A.S.TREMBECKI
1. Fundamental notions of
mining geoethics
Harmonic cooperation of man and nature is the essence of mining geoethics. The cooperation is revealed in mutual activities according to the back coupling determining the prevention of the environmental conflict. The relation between man and geoethics is the result of the interaction of man's inborn qualities that include the striving after
- beauty,
- honest acting, and
- activity in dealing with reality.
The relation between man and geoethics is connected with intensifying dynamics of activities revealed by three tendencies – those of development, stagnation and decay. Chronological dynamics of human activity is determined by the trends of development, stabilization expressing existentialism and limiting tendencies (closing of mines).
The tendency of keeping up the status quo carried out in time of the mining activity is revealed by the land reclamation as well as by the work connected with dumping of products of mining or industrial activities.
All these above-mentioned kinds of mining activities are characterized by the human cooperation with the nature in accordance with principles of rationalization of these procedures.
There are two kinds of realization of this cooperation.
The first one is the simulation – i.e. enforcement of this activity. The enforcement results from the loss of faith in the rational activity of man. A bundle of demands and prohibitions (not always being in accord one with another) and jointly with a punishment system expresses it. This is a system of beaurocratical activities used by ecology in a more and more strict way despite of its undoubtedly noble ideas. As practice shows the beaurocratic activity offers a wide field for speculation. As an example of such activity can serve neglecting the appropriate but expensive realizations and fulfillment of ecologists requirements when payment of fines costs less than application of preventive means. Experience teaches that the more strict beaurocratic requirements are, the more they become the subject of speculation, in extreme cases they become exposed to corruption.
Argumentation for the necessary activity is the counteraction of beaurocratic stimulation. It starts the initiative among its advocates since its range has been agreed on in an absolute way. Motivated activity is a characteristic feature of geoethics.
Thus as a result of such a resonance in activities, realization of geoethical postulates undergoes self-reinforcement and the trend of implementing geoethical procedures becomes faster. To sum up, a good work is based on self-reinforcement. Simulations do not enforce it.
The above-described analysis makes clear the susceptible field for the development of mining geoethics. The diagram of systematization of fundamental notions of mining geoethics is given in Fig. 1.
2. Mining specification of geoethics
Mining Geoethics = Mining
Technologies.
This specification presents the record identifying geoethical objectives with assumptions of mining technologies. Hence a simple conclusion follows that the appropriate technological considerations determine the way for realizing postulates of mining geoethics.
Technological fundamentals of mining geoethics are also based on the interrelation nature – man occurring within the back-coupling loop. While developing this regenerative back coupling the attributes of natural activities are separated and the procedure is established according to the postulates of mining geoethics. These postulates are: dependencies of the concept of individual mineral raw material on technology what can be illustrated by following examples:
- flint - a precious weapon
mineral in the Paleolithic period - absolutely lost its essentiality as a material of contemporary
weapons,
- quartz - not so long ago
considered only as a peculiarity as far as optics of crystals was concerned and
thus presented as a physical curiosity interesting for a limited group of specialists
- nowadays just due to these qualities has become indispensable for the
production of semiconductors, i.e. a valuable mineral for computer industry, of
basic strategic significance.
A decrease of balance reserves, i.e. a decrease in the degree
of utilization of ore deposits based on the established balance criteria of
mineral resources (dependent on economic possibilities of profitable
exploitation) occurs when an increase of these criteria (usually based on the
exploitation profit increase) takes place. It causes gophering that makes the
subsequent exploitation of the remaining resources impossible. Such a procedure
is contradictory to the geoethical postulates demanding to protect the deposit
in time of its exploitation.
Since the nowadays-existing criteria of balance are based only
in an economic way, there exists the necessity of completing them by
ecologically motivated criteria. In this way legalization of the deposit
gophering will be no more authorized in order to get immediate economic profits
originated from giving up exploitation of some more complicated parts of the
deposit.
Striving after the complete exploitation of the deposit
represents not only the basic technological condition but also it is
simultaneously a geoethical postulate of the exploitation.
Creating a possibility of choosing of localization of a mine
is a condition of rationalization of the regional exploitation of ore deposits.
In order to create such a possibility a portfolio of approved resources of mineral
deposits is indispensable. This technical requirement is – at the same time – a
geoethical requirement. The regional planning is the result of a compromise
between ecologists generally called “guardians” who basically treat any opening
of new mines with much reluctance and reservations. In the face of the
exhaustion of resources in the existing mines the opening of new mines becomes
a condition not only ensuring man's existence but also his further development.
This technical condition is also a serious postulate of geoethics.
From the point of view of man's activity systematization of
mining activities can be classified in the following way:
–
Exploitation of raw materials in the renewable deposits (e.g. gravel
exploitation from the deltas of rivers)
–
Drawing of water for water supply systems etc.
This kind of exploitation - if carried out in a rational way -
does not change the relations in the nature, i.e. the status quo of the nature
is preserved. Such a procedure does not evoke claims from the point of view of
postulates of natural protection.
The problems of exploitation in a homogeneous rock mass are
treated in a mass way. They concern the established technological conditions
independent of localization of mining activities.
Exploitation in the
non-homogeneous rock mass varies as far as both the area (polytropy) and
direction (anisotropy) is differentiated and it is carried out in highly
diversified technological conditions. These conditions decide about
- division of the deposit
into exploitation blocks readjusted to the technology of selective homogenizing
exploitation or
- determination in anisotropy deposits"
-
direction of the most effective rock mass relief or its strain by the
carriers fluidizing the deposit
-
direction of the maximum stabilization of the quality of the output,
i.e. the most effective direction (from the economic point of view).
