Mining | Boreal At Memorial

Mining

Background and effects of mining

There are two varieties of mines, pit or surface mining, and excavation or underground mining. In Canada 80% of mines are found in the Boreal, there are 4400 in the Boreal of Ontario alone. The implications of this are that the majority of mines have a direct negative impact on our natural biome. Mining for heavy metals such as gold, silver, copper, uranium, iron, nickel and diamond is a wasteful process; for example for every ton of nickel mined there is 99 tonnes of waste rock. This waste rock contains contaminants such as sulfides, cyanide, arsenic, and heavy metals, which in combination with the toxic chemicals used to mine the rocks in the first place can be extremely damaging. These toxins run the risk of contaminating important freshwater bodies such as the Great Slave Lake. The removal of these toxins can be extremely expensive ranging from hundreds of millions of dollars to billions.

Map outlining mineral claims, the Boreal and aboriginal treaties

Source: Global Forest Watch

Mining also requires large quantities of freshwater which is taken from nearby rivers and lakes. Mines are also energy expensive to create; heavy machinery is required first to create the mines, which are typically isolated from civilizations. Isolated mines create a need for roads and railways to be built to carry the goods from the mines; this is also energetically costly, and as well more damage to the Boreal as caused in the process of building these routes. Then there is the transportation of the mined products, a process that is once again costly and damaging.

An open pit-mine northeast of Yellowknife

Click image for source

Mining effects in Labrador

Labrador is just one example of the effects of mining on populations, as shown in a study conduced on Lake Wabush. This lake experiences a large amount of contamination of iron ore. Fish form this lake as well as surrounding less contaminated lakes were sampled. The fish from Wabush were shown to have skin bleaching, cell alterations and DNA oxidation damage. This is just one example of the harm that mining contamination can cause.

References:

Johnson E.A and Miyanishi K. 2012. The boreal forest as a cultural landscape. Annals of the New York Academy of Science 1249: 151-165.

Payne, J.F. et al. 2001. Are metal mining effluent regulations adequate: identification of a novel bleached fish syndrome in association with iron-ore mining effluents in Labrador, Newfoundland. Aquatic Toxicology 52(3-4): 311-317

Schindler D.W. and Lee P.G. 2010. Comprehensive conservation planning to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services in Canadian boreal regions under a warming climate and increasing exploitation. Biological Conservation 143: 1571-1586.

Check out Ontario Natures website for more information