English Essays
Mining is the extraction of minerals and metals from earth. Iron, gold, silver, and diamonds are some examples of what is mined. Mining is a money making business, not only for mining companies, but also for governments that make money from revenues. Workers also receive income and benefits. Mining in Colombia, and in all countries of the world, is very important for the livelihood. But, why do we mine? We mine because from mining we get the gold, and many other minerals more that are very important for economy and for people from many countries. For example, gold, facilitates jewelry, craft and industry, so if we did not have mining, many people would not have jobs these days, and the economy would fail because gold is important for the sustenance of the country. So all of this makes mining very important. All these minerals are the foundation of our society.
Canada is one of the mayor mining countries in the world. It has more than 224 mines in operation, produces about 60 minerals and metals, and employs more than 380.000 workers, providing new job opportunities. So this makes that homeless people can have jobs, money and hold their families. Many people can have second chances, and start again. Mining also provides us with all the materials we need to produce any kind of product. This also creates many jobs to other people, so thanks to mining there are all this jobs that help people every day.
However, mining is very destructive for the environment. It is one of the one of the main causes of deforestation. Trees and vegetation are cleared and burned. In order to extract minerals, they have to use mercury and cyanide. These chemicals go through tubes and are often discharged into rivers, streams, bays, and oceans. This pollution contaminates all living organisms within the bodies of water, and ultimately the people who depend on fishing as their main source of protein and the base of their economy. There is legal and illegal mining. The legal mining is the “good” one, because the government allows them to extract minerals in some specific places and sometimes to “fix” the destruction they make. They have to plant trees in the places they exploit. But illegal mining does not count on permissions to extract any minerals from the land, and usually discharges mercury and sink in rivers and oceans.
In conclusion we can get that mining is very good if it is done in a proper way, but it can be very destructive if it is not done properly. We can get a lot of benefits from mining as well as problems, because when it is about the environment, it is one of the principal causes of deforestation, and what we do to the environment, we do it to ourselves. However, when it comes to benefits, we get everything we need to build schools, houses and many things more from mining. So the decision is up to you. Do you want to get the benefits from mining with a healthy environment? or do you want to get benefits from mining, but with a very damaged world?
Sources:
http://www.infomine.com/countries/mining-colombia
http://www.colombianmines.com/
http://www.mining.com/tag/colombia/
https://www.anm.gov.co/sites/default/files/DocumentosAnm/anm_ladu_final.pdf
http://www.ccx.com.co/en/nuestros-negocios/Pages/sector-mineria-colombia.aspx
Mining around the world
By Juanita Bejarano