Minimising environmental impacts of mining

Coal and gold mining are important economic activities in New Zealand, and the West Coast of the South Island and Southland, for example, have long histories of mining. The process of mineral extraction inevitably results in environmental impacts, but few tools exist to help mining companies and regulators assess and predict environmental impacts of mining operations.

Acid mine drainage from coal mine.

This series of fact sheets has been developed to assist all the parties involved in the decision making about mine operations to reduce the environmental impacts of mining.

Factsheets

pdf Factsheet 1: A framework for preventing water quality impacts on streams from mining pdf File, 692 KB
pdf Factsheet 2: Predicting the effects of coal mines on aquatic environments pdf File, 541 KB
pdf Factsheet 3: Using stream insects to predict the health of rivers with coal mine inputs pdf File, 608 KB
pdf Factsheet 4: How do we prevent mining activities from contaminating streams? pdf File, 340 KB
pdf Factsheet 5: Guidelines for mine rehabilitation in Westland pdf File, 304 KB
pdf Factsheet 6: Planning and agreeing rehabilitation to pasture pdf File, 473 KB
pdf Factsheet 7: Implementing rehabilitation to pasture pdf File, 582 KB
pdf Factsheet 8: Native vegetation (rehabilitating native ecosystems) pdf File, 655 KB

These factsheets are the result of a research programme lead by CRL Energy Ltd in collaboration with Landcare Research and the Universities of Canterbury and Otago.