Mining in Alaska



Alaska Map


Alaska’s mining industry includes exploration, mine development and mineral production. The industry produces zinc, lead, gold, silver, coal, as well as construction materials such as sand, gravel and rock.

Chapter 11of AP-42 is the EPA document that regulates and addresses emissions produced by mining operations. In the mineral products industry, there are two major categories of emissions: ducted sources (those vented to the atmosphere through some type of stack, vent or pipe), and fugitive sources (those not confined to ducts and vents but emitted directly from the source to the ambient air). Ducted emissions are usually collected and transported by an industrial ventilation system having one or more fans or air movers, eventually to be emitted to the atmosphere through some type of stack.

Many operations and processes are common to all mineral products industries, including extraction of aggregate materials from the earth, loading, unloading, conveying, crushing, screening, loadout and storage.

Other operations are restricted to specific mining processes and industries. These include wet and dry fine milling or grinding, air classification, drying, calcining, mixing, and bagging. Sand and gravel is typically mined in a moist or wet condition such that negligible particulate emissions, a significant pollutant, occurs during the mining operation. Construction aggregate processing can produce large amounts of fugitive dust, which due to its generally larger particle sizes tends to settle out within the plant. Some of the individual operations such as wet crushing and grinding, washing, screening, and dredging take place with high moisture content (>4% by weight). Wet processes do not usually generate appreciable particulate emissions.

For processing and manufacturing operations that are housed in enclosed buildings with the dust captured by a control device (e.g., product recovery cyclones, fabric filters, and wet scrubber/suppression systems), no uncontrolled fugitive dust emissions are emitted directly into the outdoor air.

For example, the operations at a typical western surface coal mine include drilling and blasting, removal of the overburden with a dragline or shovel, loading trucks, bulldozing and grading, crushing, vehicle traffic, and storage of coal in active storage piles that are subject to wind erosion.

In Alaska, located in the Nenana Coal field, there are four active permits for the following mines: Gold Run Pass Mine, Poker Flats Mine, Two Bull Ridge and Rosalie Mines. There are currently two mines producing at this time, Gold Run Pass and Poker Flats Mine. Usibelli Coal Mine, Inc. holds the permits for these four mines and are within six miles of each other in the Hoseanna Creek Valley east of Healy.

Mine

Kennecott Mines in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area


The company has been mining coal in the Healy area since 1948. Both of the current mines began before the federal or state regulatory program was passed and for that reason, not all of the law's standards apply to all area of the mines.

These coal mines, utilize all of the western surface coal mine extraction and processing methods. Therefore, pollutants expected to be seen from these sources would be fugitive coal dust and fugitive dust from soils, diesel emissions from heavy equipment and emissions from power generation.

All operations that involve movement of soil or coal, or exposure of erodible surfaces, generate some amount of fugitive dust. During mine reclamation, which should proceed continuously throughout the life of the mine, overburden spoil piles are smoothed and contoured by bulldozers. Topsoil is placed on the graded spoils, and the land is prepared for revegetation by furrowing and mulching. From the time an area is disturbed until the new vegetation emerges, all disturbed areas are subject to wind erosion.

The primary guidance to mining in the National Emission Inventory (NEI) which is a method to estimate emission levels that are “acceptable” in areas where there are communities. The NEI PM10 emissions estimate for mining and rock quarrying operations involving extraction of ore or rock from the earth include three specific activities: (1) overburden removal, (2) drilling and blasting, and (3) loading and unloading. Ore processing activities that involve transfer and conveyance operations, crushing and screening operations, storage, and travel on haul roads are not included in the NEI emissions estimate since EPA assumes that the dust emissions from these activities are well controlled. This is where it is prudent for tribes in Alaska to conduct monitoring activities to determine if dust emissions from these sources are being controlled appropriately.

Coal mining includes two additional sources of PM10 emissions compared to the sources considered for metallic and non-metallic ores, namely overburden replacement and truck loading and unloading of that overburden. EPA assumes that the amount of overburden material handled equals ten times the amount of coal mined. Emissions from coal have been issues in the past during loading and hauling by the Alaska Railroad at the coal loading center in Seward.

