Cement, Energy and Environment

12 These principles include elements such as intra and inter- genera onal equity, the precau onary principle, scien fic mining, management of environmental and socio- economic impacts, crea on of subs tute capital in the form of social and physical infrastructure and most importantly stakeholder engagement.. In some cases, mining opera ons have been executed without concerning for the ' carrying capacity ' of the environment and other infrastructural limita ons of the surroundings of the mine site. This has put unavoidable pressure on the environment and caused inconvenience to the people living alongside mining areas. Illegal mining in many cases has similar effect while addi onally causing loss of public revenues. The mineral extrac on and processing release several toxic materials, contamina ng the soil and water which leads to deforesta on and ground water degrada on. Mineral extrac on has also dispropor onately affected health of forest ecosystems and the surrounding environment and furthermore the tribes as well as the forest dwelling popula ons are also adversely affected. The mining and mineral sector are perceived to have failed to alleviate poverty for these vulnerable popula ons around the forest areas. Thus, the impacts of mining and mines upon natural ecosystems, biodiversity and tribal livelihoods have become a key environmental concern and source of conflict and socioeconomic tension. Most of work done by mining industry to protect environment and address social concerns has not received due a en on of the Government, media and society. Inspite of their efforts of sustainable mining prac ces and opera ons, few NGOs and environmental protec on agencies try to malign all efforts based on stray incidents. With increasing stringent guidelines by the Governments to regulate mining and its impact, the mining industry has been relentlessly striving for not only achieving expecta on of regulatory agencies, but also to exceed these and set interna onal benchmarks. Mining companies are striving hard to contribute towards sustainable development of the country To make mining environmentally friendly, few steps are suggested below, they are in regular discussion on various forums around the world. In India, mining companies can adopt these steps to achieve the goals of New Mineral Policy: - · Reclaiming of Materials used in worked out Mines and properly closing of the area This step involves usage of material from the old worked out mines, which affects the environment in a variety of ways, especially in its natural decaying, ro ng and eroding processes, withal it can also lead to illegal or unregulated mining ac vity. This specially occurs in underground mines where support systems, cables, pipes etc, are le out with significant amount of ore, it decays and pollutes environment in a serious way. However, when these areas are adequately excavated, mining companies would find some materials that could be reused produc vely. In Opencast also, several waste materials like cables, pipes, etc, are le as is post mining and it is buried in mine overburden materials. Every mining company has to research on these unused resources and materials throughout the mining process, to try and conserve its current 'non-renewable' materials. Each company can form small decommissioning groups which study systems and the complete mining processing facili es and plants; this process will allow the pipelines to be drained,