All these technological
postulates of mining selective exploitation are at the same time geoethical
postulates for realizing this exploitation. These postulates concern
exploitation of the main mineral in the solid state.
The author does not discuss here the problems connected with the well exploitation of fluids of both crude oil and natural gas because technological processes of this exploitation occur inside the rock mass. They are not to be seen by an observer on the earth surface. They represent a different technological problem of exploitation of retending fluid resources won during the exploitation. They concern the problem that is not discussed at this stage.
Exploitation of the main raw material fully using the
possibilities of the quality of the appropriate solid deposits exposed to the
mining process in a mass selective way (differentiating, homogenizing and differentially
homogenizing both in one or in many deposits) satisfies the fundamental
geoethical assumption of protecting the deposit (in situ). Its complete
utilization (both of quality and quantity) is concerned in its technological
assumption.
A basic problem of geoethics consists in utilizing also the
substances accompanying the deposit, i.e. the main open and developed mine at
the time of exploitation of the main mineral. It is a complicated technological
postulate requiring to create buffer interfering dumps and their appropriate
sale while opening and developing the deposits. It also concerns such
exploitation where intensity of winning is disturbed at seasons.
The creation of these dumps is not only a geoethical
requirement but also – above all – a technological one. Placing considerable
financial means in the reserves is a factor hindering the realizations of
making the production process more elastic by the mentioned reserves of the
useful mineral. Excessively high costs of credits established in the bank
credit policy are the main obstacle for realizing the discussed geoethical
postulates.
Mining workings, mostly (although not only) the underground
ones, are used for storing of technological wastes of mining production and
processing of the useful mineral. Storing of the wastes of mining exploitation
as well as those of others is the most serious problem of geoethics. Storing of
toxic and nuclear wastes - particularly dangerous for man and his environment
in the post-exploitation workings or mining workings specially made for that
purpose – is a particular extension of these problems.
The variety of problems of mining geoethics has been presented
in the form of a diagram in Fig. 2.
3. Systematization of
connecting problems of geoethics with the threats in the rock mass
- Red color is used for marking the threats caused by the energy
of deforming the rock mass, the energy that is released by bursts that the
miner usually cannot survive. Thus the anti-burst prevention means their
incitement to cause the rock mass relief in a controlled and not dangerous way.
- Orange color marks the threats of releasing gases in the rock
mass. Gas media are released in the time of rock outbursts, thus prevention
means a careful monitoring of these threats making it possible to evacuate the
crew just before the time of their violent release.
- Blue color determines the threats of processes of rock
fluidization indispensable for the well exploitation of solid raw materials.
Fluidization straining the rock mass causes a serious threat. It is released as
an eruption of the deposit. The condition of avoiding this threat consists in
neglecting the fluidization of those parts of the deposits at a shallow level
where the strain of fluidization is not counterbalanced by the load of the
overburden.
Water threats due to the
retending water in the rock mass take on a different form depending on the mode
of influencing the deposit by water:
-
In soluble beds – such as potassium salts or rock salt – the basic
means to avoid the flooding of the mine consist in an appropriate blocking of
water leakage and determination of such a structure of the mine as to make a
breakout of water into the mine only a partial one - separated from the
remaining part of the mine of cofferdams.
-
In a fluidizing rock mass, producing floating sand water or fluidized
coal, the released water threat occurs in the form of cumulated pulsation.
Appropriately voluminous settling tanks taking over the impulses of pulsation
and appropriate reserves of pumps able to take over cumulated flows represent
the protection against the pulsation. In this case water action proceeds
according to the previously established strategy.
-
In the non-soluble fissured rock mass the flows of water into the mine
have a long-lasting character. They require preparing an appropriate structure
of the mine ensuring a safe draining of waters flowing into the mine at the
time of mining activities.
- Black color denotes the threats by media. These threats -
produced by technological activities in the mine - are as follows:
-
Threats of fluidization processes as discussed above.
-
Threats by endogeneous generating of fires. They are controlled by
blocking the flow of air into the potential focuses of fire.
-
Threats caused by the decay of stability of (lateral) side walls in the
mining workings. These threats occur mainly in deep brown coal open pits.
Draining of the rock mass that increases its stability and precedes the exploitation
well is the most effective prevention of these threats.
- Green color marks indicate new threats to the environment that
are produced by the progress of mining technologies. They are as follows:
-
Geothermal threats increasing with the depth of mines. The prevention
from them consists in the air-conditioning of mines and in the safe
organization of miners activities at high temperatures (which cannot exceed
their physiological possibilities, otherwise they can be very dangerous).
-
Storing of toxic industrial wastes in a mine is a further stage of
escalation of these threats. Storing of these dangerous wastes in such a way in
order not to pollute the environment is a complicated problem.
-
Storing of radioactive wastes of nuclear processes is the next step of
escalation of these threats. It is necessary to store these wastes in such a
way that would minimize their harmful influence on the crew as much as
possible.
-
In the case of toxic and radioactive wastes harmful influences of
dangerous doses on human organism cumulate though protective means are applied.
Careful monitoring of this cumulating should be organized in order not to
exceed the respective critical value for miners, preventing their health
against pathological changes.
