Environmental management (mining)

Article By:

Daniel, Sheila Ellen AMEC Earth & Environmental, Ontario, Canada.

Last reviewed:2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.YB050170

Mineral exploration is the process whereby mineral deposits are found and investigated in sufficient detail to determine whether they can be feasibly developed into a mine. The first stage of exploration commonly involves the review of existing information, such as maps, aerial photographs, and satellite imagery, often followed by airborne surveys. Airborne surveys use various techniques to find changes in the geology or anomalies below the surface. This initial stage of exploration generally results in little physical disturbance and low potential for environmental impacts to flora and fauna, even where ground field work such as tracing back samples to the primary source is involved. This article focuses on subsequent stages of exploration, where activities, such as drilling, trenching, and collection of a bulk sample, potentially result in physical disturbance of the land, animals, and people. Only a very small proportion of the exploration prospects identified ever get to this stage of physical investigation (and an even smaller number eventually become mines).

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