By: Maxwell Lorenze, Jesse McDermott-Hughes, and Anna Tobin
Overview
Copper is one of the oldest and most important minerals used in human history. It was the first metal worked by humans and the color gave the Bronze Age its name. Copper is still used today in worldwide; it is now ranked the third highest consumed metal behind iron and aluminum. Copper is highly sought after due to its high conductivity, ability to transfer heat, resistance to corrosion, and its malleable nature. Moreover, it is invaluable when combined with other metals, such as zinc, to form brass. The uses for copper range from electrical, mostly in wiring, to industrial and construction. (RSC) Due to its versatility, copper is consumed around the world and is in most of our wiring and electronics. It is estimated that “The average car contains 1.5 kilometers (0.9 mile) of copper wire, and the total amount of copper ranges from 20 kilograms (44 pounds) in small cars to 45 kilograms (99 pounds) in luxury and hybrid vehicles.” (Doebrich) As the world continues to industrialize and developing countries have entered the global market, copper consumption has skyrocketed and the search for copper mines to accommodate growth has spread.
The top three producers of copper are Chile, Peru, and China. Due to the global disparity of deposits, there is low risk of copper disruption if a country suddenly decides to stop mining or exporting copper. The most common method for mining is through open pit mining. Mines usually last for decades and the copper ore that is removed must go through a chemical process to strip it of unwanted minerals. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology open pit mining is one of the most environmentally damaging ways to mine. This is because of the chemicals used to extract the minerals (Environmental).
There are three steps in processing copper that go from mining the copper ore. To the first step being to liberate the copper minerals and to strip the waste. After this, the resulting minerals are only 20-30% copper. Then these minerals are either leached or smelted (leaching being the more environmentally damaging of the two). The final step is the refining process. This results in 99.9% pure copper (Butte). Though processing copper can lead to water contamination, air pollution, etc., copper is one of the most recycled minerals in human history. The process of recycling copper dates back hundreds of years to copper being melted down and repurposed after wars in Europe. Scrap copper can be recycled many times if it is pure. According to the USGS as of 2004 the majority of US copper scrap was exported or recycled, with only 6% being scrapped as unusable (Goonan). The three locations we covered look at three of the most impactful mines in the world: The Kennecott Copper Mine in Bingham Canyon southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, Grasberg Mine, Indonesia, and The Escondida Mine in the Atacama Desert, Chile.
Kennecott Copper Mine
Kennecott Copper Mine at Bingham Canyon Mine is the largest open pit mine in the world. An open pit mine is effectively a massive hole dug into the earth. This mine is .6 miles deep, 2.5 miles wide and cover 1,900 acres. Copper ore was first found there by Mormon pioneers in 1848 and the Bingham Canyon Mine opened in 1906. As of 2014 an estimated 19 million tons of copper had been extracted from the mine (Wikipedia). This mine has had a very significant effect on US copper and the economy of Utah. Currently Kennecott Copper is a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, a multinational company based out of London and Melbourne (Rio Tinto Kennecott).
The Bingham Canyon mine has been the single largest economic driver for the state of Utah for the last 100 years. Historical the mine has accounted for 18-25 percent of US copper use. In recent years the mine has accounted for 13-18 percent of U.S. copper use. Total employment at the min is 1,900 full time employees and hundreds of contractors (Wikipedia). There has been concern over the continued operation of the mine, since a landslide in 2013. The landslide itself was the largest non-volcanic landslide in US history. The size of the landslide was 65 to 70 million cubic meters of dirt and rock causing a rock avalanche. Because of Interferometric radar systems there was a 7 hour early warning and no one was injured (Moore).
The landslide sent the conversation surrounding the existence of the mine into a fervor across the state. This came after rumors that Rio Tinto Kennecott were contemplating closing the mine in 2013. This came in response to slipping profits and increased environmental concerns such as tailings and air pollutants (Romboy). Eviromental concerns were not a new phenomena with mine having come under major scrutiny in 1989 when the state of Utah filled a, “Natural Resource Damage Claim for destruction and loss of natural resources , particularly groundwater pollution” (Earthworks). This has been a continued concern with a groundwater covering more than 72 square miles was found contaminated with arsenic and copper tailings. This follows dozens of incidents in the last two decades with chemical spills (Earthworks). The potential closure of the mine shoved the concerns, even further into the spotlight. With the worry that Rio Tinto would shovel the burden of cleanup on to the state with no bond in place to cover clean up after a closure (Romboy)(Earthworks). In the last few years Rio Tinto Kennecott has completely changed their tune with investment in sustainable mining and environmental clean up. Rio Tinto Kennecott are currently negotiating a bond with the state of Utah. Recently Rio Tinto announced that there are now plans to expand the pit and continue mining into the mid 2030’s (Rio Tinto Kennecott).
