Health effects of mining very severe

The mercury used in mining causes a number of different health problems, including neurological disorders and kidney diseases. Besides mercury-poisoning, people living around mines are polluted by lead, zinc and copper.

Other consequences of mining for human health

The negative consequences of mining for human health include respiratory complications such as pneumoconiosis, asbestosis, and silicosis caused by inhaling fine particles from the large amounts of dust generated by mining activities such as blasting and drilling.

The children suffer from mining-pollution

Almost all children in the Peruvian town of La Oroya have dangerously high levels of lead, arsenic and other toxins in their blood. More than 40% of the children under 5 have mental deficiencies. The cause is the town's heavy pollution from lead, zinc and copper mining.

Air pollution from mining

Mining is a major source of air pollution. Especially coal mining due to emissions of particulate matter and a number of gases including methane and sulfur dioxide.

Uncontrolled coal fires in coal mines don’t exactly help either. In China alone, between 15 and 20 million tons of coal burn uncontrollably each year. Toxic levels of arsenic, fluorine, mercury, and selenium pollute the air as well as the food chain of people living nearby.

Besides the air pollution, this adds to CO2-emissions and global warming as well.

Mining is deadly

More people are killed or injured in the mining industry than in any other industry. More than 15,000 miners are killed every year - and this is just the official number of deaths. Most likely, it's many more. Nobody really knows how many people are injured in mining, but it is likely to be hundreds of thousands of people every year.

We are all part of it

The western world receives large quantities of mined minerals from small scale mining operators in developing countries.

The US Mineral Information Institute estimates that in one single year, approximately 130 million cell phones are thrown out containing around 46 tons of silver, 2100 tons of copper, and 2 tons of palladium.