The Impact of Mining on The Environment

Abstract

The Tharsis-Lagunazo area, in the Province of Huelva, southwestern Spain, has a long history of mining. For over three thousand years, the contour of the land has continuously been modified and re-modified by mining activities and unplanned mine wastes to provide the present landscape. This study, making use of Lands at TM imagery from 1984 and black and white aerial photographs from 1973, was able to assess the implication and impact of mining on this area. From these datasets, it was possible to detect the number of open-pit mines, waste rock dumps, tailings, slime dams, land use/cover changes and subsurface groundwater pollution.