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Mining tech is essentially the same since ever, we just have transferred some physical efforts to machines, how a local mine is "green" and some in exotic place
by kkfx 4y ago
Mining tech is essentially the same since ever, we just have transferred some physical efforts to machines, how a local mine is "green" and some in exotic places is different?
Consider a thing: all industry do not pollute because they are evil but because the tech produce pollution. Something was done, something can be done, to reduce it of course, but that's not always possible, not possible more than a certain extent and not for free.
A simple idea: can you pay a 8-years maximum lasting car 100k€? Even if you can, how many others needs cars and can't? Because that's relatively less heavy than the physical possibility of doing something, but it's not marginal at all. I have built a new home, with all actual tech to consume less and get a better life, but if such homes can only be made let's say by 10% of the western population, witch means roughly by 3% of the total human population what's the outcome? We are a society. Some can be richer than others, nothing wrong in that. BUT when the difference between the poorest and richest and so their numbers on total humans diverge too much the society fall apart anyway.
- zdragnar 4y ago> how a local mine is "green" and some in exotic places is different? https://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2016/finalwebsite/solutions/greenmining.html#:~:text=New%20mining%20technologies%20and%20regulations,because%20less%20waste%20is%20produced https://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2016/finalwebsite/solutions/.... https://empoweringpumps.com/5-ways-to-make-mining-more-sustainable/ https://empoweringpumps.com/5-ways-to-make-mining-more-susta... are both nice entry points for basic research. Mining tech has changed quite a bit since the early days- waste management is probably the biggest factor in whether a mine is relatively neutral or harmful to the environment. The other major factor between countries is the extent to which regulations are in place to ensure that old mines are also managed- ensuring water runoff doesn't flow into and through them (picking up excess metal waste), etc. A final note is many countries do not have the regulatory strength to catch all illegal mining operations, which may have no waste management or treatment in place at all. Even with all of the regulations in place, it would still be economically feasible to mine here- otherwise, the mining companies wouldn't be spending decades trying to open these mines up in the first place.
- kkfx 4y agoBoth are dreams, not very green by it's own, not really doable (like recycling water) and more important hyper costly witch means that the final product would be hyper-expensive. Are you ready to buy a small pot around 550€? Because that's the realist outcome of these starting point dreams. In the end yes, mining companies have invested in various tech, accidentally not one really environmentally friendly for real, those green parts tend to be just scam business like CO₂ sequestration tech and nothing really used on scale. That's probably why we almost close all mines in the western world to transfer them far from people's and reporters eyes...
- benj111 4y ago>Mining tech is essentially the same since ever, we just have transferred some physical efforts to machines You could say that about literally anything
- kkfx 4y agoNot really: ICEs for instance have enormously reduced their pollution, sure they can't be "green" but a modern European diesel engine is an order of magnitude less pollutant than one from just 30 years ago. Some energivore process in various industries have evolved to demand far less energy, cement is a good example using the EMC process [1] same others have not evolved, not because they are evil but because we do not found anything better to evolve; mining is one of them. [1] see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energetically_modified_cement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energetically_modified_cement