Taking away layer after layer of land creates a gigantic, open hole (or pit) that keeps getting deeper and deeper until there is nothing left to bring out. Explosives (like dynamite) are used when the miners want to get large blocks of materials out of the earth. Most of the time, when the mining company is done with it, the pit is used as a landfill. A landfill is used as a dump to get rid of our garbage. When it is filled with garbage, it is covered over with layers of dirt.
After the garbage rots a long time, the land can be used again. Some examples of locations of open pit mining in Australia are: (Super Pit) – gold mine near Kalgoorlie, Western Australia (Cadia mine) – gold and copper mine located near Orange, New South Wales (Boddington Gold Mine) – Boddington, Western Australia (Telfer Mine) – Gold and copper mine in Pilbara, Western Australia (Ranger Mine)– Uranium mine east of Darwin in the Northern Territory, Weipa, Queensland.
To get at the mineral, rocks and wealth just below the surface, the entire area needs to be stripped of all vegetation and natural animal habitats. For example, Brazil has some of the largest open pit mines in the world, which have been created by removing thousands of acres of rain forest, which sustained countless numbers of animal species. Mining requires loads of machines to dig out the minerals, large trucks to take them away and further machines to process the resource.
The Essay on Australia 6
Australia is the sixth largest country in the world. It lies in the Southern Hemisphere between 11^0 and 44^0 south latitude and 113^0 and 154^0 east longitude. The entire area of land is about the same size as the continental United States, or about one and a half times the size of Europe. The mainland of Australia has an area of 2,967,909 square miles. The country is divided into six states: ...
These all run on carbon-based fuels which lead to emissions. This contributes to global warming and has unknown effects on the local area. Charcoal is often used as a fuel for some machines, and although it is not as polluting as oil and coal, it does require the felling of trees to make the fuel. This causes even more destruction to local habitats. Chemical use is use in g open pit mining, which involves the use of harsh chemicals to extract minerals from the rock.
These chemicals seep into the soil which makes it harder for anything to grow and can run off into water sources which poisons animals and plants. After mining finishes, the mine area must undergo rehabilitation. Waste dumps are used in the pit to flatten them out. If the ore contains sulphides it is usually covered with a layer of clay to prevent access of rain and oxygen from the air, which can oxidise the sulphides to produce sulphuric acid, known as acid mine drainage. This is then generally covered with soil, and vegetation is planted.
