Mining industry

Mining industry
Mining industry is one of the most prominent earning source of many different countries, since the growth of the mining industries often regulate the resource acquisition potential and economic growth of the countries. Based on different characteristics of the mining industries, this industry might be categorized under geophysical industries or chemical industries. However, though mining industry is a very less-diverse and small industrial setting, understanding the waste management initiatives or exploring initiatives in order to minimize mining-generated waste at source level, are necessary to tackle any accidents or to protect the surround environment and environmental components. Mining industry indicates the cluster of process that are involved with extraction, management, and processing of naturally occurring solid minerals from the earth surface. As a product of mining, various economically valuable products might be obtained, that is, coal, diamond, metallic ores, oil, and so on. Mining industry also involve processes associated with mineral processing, surface mining, market of mining equipment, etc. Sustainability of the mining industries is largely correlated with its corresponding industrial impacts on the environment, since there are enough evidences of the detrimental impacts of mining industry on environment (Hilson and Murck, 2000).
Despite the negative impacts that mining industry may bring about, there is no scope to bypass the positive outcome that this industry assures. Despite being a very small-scale industry with quite less interaction with other industries, it is noted that in 2019, the global mining equipment market size has been found to be 1,21,694.3 million USD that is predicted to be at least 1,65,827.8 million USD by 2027 with a potential compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% (ReportLinker, 2020). Looking at the potential market size of mining industry, the impact of mining industry in the world economy is easily understandable. Many of the mined goods are used for energy production and used as raw materials for chemical industries which also let the mining industry control the growth of other industries such as energy production industry, chemical industry, electrical industry, electronics industry, and so on.
However, mining industry is a very old industry due to the age-old anthropogenic dependency of the human being on the natural resources. Since the Stone Age, mining industry has developed and gradually adopted today's shape of the mining industry. The potentials and capacity of mining also help a country to control the growth of their economy. For instance, countries of the Middle East, have been successful to extract oil and thus, they have achieved tremendous economic growth over the years. Only existence of geological resources is not enough to assure economic growth, if innovative and modern inclusions are not assured alongside the contemporary processes of mining. For example, with the aid of the government of China, the country could promote their mining industry; especially coal extraction, utilizing many innovative ideas (Fan et al., 2017). However, there are many challenges associated with this mining industry that includes, lack of sustainable approaches, need for expensive and advanced technologies, geo-physical or climatic variables, and so on. Besides, the huge amount of waste produced from this industry is also another big challenge to be tackled in this sector.
Therefore, considering the huge amount of waste produced from such a leading industry, mining industry, this chapter aims to explore the major types of waste produced from mining industries and at the same time, this chapter also suggests suitable approaches to be adopted in order to assure source-level minimization of mining industry-produced waste.

Mining industries need process improvements across all facets including mineral extraction, processing, transportation, and marketing to remain cost efficient and gain a firm foothold in the competitive market. Application of business process management (BPM) helps analyze and optimize mining organization's processes, promotes better collaboration as well as coordination among various departments to improve efficiencies and ensure best results (www.actgov.org/knowledgebank/whitepapers/Documents/Sponsor%20White%20Papers/IBMCloud.pdf). BPM can automate field reporting systems to improve operations and maintenance by up-to-date operational information. Cloud computing can provide a relatively inexpensive solution to ensure relevant and accurate information to sales and marketing personnel on production schedules, output and inventory across a wide variety of product specifications.

Mining companies can extract benefits in at least four areas by use of BPM technology. It can help improve operations and maintenance by providing managers with up-to-date operational information. It can establish better collaboration and coordination between production and sales. Mining companies are highly dependent on the reliability of the equipment and vehicles used for mining and transportation of their products. Cloud computing can play a key role in determining how successful a company's operation and management efforts are in maximizing the uptime of machinery and vehicles used in mining, handling, and storage. It can be used to automate the recordkeeping for each vehicle and piece of equipment, keep track of warranties, and maintain planned schedules. Breakdowns and unplanned repairs can be monitored and best practices can be established for operating each unit. BPM can be used to set up a cost-effective repository quickly and efficiently for operating manuals and engineering drawings. This would allow access for employees from any department in the company as well as outside parties who have been given permission.
There are now several firms that offer BPM software products. Each product has its own unique features and user interface, but what they have in common is the ability to automate almost any business process regardless of industry or functional area.
Gold mining industry influence on the environment and possible phytoremediation applications
Elena-Luisa Iatan, in Phytorestoration of Abandoned Mining and Oil Drilling Sites, 2021
Abstract
The mining industry has been a significant part of the economy for many decades. Continuous pollution of the environment with heavy metals has been caused by mineral resources exploration and exploitation activities, as well as by processing of ores in factories.
The use of vegetation for soil reclamation is called phytoremediation, and it is successfully utilized to extract heavy metals from soil and restore the soil to a healthy level.
The gold mining industry is a continuous pollution trigger, representing the primary source of heavy metal contamination during the exploitation and for many decades after the mining activity is ceased if the mining area is not environmentally cleaned. Gold mine tailings contain high levels of toxic metals such as Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, As, and Hg with a negative influence on the environment.
Phytoremediation technology can represent a low-cost option for the remediation of industrially contaminated areas, especially for abandoned mines. Various associations and interactions between plants, their microbial rhizosphere flora, and pollutants make the phytoremediation mechanisms practical for a variety of organic and inorganic contaminants. Various phytoremediation methods can be widely used for the treatment of various solid, liquid, and gaseous substrates, in the decontamination of macronutrients (phosphate and nitrate), several elements (Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd, Fe, As, Mn, Ni, Mo, Cr, Co, F, Hg, Se, V, and W), radioactive isotopes (²³⁸U, ¹³⁷Cs, and ⁹⁰Sr), petroleum hydrocarbons, organic solvents, and herbicides.
Tailings Storage Facilities
D. Williams, in Gold Ore Processing (Second Edition), 2016
8.1 General Considerations
The mining industry may consider itself as a temporary user of land. Adopting this position requires that the industry returns the maximum amount of land to a sustainable and constructive post-mining use. While all mining operations are finite, the tailings storage facilities constructed during these operations will be expected to remain in place essentially in perpetuity after cessation of operations.
The closure design of any TSF therefore needs to address the long-term stability, safety, and esthetic aspects of the structure while assessing the potential post-operational land uses of the TSF. These matters require close consultation with the stakeholders (including government authorities and the local communities) so that the final closure design will meet the reasonable expectations of those stakeholders at a cost acceptable to the operating company.