorities, water boards and regional authorities, industrial firms and universities. And an update is provided on the award-winning industrial symbiosis project in Kalundborg, Denmark. The Coal Mine Next Door: How the US Government's Deregulation of Utah issued a groundwater discharge permit for the Small Bingham Creek Reservoir in 1992. Kennecott is best known for its Bingham Canyon copper mine near Salt Lake City, which generates one-sixth of the total U.S. copper production. Office of Technology Assessment. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. PDF Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act Of regularly reporting Kennecott's performance on environmental matters through the Board of Directors to RTZ, PLC, Kennecott's parent corporation based in London. Such impacts can be mitigated, albeit at a cost, by reclaiming drill sites and trenches and by revegetating roads. [3][4] In some situation even spontaneous ecosystem development may result in reasonable forest cover[5][6] but in most cases specific restoration approaches are used. Kennecott is beginning to experiment with wetland systems to create passive treatment mechanisms to handle excess acid-contaminated waters. Reclaiming Reclamation: Rule Changes Proposed to Ensure Coal Companies Prior to 1977, there were no federal laws regulating the surface mining aspect of the coal mining industry. The cost of the improvements to the leach-water collection system will exceed $28 million. The new standards on The Industrial Green Game. Mining Law Reform | U.S. Department of the Interior Transportation improvements included a 5-mile ore conveyor system and the installation of three pipelines to replace the outdated railroad ore and waste rock haulage system. Exceptions are provided when a community or surface owner is in need of flat or gently rolling terrain. On a practical level, Kennecott is proceeding so quickly that the agencies are having a hard time keeping up. Pollution prevention, workplace safety and hygiene, and waste minimization are being incorporated into all aspects of the design. Laws & Regulations | Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement They estimated that over the fifty-year period 19301980, only 0.25 percent of the total land area of the United States was used for surface mining, disposal of wastes from surface and underground mines, and disposal of wastes from mineral beneficiation and further processing. When Kennecott realized the seriousness of the groundwater problem, it constructed the Small Bingham Creek Reservoir to serve as the leach-water surge basin. One of the challenges communities face is a lack of information about their rights and the law that applies to mining. ICLG - Mining Laws and Regulations - USA Chapter covers common issues in mining laws and regulations - including the acquisition of rights, ownership requirements and restrictions, processing, transfer and encumbrance, environmental aspects, native title and land rights. Kennecott has encouraged local community leaders, citizen groups, labor unions, professional organizations, environmental groups, and the regulators themselves to tour the operations and the cleanup projects to see the remarkable progress being made. It must adhere to a comprehensive set of rules of regulations. Public policies in the second category, rules governing the preproduction process of complying with environmental rules, take a number of forms. Companies pay a, Since passage of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, distribution of AML grants are mandatory. Sign up for email notifications and we'll let you know about new publications in your areas of interest when they're released. Although the process of mine reclamation occurs once mining is completed, the planning of mine reclamation activities occurs prior to a mine being permitted or started. During the lead-zinc-silver mining era of the 1800s, tailings containing high concentrations of lead and arsenic were discharged into Bingham Creek. In some cases, acid mine drainage continues even after mining stops, requiring some type of drainage control. Mining and beneficiation can have a variety of environmental effects.2 The most visible effect probably is the sight of land disturbed by mining and waste disposal. Both the principal effects of mining on the environment and the important issues for public policy in this area are perhaps best introduced within the context of this production stages. For example it is noteworthy that the rate of soil carbon storage on post mining soil can be very high and may exceeded the rate of carbon storage one may gain, e.g., by reforestation of arable land.[16][17]. 1 The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (91 Stat. Hartman, H.L., ed. Provisions of the act set standards for . Process of restoring land that has been mined to a natural or usable state, The examples and perspective in this article, A surface coal mine in Britain before and during the reclamation process, Please expand the section to include this information. The federal AML Reclamation Program distributes funds for reclamation to the state and tribal AML programs with remaining Priority 1 and 2 sites. One problem was that the law varied from state to state, enabling mining operations to relocate to states where regulations were less strict. SMCRA created two programs: one for reclaiming abandoned mine lands and a second for regulating active coal mines. P.L. At the end of that decade, states began to enact the first laws regulating the coal mining industry: West Virginia in 1939, Indiana in 1941, Illinois in 1943, and Pennsylvania in 1945. Sign at Indian Head Mine, near Beulah, ND. Surface mines, as well as waste sites for both underground and surface mines, are rehabilitated. stabilizing land to protect against . Locatable, which are subject to the Mining Law of 1872, as amended, include gold, silver, copper and other hard rock minerals. [18], The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) is the primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States. The figures of course would vary considerably from country to country, but the essential point is that only a relatively small amount of land is involved in mining and associated waste disposal. In the early days of mining, this acidic leach water was simply allowed to flow down Bingham Creek. China implemented a bonding system in 1998 and by 2013 all 31 provinces had established a system. Resources Policy 20 (March):5969. [22][23] It is the very first institute of its kind in the world, which takes a holistic view of the consequences of mining, and pools the know-how required, in order to shape the post-mining period from a technical, economic and environmental perspective. Leasable minerals, such as coal and a host of other commodities, are subject to various Mineral Leasing