Strip mining

Environmental Encyclopedia. 2011.

COPYRIGHT Gale, Cengage Learning
Updated: Aug. 30, 2017

Full Text:

This technique is used for near-surface, relatively flat sedimentary mineral deposits.
How deeply the mining can occur is essentially determined by the combination of
technological capabilities and the economics involved. The latter includes the current
value of the mineral, contractual arrangements with the landowner, and mining costs,
including reclamation. Strip mining is used for mining phosphate fertilizer in Florida,
North Carolina, and Idaho, and for obtaining gypsum (mainly for wallboard) in western
states.

However, the most common association of strip mining is with coal. The examples of
decimated land in Appalachia have motivated calls for prevention, or at least major
efforts at reclamation. Strip mining for coal comprises well over half of the land that is
strip-mined, which totaled less that 0.3 percent of land in the United States between
1930 and 1990. This is far less land than the amount lost to agriculture and
urbanization. However, in agriculturally rich areas such as Illinois and Indiana there is a
growing concern over the one- time disruption of land for mineral extraction, compared
to the long term use for food production.

Strip mining has occurred mainly in the Appalachian Mountains and adjacent areas, the
Central Plains from Indiana and Illinois through Oklahoma, and new mines for
subbituminous coal in North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Important mining is also
carried out on Hopi and Navajo lands, notably Black Mesa in northeastern Arizona. In
addition to the United States, the process is used in Canada, Germany, and other
countries with coal or other deposits near the surface.

Despite the small amount of land used in strip mining, the process radically alters
landforms and ecosystems where it is practiced. Depending on state laws, mining
landscapes prior to 1977 were often left as is, dubbed "orphan lands." The 1977 act
required the land to be restored as closely as possible to the original condition. This is a
nearly impossible task, especially when one considers the reconstruction of the
preexisting soil conditions and ecosystem. Even so, reclamation is a vital first step in the
healing process. Generally, the steeper the terrain, the greater the impact on the
landforms and river systems, and the more difficult the reclamation.

Detailed economic planning precedes any strip mining effort. Numerous cores are
drilled to determine the depth, thickness, and quality of the coal, and to assess the
difficulty of removing the overburden, which consists of topsoil and rock above the
resource. If caprock is encountered, expensive and time-consuming blasting is required,
a frequent occurrence in the United States. Economic analysis then determines the area
and depth of profitable overburden removal. Finally, contracts must be negotiated with
landowners; strip mines commonly end abruptly at property lines.

Two kinds of earth removal equipment are typically used: a front-loading bucket (the
classic steam shovel), or a dragline bucket that pulls the material toward the operator.
Power shovels and draglines built prior to World War II generally have bucket capacities
of 30-50 cubic yards (23-38 m​3​). Post-World-War-II equipment may have a capacity up
to 200 cubic yards (153 m​3​). A new development, encouraged by the 1977 reclamation
law, is the combination of dozers and scrapers (belly loaders) more commonly seen on
road-building or construction sites.

After the overburden is removed, mining begins. The process is conducted in rows,
creating long ridges and valleys in the countryside that resemble a washboard. Coal
extraction follows behind power shovels, leaving a flat, canyon-like cut. Upon
completion of a row, the shovel starts back in the opposite direction, placing the new
overburden in the now-empty cut.

In hilly terrain, only a few cuts are all that is usually profitable because the depth of
overburden increases rapidly into the hillside. Since the worst complications as a result
of strip mining occur on hillsides, the environmental price for a limited amount of coal is
very high. Hillside mining such as this is called "contour mining," in contrast to "area
mining" on relatively flat terrain. In the latter, the number of rows are limited mostly by
contractual arrangements. Consequently, the main difference between area and contour
strip mining are the number of rows and the steepness of the terrain.

Both types of strip mining leave behind four basic land configurations: (l) spoil bank
ridges; (2) a final-cut canyon often partially filled by a lake; (3) a high headwall marking
the uphill end of the mining; and (4) coal-haul roads, usually at the base of the
outermost spoil bank and through gaps in the spoil-bank rows left for this purpose. In
some orphan lands, wilderness-like conditions prevail, where trees populate the spoil
banks and aquatic ecosystems thrive in the final-cut lake. Left alone by man, these may
afford a surprisingly rich habitat for wildlife, especially birds. Deer thrive in some North
Dakota abandoned mines.

Reclamation of area mining is relatively simple compared to contour strip mining. Prior
to mining, the topsoil is removed and stockpiled. The overburden from the initial cut may
be used to fill in the final cut, and the top part of the headwall is sometimes cut down to
grade into the spoil. The spoil banks are leveled and the topsoil replaced; fertilization
and replanting, usually with grasses or trees for erosion control, and subsequent
monitoring of revegetation efforts, complete the process. In large operations, the
leveling and replanting coincide with mining, which is ideal since this rapidly rebuilds the
vegetation cover.

Reclamation of contour mining presents far greater difficulties, primarily because of the
slope angles encountered. Research in Great Britain revealed that even well-vegetated
slopes were producing fifty to 200 times as much sediment as similar, undisturbed
slopes. Furthermore, the greater slope angles allow much more of the sediment to
reach the channel below, where it eventually flows into streams and rivers.

Another problem for orphan lands in hilly terrain is the ecological island left when hills
are completely enclosed by high headwalls. This is not unlike the ecological islands
created in the southwestern United States from climate changes and vertical zonation of
vegetation. Though far more recent, ecologists hope these "orphan islands" will allow
interesting case studies of genetic isolation.

Resources
Books
● Barnes, Michael. ​Fortunes Found: Canadian Mining Success​. Renfrew, Ont.,
Canada: General Store Pub. House, 2010.
● Bondarenko, Volodymyr. ​New Techniques and Technologies in Mining​. Boca
Raton, Fla., and London: School of Underground Mining, CRC Press, 2010.
● Burke, Barlow. ​Law and Regulation of Mining: Minerals to Energy​. Durham:
Carolina Academic Press, 2009.
● Campbell, Bonnie K. ​Mining in Africa: Regulation and Development​. London and
New York: Pluto Press, 2009.
● United States Congress, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions. ​Current Mine Safety Disasters: Issues and Challenges: Hearing before
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, United States Senate,
One Hundred Tenth Congress, First Session, on Examining Issues and
Challenges Facing Current Mine Safety, October 2, 2007​. Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Office., 2009.

Periodicals
● Dhillon, Balbir S. "Mining Equipment Safety: A Review, Analysis Methods and
Improvement Strategies." ​International Journal of Mining, Reclamation and
Environment​ 23, no. 3 (January 2009): 168-179.

Other
● Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "Mining."
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/index.html (accessed January 21, 2015).
● United States Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey
(USGS). "Mining Hazards."
http:https://www2.usgs.gov/science/science.php?term=750 (accessed August 21,
2017).
● United States Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey
(USGS). "Mining and Quarrying."
https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/m&q/ (accessed August 21,
2017).
● National Geographic Society. "Mining's Hard Rock Legacy."
http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/earth/inside-the-earth/hard-rock.ht
ml (accessed August 21, 2017).

Source Citation​ (MLA 8​th​ Edition)

"Strip mining." ​Environmental Encyclopedia​, edited by Deirdre S. Blanchfield, Gale,

2011. ​Science In Context​,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CV2644151322/SCIC?u=j043905001&sid=SCIC
&xid=0242c5ac. Accessed 23 May 2018.

Gale Document Number: ​ GALE|CV2644151322