Mineral-deposit geology, geochemical processes, and
biogeochemical processes are fundamental controls on the environmental
conditions that exist naturally in mineralised areas prior to mining, and that
result from mining and mineral processing. Input from economic geologists and
geochemists is therefore crucial to effectively predict, assess, mitigate, and
remediate the environmental effects of mineral-resource development. Recent open
pit gold mining at
Summitville,
Colorado
, has received
intense public scrutiny for a variety of environmental problems, most important
of which has been extreme acid drainage. Now a Superfund environmental
cleanup site, Summitville exemplifies how economic geology and geochemistry
principles:
1.
could have been better utilized to first predict and minimise the environmental
problems, and
2.
can now be used to optimize the environmental cleanup.