Truth About Mining

Today, people are being ignorant about things such as mining. People are not aware of the essence of mining in our country. In relation to that, what is the meaning of mining? It is simple. Mining is a business of exploring, extracting, and using the natural resources. Mining is an indispensable fact of modern life: without it, we go back to the Stone Age. Basically, mining has three cycles: (1) Exploration, (2) Extraction of minerals, (3) Reclamation and rehabilitation. Exploration is when the miners find enough minerals in a certain place or ground. Miners search from place to place in search for a place abundant of minerals. During exploration, they gather samples from their target places to know if it is possible to mine in the place. It is not true that exploration will destroy the environment. After finding a place to mine, the mining proper is next to be done. First of all, it is important to know what kind of mine will be done in the place that was chosen. There are three types of mines. Those are opencast, open pit, and underground. An example of an opencast mine is the Nickel mine in Surigao. For open pit, an example is in Utah which is the largest in the world and also, it was man-made. During the mining proper, minerals are extracted from the ground. Meanwhile, an underground mine requires a big hole. In order for that, digging a deep tunnel is essential. An example of an underground mine is Mponeng, a 3-kilometer deep hot underground mine in South Africa. Reclamation and rehabilitation is last among the three cycles. It is said that “Mining does not stop when all minerals are extracted. Under the Philippine Law, mines are not closed until rehabilitation and reclamation is complete.” Modern mining now incorporates rehabilitation and reclamation as part of the mining process. The last cycle of mining is the process of restoring what was lost during the process of mining. Mining companies make sure that they are able to plant trees and restore a forest....