The Dilemma of Introducing Technical Progress
into the Mining Sector
The mining sector has definitely passed the phase of a
handicraft production and with the mass production it has become a substantial
part of the heavy industry. Its relations to the natural, social and property environment, unfortunately, have
become more sharpened. This is due to the protest of ecologists (with their
attempt to protect nature and to oppose any disturbance in the original state
of the nature) and of landowners (with their increasing more and more unreasonable demands concerning their
agreement to any activities on their land). Thus the unemployment increase has
been generating and social relations have become more complicated.
The principle of a compromise enabling mining
activities
The miners’ attitude to the surrounding nature has been regulated
by a compromise with ecologists. Another compromise concerns the landowners, namely their argument to
participate in the material profits from the exploitation of mineral resources.
Unfortunately in political, social and economic situation as nowadays in Poland
this compromise has lost its clear precision in the newly changed and obligatory mining law which has
put away the previous principles protecting miners against the landowners
demanding too high and constantly
raising profits.
In the present paper the first aspect of
the compromise is discussed, i.e. the regulation of the relations between the
mining sector and the natural environment.
The beginnings of the present development of the mining
science
The mining industry is ruled by
industrial laws as well as by specific laws of mining production attempting to realise such mining processes
that should provide:
- effectiveness of
the mining processes,
- evaluation of
economic profits,
- safety of the
realisation of the mining processes (controlled by the Offices of Mines) as
well as
- reclamation
of post-exploitation areas in agreement
with the postulates of ecologists.
All these attempts aim to improve the
man’s existence both in mining activities and in their surroundings improving
by this way the conditions of a geoethical behaviour.
The above discussed transformations are
connected with introducing technical and technological progress into the mining
sector, essentially changing its image.
Originally, mining was a handicraft whose
activities and their effectiveness were kept as a secret passing over from
father to son. Obviously, keeping the technological progress secret did not
favour the development of mining. This secret which hampered the development of
mining science was broken, quite unexpectedly, by medical doctors. Agricola as
a professional medicine doctor applying minerals to heal people made a direct
contribution to the origin of the mining science. He is generally recognised as
the one who initiated a modern mining science and who rendered considerable
services to its development. His activity made pharmacists investigate the
properties of minerals when examining their influence on the human health. It
is worth mentioning that the first department of mineralogy in Poland was
founded at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow.
Thus the work in the field of earth sciences started there and was continued first at the Faculty of Philosophy as a
separate section of Philosophy of Nature and later on at the Faculty of Earth
Sciences.
It was a period of a close
dependence of mining on geology, this dependence being continued as dominant
and expressed by the united mining and geological jurisdictions. Only the
present technical and technological progress of the mining sector - connected
with massive exploitation - gives the mining science its present form saturated
by mathematical methods.
Threats connected with the introduction of technical
progress
The essence of the technical progress
consists of both general industrial activities and specific mining activities.
The technical progress affects the mining industry both in its production
quantity and quality changing inevitably and essentially the present state of
mining, especially organisation of its production. In general, by reducing the
employment it is generating unemployment and - as a result of it - it is also
getting greater profit from the mining activities.
When capitalism is controlled exclusively
by the rule of the maximum profit, then it loses its human aspect and becomes
„wild“. The „wild“ capitalism does not care for the needs of people employed in
the mining industry and depending exclusively on it. It produces social
tension, especially when politicians lacking any knowledge of the mining
processes make decisions about the mining activities. In such a state of things
social tension is inevitably generated. There appear protests, strikes, crises,
disturbances which in their most severe form lead to a revolution changing not only the social relations but destroying
the present development of economics and even the whole political system of a state.
It is easier to change the political
system than human mentality. The Polish nation has experienced this phenomenon.
If the principles of geoethics are neglected, the capitalism becomes „wild“ and
this does not favour the stabilisation of either economic or, above all, social
situation and establishment of stable economic structures. The capitalism with
the human aspect is the basis of the proper activity of the manager in the
mining sector. Among others it is manifested by the rational organisation of
mining activities in the surrounding nature. It is an example of how geoethical
principles are applied in the development of the mining sector.
Dependence of the human existence on the nature
Man is a part of the nature. He cannot
exist without utilising natural goods. He lives in favourable natural
conditions which make his existence possible. Among all the living creatures
the man has the greatest ability to adapt himself to extreme environmental
conditions (especially the climate). He lives also in equatorial as well as in
Arctic zones, in deserts, steppes and depression zones captured from
the sea. In each
of these cases his subduing of natural goods is essential for his existence.
