Mine resources are of great value and are not renewable, either. The mining industry in China has a long history, and proper mining will be helpful for the rational use of resources. However, with the development of the economy and the advancement of society, the problem of malicious exploitation has become more and more serious. These problems will directly or indirectly destroy the homeland on which humans depend. Mining not only consumes resources but also does great harm to the environment. However, most of the people do not understand why mining is harmful.
On one hand, mining will make surface water or groundwater acidic, thus making it contain heavy metals. This will indirectly endanger the rivers and soil. When the pollutants that exceed the self-purification capacity of water entering the water, the quality of water will deteriorate, thus harmful substances will be produced. These harmful substances flow into the humans’ bodies through various channels. Therefore, the ultimate victims are still human beings if there is wanton mining. On the other hand, the drilling and blasting of open-pit mining will cause dust, which will lead to air pollution. Besides, open-pit mining will occupy a large area of land, and these land will be destroyed. A report has shown that there are nearly 15000 open-pit mining in America and more than 30000 hectares of land are destroyed every year. Besides, open-pit mining always digs the ground on a large scale, thereby destroying the vegetation, which is an indispensable part for humans to live on Earth. Malicious exploitation not only destroys land and water resources but also has a bad impact on natural landscapes. The erosion of natural landscapes by mining is very serious. What’s worse, some natural landscapes that close to the mining area are almost inanimate, which will be a disaster to human beings. Last but not least, tourism and sightseeing are extremely uncoordinated in the scenic spots near the open-pit mining due to the destruction of landscape by mining.
So how do humans prevent the problems caused by mining? As we all know, the occurrence of geological disasters is mostly caused by improper mining. Therefore, knowing about the causes of geological disasters and analyzing the corresponding measures are of great importance, which will be helpful to improve traditional mining methods based on existing science and technology. We should follow the principle of “ The first to develop and also the first to manage” to strengthen the effective management of the mining industry and create a good social environment. Besides, with the development of science and technology, remote sensing information technology (also known as “3s” technology) can detect the time and regions of geological disasters. In this way, the potential locations of mining geological disasters will be discovered earlier, and relevant treatments will be carried out in order to avoid disaster expansion. As for some places with complex terrain, special geological surveys should be conducted so as to avoid water and sediment losses. More importantly, it is necessary to record and analyze the inspection data of the potential area and keep abreast of the potential dangers caused by mining.
All in all, the mining industry has a large negative impact on the land and ecological environment, and people should take proper measures to prevent the harm caused by mining. However, some of the damage caused by mining is always inevitable. Therefore, how to repair the damage caused by mining is also of great importance. At the first academic seminar of the China Coal Society and the 2012 Beijing International Forum on Ecological Restoration, experts and representatives formulated some policies, regulations, and standards about pollution prevention, land reclamation and ecological restoration in mining areas. From a historical point of view, the ecological restoration work of wanton mining began very early in China, starting in the 1950s and growing up until 1990s. Besides, both theoretical research and practical application of restoration work have made gratifying progress in the last decade. Mining ecological restoration and management are both complex and systematic projects, including restoration ecology, landscape ecology, ecological economics, and environmental geology. Generally, The ecological restoration of abandoned open-pit mining can be carried out from five aspects: remediation of abandoned land; greening of rock slope; treatment of geological disasters; restoration of environmental pollution and comprehensive landscape management.
The restoration of abandoned mines is mainly based on the characteristics of the terrain and the extent of the damage caused by mining. When it comes to extremely complex terrains, particular approaches are necessary in order to maximize the repairing ability. Soil, which is the basic component of the land, its physical and chemical properties and the level of nutrients are the keys to the success of the land restoration. Moreover, there are no basic elements such as N, P, and K in the abandoned mines, and these elements cannot be supplemented by nature. Therefore, these elements must be added by artificial force. In this way, the method of repairing abandoned lands needs to be considered in many aspects. At present, the method of “treating waste by waste” brings us great ecological and social benefits. For instance, sewage sludge, domestic garbage, mud carbon, and animal manure that containing organic matter will be utilized to alleviate the toxicity of metal ions and improve the water holding capacity of the substrate. However, long-term improvements in mining wasteland must rely on green plants. Therefore, nitrogen-fixing plants and mycorrhizal plants can be utilized to improve wasteland, which is of both economic and ecological benefit.
The restoration of all ecosystems is premised on green vegetation. Therefore, the repair of green vegetation is also the key to the restoration of mining waste. Different tree species should be selected according to different climatic conditions and objectives. If it is aimed at controlling pollution and soil erosion, it is advisable to select some tree species with developed roots. In contrast, if it is aimed to be restored to crop planting, it is necessary to consider the extent to which toxic substances accumulate in the food. The species selected should avoid excessive accumulation of toxins in the crops as much as possible.
Mine repairing involves all aspects, it can be also restored by adjusting the metal elements in the soil. Reducing the damage of mining is one of the effective ways to ease the contradiction between human and nature, and is also one of the means to maintain the overall progress of the national economy. Besides, We should governance the ecological environment according to the characteristics of the mining areas and the national environmental governance policy in order to achieve the highest repairing effect. However, no matter how it is repaired, its restoring effect will not be the same as before mining. Therefore, it is our primary responsibility to mine less and protect our mining resources. In addition, environmentally friendly machines should also be utilized in order to reduce the harm of dust in the air. For example, the mobile crushing plant produced by Hongxing Mining Machinery Co., Ltd. has passed the national quality certification system, and its effect of environmental protection has also been recognized by customers from home and abroad. In particular, the crawler-type mobile crushing plant can move by itself to improve the efficiency of crushing. As a result, the problems of pollution and efficiency are both solved. In addition, HXJQ Machinery also produces a variety of crushing machines such as semi-portable crushers, fixed jaw crushers, impact rock crushers and cone crushers for customers to choose.
Images from: https://www.hxzgcrusher.com/product/portable-rock-crusher/
All in all, the earth is the homeland on which we depend to survive. We must protect it from each of us. In addition, we should stick to the principle of “less mining, more governance” to protect our ecological environment.