Acts. The barren waters from the precipitation plant are returned to the waste-rock disposal areas. [3] Instead, these companies can hold their own assets as "self-bonding". The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) is the primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States. Excerpted with permission from Mining and the Environment: International Perspectives on Public Policy, Pp. When water interacts in an oxidizing environment with the sulfide minerals typical of most metal mines, sulfuric acid is created. Only in the subsequent, subsurface examination of still smaller areas is there any appreciable environmental impactsfrom drilling, trenching (bulldozing a trench to examine near-surface rocks), and the associated road building to provide access for drill rigs and bulldozers. What policy toolsfor example, direct regulation or economic incentivesare best suited for meeting these standards? Cover the area with a loose layer of hay mulch to provide the initial "jump start" of forage required for the livestock. This can cost billions of dollars just to set up a mine. Another is of environmental impacts of acid mine drainage from older mines that did not benefit from modern technology and management practices. Then alluvium is stripped from the drainage at the base of the waste rock. Industrial ecology is a concept that has emerged in response to growing public concern about the impact of industry on the environment. Moreover improvements are encouraged, both in beneficiation techniques to increase rates of metal recovery and in mining techniques to the amount of overburden and waste rock extracted along with metallic ores. Mining companies will retain the certainty needed to make large and long-term capital investments for mineral development on public lands. The most. Most damage that does occur can be remediated relatively easily. Prices were largely driven by rapid economic growth in China. To be profitable, the company must have a higher return from selling the minerals than their total expenditures by at least 10-20% (actual amounts vary company . faced with mining in their community. Barnes and Cox (1992), for example, discuss the apparent "goldplating" of rehabilitation requirements in Australia. The implication for public policy is that rules need to be flexible to account for site differences among mines and beneficiation facilities. The refinery modernization will improve plantwide efficiency, including energy efficiency. State and tribal AML programs rank abandoned mine land problems on a priority scale of 1 to 3 as defined by federal law. Environmental considerations are an integral part of the modernization program. Kennecott has undertaken several voluntary efforts to assist with the cleanup of these lead tailings, including the construction of a waste repository on its property to hold the tailings. 95-87, Enacted August 3, 1977. 445) consists of the Act of August 3, 1977, and subsequent amenments thereto (30 U.S.C. Butterfield Creek is used for irrigation, and Butterfield Canyon is a popular recreational area for the public, so there was some cause for concern. Managing mining cash flows | McKinsey - McKinsey & Company Air pollution is limited largely to airborne dust. Here, the focus is placed on the scientific accompaniment of the so-called eternity tasks of coal-mining in the areas of the Ruhr, the Saar as well as in Ibbenbren, where mining, geology, geotechnical engineering, hydrogeology, electrical and information technology experts as well as mining surveyors work together across the different disciplines. Actual recovery rates usually range between 90 and 100 percent, resulting in somewhat smaller volumes of tailings. Congress sent him a bill that was even more stringent than those vetoed by Ford, and President Carter signed it into law on August 3, 1977. The smelter modernization program also includes plans to segregate storm water from process waters, reducing water management problems and once again allowing the natural storm flows drainages above the smelter to enter the Great Salt Lake. Kennecott received an Earth Day award for the cleanup of waste-rock containing lead and arsenic from the Butterfield Creek drainage at the south end of KUC. During mining, metal-bearing rock called ore is extracted from underground or surface mines. The following links are intended to help Smart Sectors . or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one. In Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Association, Inc., 452 U.S. 264 (1981) the Supreme Court of the United States found the SMCRA does not violate the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Kennecott and ARCO are sponsoring a health study in the Bingham Creek area to demonstrate that cleanup of very low levels of contamination are not necessary, given the low bioavailability of the lead in the tailings. In 2018, the Indonesian Government started simplifying the licensing process and regulations related to the exploration and extraction of mineral and coal resources by revoking some of the outdated mining regulations. The cost of the Lark-area work was nearly $15 million. issues faced by mining companies with the heavy demand for capital and risks faced by the industry driving more cooperative working relationships. Ore and waste rock are transported within the pit to the adjacent waste rock disposal areas by haul trucks with capacities as large as 240 tons. Costs may rise because of expenditures on permitting and environmental assessment and on implementing changes in project design that the compliance process may require. The company does so by. These broader aspects of liability are designed to encourage companies to go beyond simple compliance with existing regulations. Water usage will be reduced fourfold through an extensive recycling program. Ore grade, the second determinant, governs the quantity of tailings generated by a beneficiation plant. Although the environment is affected by these activities, the impacts are minor. Most states have comprehensive environmental regulations for the mining industry. The historic waste sites are primarily contaminated with waste rock, tailings, sludges, and other mining waste products. Although the process of mine reclamation occurs once mining is completed, the planning of mine reclamation activities occurs prior to a mine being permitted or started. Tailings from surface mines usually are deposited in a tailings (or settling) pond, while those from underground mines are deposited in the mine itself. The waste-rock was transported to the Bingham Canyon Mine waste rock disposal areas (behind the leach-water collection system). This project consisted of removing over 3 million cubic yards of sludges, tailings, and contaminated soils; segmenting and reshaping the basin; installing a state-of-the-art lining system; and upgrading the water-handling systems. The barren leach water is then returned to the top of the waste rock disposal areas, where it is applied to leach additional metals from the rock. of environmental degradation over which miners have some control. 