Map of Mining Activity

Map of Mining Activity


Both man-made and environmental conditions (variables) may affect uncontrolled emission levels. Environmental conditions that may significantly affect uncontrolled emission levels are:



According to the U.S. EPA, the single largest source of toxic pollution in the U.S. in 2002 (the most recent year for which data are available) is the Red Dog mine in the northwest Arctic. This zinc mine released 481.6 million pounds of toxic pollution in 2002. That same year the Greens Creek mine near Juneau - the largest operating silver mine in the U.S. - was responsible for 37.1 million pounds of toxic releases.

Gold mines produce significant amounts of mercury as do coal fired power plants. This mercury can be transported through the air via wind and weather patterns.

It is best to divide Alaska by mining region and to look at air pollutions issues in each region that can affect communities and subsistence living. The regions and specific issues are described in the following sections. The mines listed here are not all inclusive but a more complete list can be found at http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/mlw/mining/.

The mining here will be divided into the Northern Region, Western Region, Eastern Interior Region, Southcentral Region, Southwestern Region, Alaska Peninsula Region and Southeastern Region.


Northern Region



Red Dog Mine—Teck Cominco Alaska Inc.
Map of Mining Activity

Information regarding contamination at this site can be located at the Alaska DEC Site http://www.dec.state.ak.us/SPAR/csp/sites/reddog.htm

A history of Red Dog Mine Air Pollution concerns:
  • December 1991: Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation issues warning to the Red Dog mine that lead levels outside the mill are 30 % higher than what is considered to be protective of human health. Workers at the mine are advised to use respirators when outside to avoid breathing the air. DEC issues a compliance order to Teck Cominco (then Cominco Alaska) that requires the company to improve the cover for the crushed ore stockpile, stop trucks from driving through the ore concentrate storage building, and to partially cover the building in order to reduce dust on site. avoid breathing the air and to partially cover the building in order to reduce dust on site.
  • 2000: A moss study performed by the National Park Service (Ford and Hasselbach 2001) found elevated concentrations of metals in tundra along the road and near the port, apparently resulting from escaping ("fugitive") dust from Red Dog Mine operations along the transportation corridor.
  • May 2001: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a Notice of Violation stating that certain mine operations were not in compliance with conditions of the Red Dog mine air permit.Teck Cominco agreed to implement additional operational procedures and controls to avoid future violations of the air permit.
  • June 2001: Heavy metal contamination along the Red Dog mine haul road exceeded levels found in severely polluted areas of Central and Eastern Europe and all of western Russia, according to a National Park Service study released on June 20, 2001. The ore haul road crosses 24 miles of Cape Krusenstern National Monument (north of Kotzebue). There have been thirty trucks spills along the haul road since the Red Dog Mine opened in 1989.
  • December 2001: Red Dog Mine agreed to pay $827,000 in fines for 18 state air quality violations cited during a joint state and federal inspection in August 2000.
  • At Present: There is ongoing concern in the village of Kivalina. Elevated lead levels in the air from windblown dust around Red Dog facility may affect water quality and subsistence foods. Caribou migration has been affected by trucking along the 52- mile ore haul road between the mine and the port.
  • January 2004: the Supreme Court issued a decision upholding EPA's authority to enforce federal air pollution standards at the Red Dog Mine, a zinc mine in northwest Alaska. This ruling not only ensures the protection of pristine air, national parks, and wildlife refuges in Alaska, it also protects residents of other states from the effects of major polluting facilities by affirming the EPA's authority to protect clean air when states fail to do so. This will prevent states from sacrificing clean air for the benefit of big business. The National Park Service says Red Dog should not be allowed to operate without cutting edge pollution controls. Failing to reduce emissions could hurt plant life in the nearby Cape Krusenstern National Monument and the Noatak National Preserves, according to a Park Service statement. That, in turn, could affect the food chain and subsistence resources in northwest Alaska, according to the agency. (Anchorage Daily News, 2/10/00)


You can go to the NANA brochure to see more about the Red Dog Mine in the Inupiat Communities. http://www.nana.com/pdfs/NANA Red Dog Brochure.pdf


Western Region



Of concern' to the Kuskokwim River population is the actual and potential impact of mining activities in the region. There is a long history of mining activities, with important impacts on the environment, and possibly, on the health of the population.

