Saturday, March 13, 2010

Two thousand years needed to restore forest damaged by open pit mining

All along we have thought it would take 30-50 years to revegetate Rapu-Rapu after Lafayette is done mining. National Geographic just published a report that in a mountain top mining for coal in Boone County, West Virginia, it would take 2000 years. Note that they are coal mining in the area, where the process does not entail use of chemicals. In gold, silver, copper and zinc mining, cyanide and sulfuric acid are used. Hence, the process is much more contaminating and a longer period than 2000 years can be expected for Rapu-Rapu. Please read this: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100311-mountaintop-mining-west-virginia/

No comments:

Post a Comment