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In a recent study, the University of Lincoln, the United Kingdom, has unveiled groundbreaking research shedding light on the far-reaching consequences of metal mining pollution in rivers and floodplains worldwide.
The number of people exposed to pollution originating from the continuous discharge of mining waste into rivers is nearly 50 times higher than those immediately affected by incidents of tailings dam (embankment used to store byproducts of mining) failures, noted the findings of the research published on October 4, 2023.
Around 23.48 million people inhabit the impacted floodplains, sustaining a population of 5.72 million livestock and covering an expansive area of over 65,000 square kilometres of irrigated land, it added.
Notably, due to a scarcity of data in certain countries, the research team considers these figures to be a conservative estimate.
Conducted under the leadership of professors Mark Macklin and Chris Thomas of the university’s Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health, this research collaboration also involved the expertise of Amogh Mudbhatkal from the Department of Geography.
The researchers employed a comprehensive approach by simulating the contamination from operational and decommissioned metal mining sites. It encompassed various facets of these sites, including tailings facilities that are designed for waste storage.
The study assessed potentially detrimental substances like lead, zinc, copper and arsenic. These hazardous elements are frequently carried downstream from mining sites and tend to accumulate over extended durations within river courses and floodplains.
“Our new method for predicting the dispersal of mine waste in river systems worldwide provides governments, environmental regulators, the mining industry, and local communities with a tool that, for the first time, will enable them to assess the offsite and downstream impacts of mining on ecosystem and human health,” Mark Macklin, who led the international team, said in a press release.
“Rapid growth in global metal mining is crucial if the world is to make the transition to green energy,” said Professor Chris Thomas, who led the analysis and modelling.
“Much of the estimated global contamination we have mapped is a legacy from the industrial era — rightly, modern mining is being encouraged to prioritise environmental sustainability. Our methods, which also work at local scales, add an important new approach in this process for which have set up an applied unit of our research center ‘Water and Planetary Health Analytics’ to work with the sector,” Thomas added.