1985. The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 ( SMCRA) is the primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States . The 3809 Regulations require that mining companies guarantee the existence of financial resources to fund site reclamation following mining operations, including most exploration, extraction, and development activities on public lands where the mineral interest is owned by the United States or was patented after October 21, 1976. Mineral production takes place in stages. If the goal is to establish a wildlife area or natural park, as the, This page was last edited on 19 January 2023, at 15:11. However, the possible hazard of waste and radioactivity generated by mining, dumping and tailing, has called on the society to find ways of seeking remedy that will adequately treat mining waste from mine dump, tailing and abandoned mine. Each of the 22 drainages leading from the waste-rock disposal areas is being carefully studied to ensure that the geohydrologic system is well understood. Use groundcovers that are compatible with growing trees. MyNAP members SAVE 10% off online. As plans move forward for developing additional tailings storage capacity, environmental considerations are playing a major role in site identification, selection, and design, and the acquisition of permits for the sites. Zone 1 has been lined with compacted clay, a lower 60-mil high density polyethylene (HOPE) liner, a leak detection and collection layer, and an upper 80-mil HDPE liner. This page was last edited on 16 April 2023, at 13:54. Solved Answer the following prompts: 1. If you were a | Chegg.com What industrial ecology is and how it may be applied to corporate environmentalism are the subject of The Industrial Green Game. When a state or tribe has reclaimed high priority coal AML areas. Although the base of this reservoir was constructed of low-permeability soils, it nevertheless contributed contaminants to the local groundwater system. In these countries (which include the United States), the government holds significant mineral rights only when it is also the owner of significant quantities of land. If you were a politician writing the law on mining reclamation, what specific requirements would you include for mining companies to restore a site after mining has ended? Additional leach collection system improvements were made through the years, culminating in the construction of the Large Bingham Creek Reservoir in 1965. Prior to 2006, companies often paid more money into the AML fund each year than Congress chose to appropriate. Kennecott excavated the waste rock and relocated it to an engineered repository at the base of the Bingham Canyon Mine waste rock disposal area. From the outset, mining companies understood that environmental regulations enacted under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act and the Clean Water Act could pose an existential threat to . As mentioned above, an aggressive community relations program has been an integral part of the cleanup program. Although Kennecott did not generate these mine wastes, it owns much of the land along Bingham Creek on which the tailings reside, and the companies that generated the wastes are almost all defunct. Overburden is soil and rock removed to gain access to a mineral deposit prior to surface mining. [1] Modern mine reclamation reduces the environmental effects of mining. After completing project preparation, funds are used for construction to reclaim the site. An equivalent amount of waste rock is removed from the mine each day. [22], Every two years the Research Institute of Post-Mining, together with the Arnsberg local council, organise the NACHBergbauzeit in NRW conference (POST-mining era in NRW).[24]. Explorationists then narrow the focus of their search to smaller, more promising. [10][11][12] When the best available material is not topsoil, topsoil can be made on site by using early successional species of native hardy perennial grasses and other plants, combined with livestock substituting for the species of wildlife needed to complete the biosystem. 1992. Pp. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Mining and beneficiation techniques are important: underground mining, a noted above, creates much smaller volumes of waste per unit of metal than does surface mining, and the higher the recovery rate during beneficiation, the smaller the amount of tailings created. States with approved programs can also use AML funds to set up programs to insure homeowners against land subsidence caused by underground mining. ARCO inherited liability for these tailings through their purchase of Anaconda. This component of the modernization program represents an investment of $880 million, making it the largest private investment ever undertaken in Utah. This translates to a sulfur dioxide emission rate of about 6 pounds per ton of copper produced, which is lower than the world's cleanest smelters now operating in Japan. It ensures that coal mining operations are conducted in an environmentally responsible manner and that the land is adequately reclaimed during and following the mining process. Proceedings of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Conference. A percentage of the fund is distributed to states with approved reclamation programs for their projects, and the remaining monies are used by the federal government through the OSMRE to reclaim abandoned mines in states without active programs. FIGURE 1 Kennecott Utah Copper operating facilities. L. 95-87).. AML means abandoned mine land(s).. AML inventory means OSM's listing of abandoned mine land problems eligible to be reclaimed using moneys from the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund or the Treasury as . It's an amended version of the Coal Mine Safety. The modernization program at the mine and concentrators improves environmental performance primarily by making the operations among the most efficient in the world. of gold, and 4 million ounces of silver annually with a gross market value exceeding $800 million. Copyright 2023 National Academy of Sciences. Do you enjoy reading reports from the Academies online for free? Most coal-mining states now have the primary responsibility to regulate surface coal mining on lands within their jurisdiction, with the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) performing an oversight role.[19]. Overview 1. Mining activities increase the volume and rate of exposure of sulfur-containing rocks to air and water, creating sulfuric acid and dissolved iron.
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