Subduing of natural goods by the man
Subduing of natural goods by the man
takes place by:
- utilisation of
renewable natural resources, i. e. exploration;
- utilisation of
non-renewable natural resources, i. e. exploitation.
It is important for mining exploitation
not to rob the nature, i.e. it should change the nature in a rational way but not ruin it by extensive
robbing exploitation. Thus as a result of a correct reclamation the nature
could return to its previous form what does not mean its original form to which
any return is impossible (similarly as it is impossible to come back to the
years of the youth - but the life has to continue further in its own rhythm).
The care of the rational utilisation of mineral resources is the essence of a
selective exploitation making it possible to improve economic results of this
exploitation and to reduce the exploitation threat on the side of the releasing
retending media in the rocks mass that threaten the work safety in mining
activities.
Human activity in the nature
The existence and, particularly, the
development of the man depend on the nature in his environment. Therefore any
degradation of the nature that can result from its robbing exploitation cannot
be allowed. However we should not forget that the nature itself changes
continually all the time being formed and shaped in an evolutionary way and
adjusting itself to the existing conditions that undergo radical changes with
the years . Being in the state of a constant evolution the nature cannot be
accepted as being perfect. The nature can even destroy itself. Let us remember
volcanic activities, tectonical movements causing gigantic earthquakes,
steppisation leading to the formation of deserts, soils erosion, gigantic
floods etc. The nature is governed by the laws of a jungle (the stronger
creature survives by eating up one weaker after another).
Hence human activity in the nature is not
always harmful. In some cases it can be profitable, as e. g. anti-flood
operations, prevention of soil erosion, irrigation of desert areas, above all
reclamation of post-exploitation
territories increasing the soil valuation in areas where mining activities have
been already stopped.
Dissimilarity between miners and naturalists in their
attitude to the nature
Naturalists attempt the nature protection whereas miners who
attempt to utilise natural goods providing by this way the development of the
man. Therefore their antagonistic different approach is quite understandable.
Such an antagonism can paralyse any activity. Thus the necessity of the „golden
mean way“ seems to be a rational solution, i. e. keeping the principle of
moderation in the procedures .
It would be exorbitant to protect by all
means the present situation of the nature and to create a preservation shelter
of the whole of it. Such preservation shelters are created of course on the
local scale, i. e. the national reservation parks presenting the original state
of the nature in which any human activity is limited. Such preservation
shelters cannot comprise all the natural areas as it would limit human
development.
Sceptics are invited to get acquainted
with the way how reclamation of post-exploitation areas has become profitable
both for the nature itself and for the development of the man for whom
continual and stable welfare are being ensured.
The principle of moderation leads to the
development of ecology. As it is observed in the Rhine brown coal basin the
birds - so far considered to be extinct as a result of industrial activities -
have appeared again in the reclaimed areas.
The principle of moderation also leads to
the further development of mining technology as well as to the development of
selective exploitation optimally utilising natural resources.
A
distinguished creator of ecology (called by him as sozology) Professor
Walery Goetel followed the principle of
moderation. His credo was: "Only
the man can repair what he himself has destroyed in the nature.“
The reclamation activities based on this
principle give evidence of the truth of this statement. They consist in a
harmonious co-operation of ecologists and miners. As a result of it
considerable financial means from the industry have been already engaged in
reclamation and in its further development. As experience shows all legal
constraints are not very effective against attempts trying to successfully use
any legal gap to avoid those
constraints by correctly applying legal tricks.
Threatening the people with an
apocalyptic vision of extermination does not favour harmonious co-operation of
industry and ecologists. It would not happen if the industry development would
follow and properly realise new technologies. Instead of postulating by too
eager ecologists any stopping of the already existing investments, i. e.
instead of any negative activities leading to a general social resistance, the
ecologists should stop to neglect possibilities of positive activities offering
their own elaborated and checked ecological suggestions already in the
preliminary and original phases of their realisation when all these suggestions
can be taken into account without causing disturbances in the investment process. On the other hand the
delayed interference of ecologists taking place when these investments have already been realised and which are
blocking the start of already finished
investments are de facto waste of money invested in projects which generates
negative attitudes to ecology applied in such a way. As it will be shown later,
they oppose the fighting against the structural unemployment.
