TERI Information Digest on Energy and Environment
Year : 2005, Volume : 4, Issue : 2
Print ISSN : 0972-6721.
A review of the environmental management practices in the Indian mining sector
Banerjee Prof. SP
Former Director-in-charge, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad-826 004, India
Mining is carried out in India for a large variety of minerals occurring in different geological, topographical, and climatological settings. As a result, a variety of environmental management practices, suitable for individual mineral deposits and locations have been developed. In this article, the major environmental management issues common to a majority of the mining projects have been covered, leaving out the practices dealing with local problems such as mining near inhabited areas, in hilly regions, near sea coasts, and in sulphide-bearing strata with potential for acid mine drainage.
To sum up, it can be seen that the mining industry in the country will continue to grow at a fair pace in the coming years. The environmental management practices currently adopted by the mining industry, by and large, can be considered as adequate for sustainable development of the mineral resources. However, the article points out directions for further improvement through the adoption of a number of measures, such as regional planning as opposed to individual mine planning, utilization of coal mine voids for fly ash disposal from pit head thermal power stations, and conversion of mined land to agricultural land wherever possible, to generate greater employment opportunities for the community after the end of mining.
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