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Abstract |
Environmental problems which may be associated with mineral extraction are: (a) the visual ugliness of open pits, waste tips, and working mess; (b) the nuisance of wind- and water-borne dusts; (c) the health hazards to wildlife, crops, livestock and man of locally increased environmental burdens of potentially toxic metals (e.g. Pb, Cd, As, Zn, Cu, Ni) derived from wind- and water-borne mine dusts and smelter smokes; (d) the safety hazards of surface subsidence and tip-slippage from deep-mining. All these disamenities can be cured or reduced by the reclamation process which involves a blend of socio-economic, legal, planning, civil engineering and biological expertise devoted to development planning, site purchase, land clearance, land forming, stabilization, drainage and revegetation of the affected site |
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