Methods of fighting against the structural unemployment
There are two methods of fighting the
structural unemployment:
- strategic
radical activities changing the structure of
employment;
- tactical
activities changing unemployment in the existing structure of the system of
employment in an evolution way.
Tactics of fighting against the structural unemployment
Tactics of fighting the structural unemployment leads to partial (evolution) improvement of the existing system of employment. In the course of realising this tactics, the existing system of employment is adjusted to the constantly changing situation which undergoes continuous evolution, inducing partial change of the structure of employment with the local unemployment as its result. Then the tactics of fighting against this unemployment consists in directing the redundant employees from one enterprise to another production enterprise or to public works. However it requires a change in the qualifications of the redundant employees for new professions. The system of such a change in qualifications becomes most effective when it is realised facultatively, i.e. elastically adjusting itself to the wishes of individual employees.
However we should notice that structural
unemployment leads to an impoverishment of the society and that it also limits
possibilities to employ redundant employees in public works. Hence the
application of this tactics to fight against the unemployment without
interference in the revitalisation of the zonal economic life becomes illusory.
Strategy of fighting against the structural unemployment
Strategy of fighting against the
structural unemployment is realised by revitalising the economic life with
large investments, radically changing the employment structure. It is the most
radical method. The difficulty of its application consists in finding strategic
investors enabling a natural limitation of structural unemployment. There are
two methods of how to find strategic investors:
- a passive
method of finding a foreign investor,
- an active
method of finding a home investor.
However we should not make ourselves any
illusion that the strategic investor will turn up as a result of altruistic
activities. He appears when considerable economic profits are expected as a result
of investments.
Foreign investors
The basic
argument for enlisting of foreign investors are the predicted profits of this
investment that are due e. g. to low labour costs in a given country with
structural unemployment. Since the zonal unemployment exists not only in Poland
a strong competition plays a significant role in finding foreign investors. In
Poland the competition power is weakened by:
- not
sufficiently stable economic systems,
- an excessive
beaurocracy,
- corrupted
authorities.
On the other hand the following items are
the competitive advantages of foreign
investments located in Poland:
- high level of
education of Polish engineers,
- great
experience of engineers in the realisation of large investments,
- not utilised
production potential of Polish production enterprises.
Home investors
The
following items favour the finding of investors:
- precisely controlled production process of the
realised investment,
- investments projects documented in detail,
- experiences gained from the already realised
investments of similar type,
- detailed prognosis of the products sale from the
realised investments,
- finding suitably experienced subcontractors.
Basic assumptions
for liquidation of the structural unemployment
First of all it is necessary to remove a
structural paradox occurring when the unemployment exists in the area of the
structural unemployment where not yet utilised riches are still disposable. In
order to utilise these riches suitable investments should be made. The riches
guarantee that the investments will be
profitable under the condition that production will have a guaranteed
sale after the investments realisation. These conditions guarantying
investments profitability are not easy to be realised. Such a guaranty is
indispensable for banks crediting this investment.
Documented rich brown coal deposits can
serve as an example of such not utilised riches. Utilising the riches can be
realised by the miners who exploit these deposits. However it requires to
document the respective mineral reserves, to verify possibilities of their
profitable exploitation and to control the post-exploitation utilisation
process that in the case of brown coal is carried out in an electric power plant burning this coal. As a result of this activity the home energy
power of the country is ensured.
Because the high costs of these investments their partial
self-financing can minimise the investment credits. This self-financing is
obtained when the investments will start
from the final product (in this case electric energy). The income from this
will decrease the investment credit of
the whole undertaking. The from of crediting can be different (bank credits,
shares helping to invest etc.). A respective complete financial system needs to
be elaborated.
The question who is going to be an
investor can be answered simply: the one who will have the greatest profits
from this investment. But also the production enterprise and local authorities
connected with the considered area will share the profits thanks to the
liquidation of the structural unemployment.
Obviously in order to start the
realisation of such an idea the projected investments should be prepared
accordingly, i.e. the correctness and reality of the project should be
evaluated, a team initiating this
investment should be created and a suitable conclusion for starting the
investment should be elaborated. The initiating team should consist of
representatives of investors, of the existing brown coal mines and of the
electric power plant burning this coal.
This example shows very clearly how complex is the whole investment process aiming to the liquidation of the zonal unemployment and satisfying basic requirements of a geoethical approach in the zone of the structural unemployment.