Nixon Form Mine-St
Nixon Fork Mine-St. Andrew Goldfields Ltd.


The Nixon Fork Mine is located 35 miles northeast of McGrath in Interior Alaska. Nixon Fork Mine is now owned by Mystery Creek Resources. The small multi-metal underground mine resumed production in 2006. The mine site consists of federal and state mining claims that lie on either side of the line between Township 26 South, Ranges 21 and 22 East, Kateel River Meridian (KRM). The mine site is located in a northeast to southeast trending highland that reaches an elevation of approximately 1500 feet.

The existing Nixon Fork Mine area has a road network, airstrips and exploration areas among other improvements. The mine is underground where the ore is accessed by the Crystal and Mystery Portals and milled at the surface. The mill tailings will be reprocessed and new ore will be processed at a refurbished mill that will utilize a combination gravity, flotation, cyanide leach http://elvis.engr.wisc.edu/UER/uer97/author4/index.html and gold recovery.

The milling operation will generate three types of tailings based on the source of the ore and consistency of the tailings as described below:

  • Filtered Reprocessed Tailings: Existing tailings will be milled generating a “reprocessed tailings” that are filtered to a low moisture content and placed (dry stacked) in a Filtered Tailings Disposal Site (FTDS) located near the north end of the airport runway.
  • Filtered New Ore Tailings: Since all the existing tailings cannot be processed the first season of warm weather, new ore will be mined from underground and milled in the winter with the resulting tailings filtered and placed in the FTDS.
  • Slurried New Ore Tailings: After all the existing tailings are milled, and the tailings impoundment inspected and repaired as needed, new ore tailings will be piped to the pond as a slurry or dry stacked at that facility.



Eastern Interior Region





Fort Knox Gil & District—Kinross Gold Corp.
Fort Knox, Gil & District—Kinross Gold Corp.



Pogo Mine
Pogo—Teck Cominco Alaska Inc.

The Pogo gold mine is located southeast of the Fairbanks and is an underground mine. The mining methods are cut and fill and drift and fill. The mill utilizes conventional milling and gravity and carbon-in-pulp technology. At the site there is a permanent camp for 200 people, gold processing facilities, water treatment plant and paste backfill plant/dry-stack tailings facility.


Southcentral Region



Shulin Lake—Golconda Resources Ltd./Shulin Lake Mining Inc./Shear Minerals Ltd. This diamond mine is located 75 km northwest of Anchorage. It consists of 152 claims encompassing 16,000 acres.


Southwestern Region



Donlin Creek—Barrick Gold Corp.

Donlin Creek is an advanced exploration project in the feasibility stage. A significant gold occurrence, the prospect is located on lands owned by the Kuskokwim Corporation (TKC) . Calista Corporation, the second largest of Alaska's Native corporations, owns the subsurface rights.

Exploration is being conducted by Barrick Gold Corporation and Novagold Resources, Inc. through a joint venture agreement with Calista Corp. and TKC. Barrick is currently the world’s leading gold producer with mines in Nevada, Africa, Latin America and Indonesia. See Barrick's Donlin Creek Website and NovaGold's Donlin Creek Website.

Donlin Creek is located near the Kuskokwim River in southwestern Alaska. It is 280 miles west of Anchorage, and 12 miles north of the village of Crooked Creek, population about 140. Access is principally by air; there is a 5,000 foot airstrip capable of handling large aircraft up to a C-130 Hercules. In addition there is a 15-mile long private gravel road from the barge site at Crooked Creek to the project site. The road was funded and constructed by Barrick during the summer of 2005. There is also a permanent 75-man exploration camp consisting of kitchen, living quarters, equipment shop, drill shack and other buildings required for support of year-around exploration activities.

Donlin Creek, if developed, will be an open pit mine using a combination of processes to recover the gold. Similar to the existing Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks, Donlin Creek will consist of one or more open pits from which ore will be excavated, a series of waste rock dumps, an ore processing mill, and a tailings impoundment.

