Impacts of Gold Mining Waihi
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There are many Environmental impacts of mining in Waihi. Using modern machinery to mine causes effects on the land the most noticeable is the scaring of the landscape, which ruins the aesthetic beauty of the land. When the mine closes in 2007, the Waihi mining company has no intention to turn the mine into what it use to be, instead they will turn the mine into a man made lake which will be finished in 2017.
Noise, vibration and dust are major environmental impacts, which are irritating to the local community. Steps have been taken to reduce the amount of noise, dust and vibration. Noise has been reduced by using different kinds of machinery i.e. taking off reversing beepers, a natural wall has been put up to muffle sounds this also acts as a net to catch any dust. Vibration has been reduced by using a low powered explosive, there are also plans in place to only use explosives during a certain part of the day. Dust is particularly bad in the summer months, so to reduce the amount of dust produced the mine is constantly being sprayed with water, there are also rules that the miners need to comply with.
Other impacts of mining which affected the environment is the destruction of habitats of wild animals birds, insects and also the forest, which needed to be removed. There are rehabilitation plans in place to improve the visual appearance of the disturbed areas. This rehabilitation is occurring during while the mine is still in operation. There is planting native vegetation around the perimeter of the pit, this acts as a seed source for the establishment of a self-sustaining cover of vegetation on the slopes. Pollution is another environmental impact of the Martha Mine. The pollution comes from the cyanide used to extract the gold and silver from the quartz rock, some of the cyanide gets into streams and then into local rivers. The precaution taken by the mining company to make sure cyanide and water quality are adequate are: water sampling on a regular basis and ground water monitoring, especially at the tailings storage facility. This is where all of the wastewater goes after being used to extract gold and silver from quartz and being pumped out of the mine.
When Martha Mine closes in 2007 there will be both social and economic affects. A possible social affect with the closure of the mine would be the people migrating out of Waihi. This same incident was seen in the 1950s with the thriving towns of