El medio ambiente en la minería

EL MEDIO AMBIENTE EN LA MINERIA 200 have been as happy to go without the copper in order to protect their environment? Britain now imports the copper. probably partIy from Chile, and has exported the environmental pollution. Who is paying these environmental cos~ 7. the British people or the Chilean people? Have environmental costs lX!eri ac– cepted willingly by the Chileans, and others, in exchange for the immediate economic benefits? As 1described earHer, any deferred environmental costs will have to be paid eventually, probably with interests. A trend in environmentallegislation in Europe is towards environmental audit or eco-audito One aspect of this environmental audit is the principie of environmental analysis of the whole product life cycle - cradle to grave. This means auditing not just the environmental impact of the specific produc– tion facility, such as a factory producing a fabricated copper article, but the environmentaJ implications of producing the raw materials used by that factory , (copper ore, refined copper), and the implications of ultimately disposing of the article at the.end.of its usefullife. It is only if you consider the whole of the life cycle of a material or product, through its production, fabrication, use and ultimate disposal, that you can trulyevaluate the environmental costs and benefits. It is not easy to speculate on the extent to which future legislation will go down this route. However, this evolving approach will make it much more difficult for the consumers of a produet to be unaware of the environmental costs,even if these are in another baekyard. My third observation is on a slightly different topie. The benefits ofmining are normalIy only considered in relation to the direct results of production - the produet itself and the employment for local people. There are many oId mines in the United Kingdom, and elsewhere in Europe, abandoned al the end of the last century or at the beginning of this one. These abandoned mines are now perceived as having sorne historie value, often with remains going baek severa) centuries and representing an industriaJ archaeological record of the development of the mining industry over a long periodo There are often biological assets as well, such as specialised habitats ror species whose natural habitat is deelining. Otd mines have their problems, oC course: - abandoned spoil tips and tailings dams that are dispersing toxic metals into the environment; - discharge ofmine drainage waters, often polluted and highly aeidic; - hazards from open mine entríes, especially mine shafts;