El medio ambiente en la minería

El MEDIO AMBIENTE EN LA MINERIA 116 RELATI VE: E:HJ S5! ON LE:Vn.s I PERICO 1966-1969 c= __ ...;;;1..;;.9.;:...;90=-- Figure 4: The Ronnskir worD. Discharges of metals to water - develop– ment from tbe late '60 lo tbe early '9Os. To date, environmental managemeni measures have cost in excess of USD 100 million in current money value. These expenditures are uniformly distributed between investments and operating costs. In today's situation, operating costs are clearIy dominant. This has severa! explanations. Forone, the potential for reduetions of emissions at a reasonable rate of investment has been graduaUy exhausted. For another, eaeh additional investment inereases the cost of operation. The two items that presently dominate the operating cost side are energy for operating gas cleaning plants and ehemieals ror thewater-treatment planto A third explanation for the ¡nerease in operating costs is the growing need for monitoring and maíntenance of the plants. 111. THE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE Since the smelter has constituted a localIy significant source of emissions, the impaet of the operations on the surroundings has been monitored over the years througb higbly extensive control programs. For this reason, it is possible to trace the reaction on the part of the environment lo the heavy reduetion in emissions. One way of monitoring the impact of emissions on the ground is by analyzing the metal content of moss. Such testing has the advantage of not including