What are the impacts of mining?
Mining can impact the area’s water drainage, pollute water with run-off from the mine, and threaten local communities, including indigenous people, by affecting the quality of the food supply. Other effects include: • Deforestation: In the Carajas Mineral Province, Brazil, maybe the world’s largest copper reserve (iron ore, manganese and gold are already found there), wood from surrounding forest is cut for charcoal to fuel pig iron plants, resulting in annual deforestation of 6,100 km21. • Pollution: A notorious pollutant used in gold extraction is mercury. In the vicinity of gold extraction sites, it may be found in high concentrations in fish, affecting local populations. Mercury also ends up in the atmosphere, from where it returns to forests. For example, 90% of fish caught by rural villagers south of gold mining areas of the Tapajós River in Brazil were found to be contaminated with methyl mercury2. This chemical is dangerous for the nervous system as well as foetuses. • Encroach