Grasberg Mine
Grasberg mine, opened in 1988 is located in the Sudirman Mountain Range in Indonesia, and is the second largest copper producer in the world. It is an open pit mine, with 90.64% owned by Freeport-McMoRan, which is located in Phoenix Arizona. Only 9.36% is owned by Indonesian government. In 2006, the mine produced 610,800 tonnes copper for world consumption. (FreePort)
Freeport has recently halted mining operations due to an attempt to strong-arm the government into favorable grants. The Indonesian government is currently with the company as it depends a great deal on the copper industry for income. The mine is estimated to employ 33,000 employees at the moment. Workers have been leading demonstrations due to the closure and low payment. (Jamasmie) Multiple strikes have occurred in the past due to human rights violations and environmental impact. The mine has been a source of conflict for locals, even to the point where there have been multiple attacks on the mine from armed gunmen.The targets for these attacks were mainly Freeport officials, suggesting dissatisfaction among the public towards the company. The opening of the mine has also caused an influx of non-Papuan migrants looking for jobs. This has created a great deal of tension among locals as people feel as though their livelihoods are threatened. Conversely, the town in which the mine has located has now grown into a large city, creating multiple businesses that rely on the mine for income. Coincidentally, sex trafficking in the area has skyrocketed along with HIV rates within the city itself as population rises. (Schulman)
Environmentally, the Grasberg mine has had a significant impact on the landscape of Indonesia. The tailings of the mine are very large at 230,000 tonnes per day, all of which are distributed into local water system which turns the water black and silver. (BBC) Local fisherman have lead protests in the past due to a sharp decline of fish due to pollution. The open mine pit is located by a glacier, which was used as a source of water for the local population until the mine became active. Mining has caused an increase in landslides, which has often left workers stranded and has sometimes caused deaths. (Moore)
Escondida Mine
The Escondida mine is the highest producing copper mine in the world. It produces about 1.1 million tonnes of copper (equivalent to about 5% of the world’s total copper output) annually. It is “located at an altitude of 3000 meters in the Atacama desert of northern Chile”(Rueters). Escondida means “hidden” in Spanish. The mine earns this name because the copper ore was buried beneath hundreds of meters of rock. The Escondida Mine consists of two large open pit copper mines and is 170 km southeast of Antofagasta, a city of around 380,000 people. The mine also produces silver and gold as a by-product. The mine is owned mostly by BHP Billiton (57.5%) and Rio tinto (30%). Escondida is the largest foreign investment in Chile.
The Atacama desert is the driest non-polar place in the world. It receives around 0.6 inches of rain a year because it is in an extreme rain shadow on a plateau in between the Chilean coastal range and the Andes. The extreme aridity of its climate and soil has led to comparisons with Mars. As a result of this extreme lack of rainfall, the Escondida Mine must be particularly conscious of its water consumption. It has very limited water rights as a certain amount must be reserved for residents of the surrounding area. So the Escondida Mine transports water from the ocean and uses a desalinization plant to obtain a large portion of their water. Because the region is so barren and desolate, the Escondida mine has relatively little impact on wildlife or vegetation. In fact the Escondida mine has fought to protect the endangered Andean Flamingoes (Copper Development Association Inc.). “Escondida’s mission statement insists that the company must keep local authorities continually informed of possible dangers to the environment caused by the mine”(International Development Research Centre).
On Feb. 9th, about 2,500 workers went on strike when contract negotiations failed (CNBC). As a result, global copper prices have skyrocketed. The miner’s union has accused BHP of failing to make back payments to workers. The workers have constructed a camp nearby the mine and have been protesting for 3 weeks. “The union estimates one month of strike action would cost Escondida 100,000 tonnes in lost copper production”(Mining Journal) and has asked for a 7% raise and $39,000. “Escondida provides direct work for more than 2,300 people and another 1,900 full-time jobs through contractor companies. Around 8,000 further permanent jobs in various productive activities have also been created by the mine, especially in Chile’s Second Region, where the mine is located. Escondida plays a key role in the Chilean economy. It accounts for 2.5 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product”(Rio Tinto).
Conclusion
Through analyzing these three sites of production, we discovered that the environmental and social impacts of a copper mine vary drastically depending on place. While all copper mines will inevitably cause harm to the local environment, there are many measures that can be taken to avoid serious damage. The Escondida mine has the advantage of being in a very remote and desolate place. As a result, its environmental impact is comparatively low, especially relative to other less productive mines. Grasberg mine is an extreme example of the many issues that can come from copper mining, with large environmental impacts, human rights abuses and terror attacks. The Bingham Canyon mine proves that even in a first world country, with extensive regulations and good relations between government and private companies, many conflicts can arise surrounding environmental impact.
Through the screen of a computer, it is easy to judge the different aspects of mining. However, we are limited by our preconceived notions about the harm of mines through news outlets and our environmental teachers in the past. Therefore, we are not qualified to make statements about solutions to the issues these mines create. This is the issue with environmental studies today, we focus such much on the statistics and facts that we forget that there are real people affected. Who are we to say that the negative environmental impacts of a mine outweigh the positive social impacts on the local economy?
No matter how we feel about copper mining, copper is one of the most widely used materials and a pillar of our economy. Through the study of these sites we can apply the techniques that successful mines have used to new mines and establish a more eco-friendly and socially acceptable copper mining process.
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