Using conventional open pit mining methods and a large truck and shovel fleet, ore will be blasted, loaded and transported to a large crushing & grinding facility. There it will be finely ground, then fed to the flotation plant that will collect the gold-bearing sulfide minerals. This concentrate will then be oxidized under high heat and pressure in a pair of autoclaves before passing onto the carbon-in-leach cyanidation circuit. Resulting tailings will be treated to remove residual cyanide, buffered to lower ph and then deposited in the tailings impoundment.

Mine site infrastructure will include roads, maintenance shops, living quarters for 200 staff, drinking water supply and domestic sewage disposal. In addition, an associated limestone quarry could be developed in order to provide lime for cyanide neutralization. There is an identified limestone deposit in the upper Holitna River valley that could be quarried and transported to Donlin, but Placer Dome officials have stated that all lime needed for processing will be barged in via the Kuskokwim.

Infrastructure construction to support the mine will include the building of a 29-mile all-weather road from the proposed barge landing at Jungjuk Creek on the Kuskokwim, replacing the existing private road from Crooked Creek to the mine site as the primary access route. There will also be a new airstrip built at the mine site; it will be 6,000 feet long, capable of accommodating commercial 737 jet traffic from Anchorage for the transport of supplies and mine personnel.

The proposed barge dock and storage facility to service the mine will be constructed at the terminus of the all-weather road at Jungjuk Creek. It will have the capacity to off-load two barges at a time, with storage for a nine-month inventory of fuel and supplies, since the Kuskokwim is ice-free only from about early June to late September. It is estimated that there will be a fleet of ten barges to service the mine, with dock crews working around the clock to unload barges arriving at the approximate rate of 1.6 barges per day.

A floating lightering station consisting of two 10,000 ton barges will be established at the mouth of the Kuskokwim River at Johnson Creek, roughly 240 miles downriver from the mine. Ocean-going barges will transport the majority of supplies and fuel from Seattle/Vancouver to the lightering station at Johnson Creek. From there fuel and supplies will be transferred to the smaller, shallow-draft river barges.

The power requirement for Donlin is currently estimated to be 140 MW during mine operation. For comparison, the Golden Valley Electric Association, which provides 90,000 Interior Alaska residents with electricity, and is the second largest utility in the state, has a power capacity of 192 megawatts. Therefore, an operation that services roughly 200 people will be using ¾ the amount of electricity used by 90,000 customers.

Several alternatives for power supply are under consideration. A phased approach to the mine power supply, with diesel-operated generators powering the construction phase, followed by an intertie power line connecting the mine to the Anchorage-Fairbanks power grid has been proposed. The company estimates completion of this line would take seven years (four for permitting, three for constructing) and will consist of a 350-mile power line from Nenana, 40 miles west of Fairbanks. GVEA, which is an electrical cooperative, would also have to add a 60 MW gas turbine generator and the Fort Knox gold mine would have to be closed in order to meet the increased energy demand. If Fort Knox remained operational longer than currently projected, GVEA would have to construct a second gas-fired turbine.

With some of these power issues, increases in barge traffic and mining processes, there will be a significant potential for increased air pollution issues and impacts to subsistence food resources.

Pebble South—Full Metal Minerals Ltd.

Pebble—Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.

If approved, it could create a 1,000-square-mile industrialized mining zone within the Bristol Bay watershed and be mined for the next 40 to 50 years, and will produce some of hard-rock mining's most toxic wastes.

Situated just north of Lake Iliamna, Alaska's biggest lake, the Pebble Project is in the heart of some of Alaska's most pristine and robust wildlife habitat. Local villages, such as Nondalton, Iliamna, and Newhalen, depend on the clean water, Mulchatna caribou herd, gathering of plants and berries and harvest the rich salmon runs for subsistence.

The Nushagak-Mulchatna river system and the Lake Iliamna watershed, including the Kvichak River, host the world's largest runs of Chinook and sockeye salmon, respectively. In addition, the area is renowned for sport fishing and is the only designated Trophy Rainbow Trout region in Alaska. The region is also home to many thriving fishing and hunting lodges, other small businesses, and vibrant native cultures and communities. If this mine proposal and associated roads go forward, it is likely that the entire Iliamna region will become Alaska's newest mining district.

