Hi, I'm Hugh, and my mission with Get Green Now is to raise awareness of environmental issues and teach people how to live sustainably. These mining operations remove the soil and rock above coal deposits, or seams. They were the Small-Scale Gold Mining Law, the Mercury Law and the Precious Mineral Marketing Corporation Law. strips vegetation, leaving the area vulnerable to soil erosion — the wearing 117-118; 120-122; 124; 127-128; 135; 139. When crushed, these rocks expose radioactive elements, asbestos-like minerals, and metallic dust. [12] found soil organic carbon (SOC) content of Golden Star Resources Prestea/Bogoso mined area at 0.14 %, which is below the accepted level of SOC of soil fertility, giving an indication of disruption of ecosystem functioning and loss of litter layer due to mineral mining. In some cases, additional forest logging is done in the vicinity of mines to create space for the storage of the created debris and soil. produces. This method leaves behind large pits in the earth and can contaminate the groundwater with chemicals used in the mining process. Such practices had also played a major role in altering the local hydrological patterns in Prestea. Mineral exploitation contributes significantly to economic growth and development in most world economies. Prestea is located at 5.43274 latitude and 2.14284 longitudes at an elevation/altitude of meters. Yankson PWK (2010) Gold mining and corporate social responsibility in the Wassa West district, Ghana, Development in Practice 20 (3): 354-366. decades to come. Some Serfor-Armah Y, Nyarko BJ, Dampare SB, Adomako D (2006) Levels of arsenic and antimony in water and sediment from Prestea, a gold mining town in Ghana and its environs. Mountaintop removal and valley fill mining has affected large areas of the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia and Kentucky. Surface mining method by small-scale artisans often results in the removal of large quantities of topsoil, leaving the land bare and susceptible to erosion. Many research findings indicate that soils are adversely affected by surface mining [32]. Other problems include toxicity, especially of aluminium, zinc and other metals in acidic wastes, and these can significantly affect plant growth [32]. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that between 1990 and 2005, gold mining activities in Ghana contributed significantly to land degradation and loss of cultivable land, resulting in a massive loss of forest cover (26%) and arable lands (15-20%) at the Tarkwa, Ayanfuri, Dunkwa, Esaase and Bogoso mining areas in Ghana [13]. The communities in these mining areas therefore spend huge sums of money to access, treat, and store groundwater for their domestic and other uses. For instance, a study by [37] in Prestea, found high levels of arsenic and antimony concentrations in the rivers ranging from 0.90 – 8.25 ppm and 0.09 – 0.75 ppm respectively, far exceeding the World Health Organizations recommended values of 0.01 and 0.005 ppm respectively. Due to its strategic importance for the socio-economic development of the country, the mining sector was one of the priority areas of the country’s Economic Recovery Program in 1983 [4, 10, 16, 19, 22]. In addition, it usually needs government approval as licensing is required. These changes may be positive or negative, are generally referred to as environmental impacts. Impacts of strip mining: Strip mining destroys landscapes, forests and wildlife habitats at the site of the mine when trees, plants, and topsoil are cleared from the mining area. For example, Car Modifications for Electric Vehicles: What’s Possible? Macdonald FKF, Lund M, Blanchette M, Mccullough C (2014) Regulation of Artisanal Small Scale Gold Mining (ASGM ) in Ghana and Indonesia as Currently Implemented Fails to Adequately Protect Aquatic Ecosystems. Temperatures are high all year round with significant daily and seasonal variations. B.Sc. Expert leaders on ESG and industry professionals from within mining predict operations will begin to think more Format), Citation-(BibTeX Hilson G (2002) The environmental impact of small-scale gold mining in Ghana: identifying problems and possible solutions. Harwood MR, Hacker JB, Mott JJ (1999) Field evaluation of seven grasses for use in the revegetation of lands disturbed by coal mining in Central Queensland. Underground it’s likely to only grow larger as the demand for raw materials increases.