Essay on The Historical Context of Sustainability: Gold Mining Industry of Australia
The gold mining industry of Australia is the growing industry, which though confronts a severe criticism from the part of environmentalists, who insist that the gold mining industry has a negative impact on environment, whereas the waste of mines and the production of gold pollute the environment consistently. Therefore, the question that begs is whether the gold mining industry of Australia is capable to turn toward the sustainable development or the industry will increase its negative impact on the environment as the gold production in Australia keeps progressing. In actuality, the negative impact of the gold mining industry of Australia on the natural environment is obvious but the shift toward the sustainable development can decrease the negative impact of the gold mining industry on the environment and make the further growth of the gold mining industry sustainable and less harmful for the environment.
Background information
The development of the gold mining industry was traditionally driven by the high value of the gold as the major asset of nations since there was the gold standard as the key measurement of the currency value. However, steadily, the role of gold in the currency exchange rate and values has started to decrease but the role of gold as the precious metal that comprises an important part of national banks’ reserves persists even today. However, the gold mining industry has a destructive impact on the natural environment because of the pollution that accompanied the mining and gold production process.
In fact, it was not until the 1970s in most industrialized countries that community expectations and legislation evolved to ensure a high standard of environmental management throughout the mining cycle (Mudd, 2008). The growing environmental concerns of the public affected environmental policies conducted by the government and imposed stricter regulations on companies operating in the gold mining industry. In such a way, companies had to take into consideration environmental regulations, norms and standards, while developing their marketing policies and strategies. However, till present days, there are a few positive effects since the gold mining industry is still one of the major sources of the environment pollution. The reason is the high profitability of gold mining industry of Australia, which discourages the government from imposing restrictions on the further growth of the industry by introducing environmental policies and norms. However, today, the problem of the environmental pollution has become the major challenge for the gold mining industry of Australia because of the growing public pressure, which forces the government to take the proactive, environmentalist position and stimulate the transition toward the sustainable development of the mining industry of Australia.
The major factors contributing to the negative impact of gold mining industry
At the moment, the gold mining industry of Australia is vulnerable to the severe criticism from the part of environmentalists because the extraction of gold ore involves grading solid rock ores that are processed to extract the gold (Mudd, 2008). Grading solid rock ores results in the pollution of the environment because the grading involves the consumption of energy and, therefore, increase greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, grading solid rock and extraction of gold result in the solid waste that derives from the production process.
Gold mining involves energy, water and cyanide consumption (Mudd, 2008). In actuality, the development of the gold mining industry leads to the increase consumption of energy and water along with cyanide consumption (Lewis, Martin W. Green Delusions: an Environmentalist Critique of Radical Environmentalism. Duke University Press 2010). At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that the consumption of water and energy leads to the exhaustion of natural resources. For example, energy is generated from fossil fuels, which are the main source of energy at the moment.
The gold production is accompanied by greenhouse gas emissions, which have a negative impact on the climate change and global warming (Mudd, 2008). In the course of the production, greenhouse gas emissions are quite high that leads to the pollution and global climate change. Moreover, solid waste is another issue that gold mining industry emerges in the course of the gold mining because the solid rock is processed and gold is extracted, while the solid waste remains and has to be processed to prevent the environment pollution.
In this regard, the sustainable development of the gold mining industry of Australia is the only way to make the industry environment-friendly and decrease its negative impact on the environment. The ongoing availability of mineral resources is, therefore, an integral part of the sustainable development of the gold mining industry. The availability of mineral resources implies that the gold will be still available for production for a long time. However, to make the gold still available, the gold mining industry should introduce new technologies to extract gold more effectively and process gold that has already been extracted and used in different production processes (Mudd, 2007a). In other words, recycling should become one of the priorities of the gold mining industry of Australia to become sustainable.
Furthermore, another condition of sustainable development of the gold mining industry is a healthy environment that means the consistent reduction of pollutants, including greenhouse gas emissions. The reduction of pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions may be achieved through the use of alternative sources of energy, for example, solar or wind power by gold mines in Australia. Gold mining companies should focus on the sustainable development and introduce technologies that allow decreasing the waste and pollution of the environment. In such a way, Australia can maintain the stable and sustainable development of its gold mining industry.
At the same time, an integral element of the sustainable development of the gold mining industry is the viable community, which includes the stable economy, socially vibrant communities and positive community-companies relations. In this regard, gold mining companies of Australia should focus on the development of the community-oriented policies to match needs of the local community and to minimize the pollution of the natural environment that will minimize the negative impact of the gold mining industry on local communities (Mudd, 2007b). Local communities, in their turn, could assist gold mining companies to decrease the environment pollution through mutual efforts and development of common, environment-friendly policies.
Conclusion
Thus, the development of the gold mining industry of Australia has always been the priority for the development of Australian economy due to high profits and considerable natural resources available to the gold mining industry of Australia. At this point, the development of Australian gold mining industry has confronted the problem of the environment pollution, which affected the public attitude and caused the emerging criticism of the industry by the public. In such a situation, the government focuses on the introduction of strict regulations to stimulate the shift toward the sustainable development of the gold mining industry of Australia. In this respect, the transition to the sustainable development of the gold mining industry should involve the focus on the ongoing availability of gold deposits, the creation of the healthy environment and viable community.
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