Question

How does mining affect biodiversity?

Answer 1

The extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, typically from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. These deposits combine to form a mineralized commodity of economic interest to the miner.

Complete answer:
Poorly managed mining operations can pollute the environment and harm biodiversity, which supports economies by providing food, fuel, building materials, and freshwater, as well as helping to mitigate the effects of climate change and natural disasters.

Mining companies require healthy ecosystems as well. They require reliable water supplies, for example, and in coastal areas, they may require the protection from storm surges provided by mangroves.
Mining, whether for bauxite, iron ore, copper, coal, diamonds, tin, or rare Earth metals, is expected to grow significantly over the next 30 years and is at the heart of national economic development growth forecasts. Significant changes are also expected in the sector.

Mining practices, both direct and indirect, can have an impact on the environment at the local, regional, and global levels. The chemicals emitted by mining processes can cause erosion, sinkholes, biodiversity loss, and contamination of soil, groundwater, and surface water. These processes also have an impact on the atmosphere due to carbon emissions, which have an effect on the quality of human health and biodiversity

Note: Surface mining and subsurface (underground) mining are the two most common types of excavation used in mining. Surface mining is now far more common, producing, for example, 85 percent of minerals (excluding petroleum and natural gas) in the United States, including 98 percent of metallic ores.