The open-pit mine, if licensed, would sit on state land in the cradle of the Bristol Bay fisheries' spawning grounds, in the headwaters of the Koktuli River and Upper Talarik Creek (the famous late-season lake-run rainbow fly-fishing pot of gold) part of the Nushagak and Kvichak (pronounced Kweejack) drainages 20 miles northwest of Lake Illiamna, between the Newhalen and Mulchatna rivers.

Fish put at risk by the proposed mining district include: The Pacific Salmon species of Sockeye (Red), Chinook (King), Coho (Silver), Pink (Humpy), and Chum (Dog), as well as the resident fish species of Rainbow Trout, Arctic Char, Dolly Varden, Arctic Grayling, Northern Pike, Lake Trout, Eulachon and several species of whitefish.

Major rivers in the Bristol Bay Watershed and Species residing in those rivers include:

Alagnak River
Federally designated (the upper 56 miles) as a National Wild and Scenic River (NWSR) by Congress. Sockeye, King, Coho, Pink, & Chum Salmon, Arctic Char, Arctic Grayling, Whitefishes, Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Dolly Varden, Lake trout,

Koktuli River
Sockeye, King, Coho, Pink, & Chum Salmon, Arctic Char, Arctic Grayling, Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Dolly Varden, Lake Trout

Kvichak River
The world¹s largest Sockeye Salmon run, Within Alaska's Designated Trophy Rainbow Trout Area Sockeye, King, Coho, Pink, & Chum Salmon, Arctic Char, Arctic Grayling, Dolly Varden, Rainbow Trout, Northern Pike, Whitefishes

Lake Clark
Within the bounds of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Sockeye, King, and Pink Salmon, Arctic Char, Arctic Grayling, Northern Pike, Dolly Varden, Rainbow Trout, Lake Trout

Lake Iliamna
Alaska's largest body of freshwater; America's last undeveloped great lake(it is the size of Lake Erie); Home to one of only two freshwater seal populations in the world; Sockeye, King, Coho, Pink, & Chum Salmon; Arctic Char, Arctic Grayling, Northern Pike, Whitefish, Dolly Varden, Rainbow Trout

Nushagak/Mulchatna River Drainages
The largest Chinook (King) salmon run in Alaska, and perhaps the world; Sockeye, King, Coho, Pink, & Chum Salmon; Arctic Char, Arctic Grayling, Rainbow Trout, Lake Trout, Dolly Varden, Northern Pike, Whitefishes Newhalen
Sockeye, King, and Pink Salmon; Arctic Char, Arctic Grayling, Rainbow Trout, Lake Trout, Dolly Varden

Stuyahok River
Sockeye, King, Coho, Pink, and Chum Salmon; Arctic Char, Arctic Grayling, Rainbow Trout, Dolly Varden, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

Upper Talarik Creek
Alaska's first designated trophy trout area; Sockeye, King, and Coho Salmon; Arctic Char, Arctic Grayling Rainbow Trout, Lake Trout, Dolly Varden

Lower Talarik Creek
Designated Alaska Trophy Rainbow Trout Area; Home to the legendary ³Rock Hole,² painted by many artists and known for massive rainbow trout; Sockeye, King, and Coho Salmon, Arctic Grayling, Rainbow Trout, Dolly Varden, and Whitefish

Alaska game, in addition to its wild salmon, trout, and other freshwater fish species, is also at risk by the proposed mining district development. The waters of Bristol Bay, and the Lake and Peninsula Borough are the lifeblood of as a vital native subsistence fishery and way of life as well as a productive commercial and sport fishery. In the region are healthy populations of:

  • Moose
  • Sea Otter
  • Seal and Walrus
  • Grizzly, Brown, and Black Bear
  • Beaver
  • Wolverine
  • Freshwater Seals (1 of only 2 populations in the world)
  • Porcupine
  • River Otter
  • Beluga and Killer (Orca)
  • Fox
  • Bald Eagles
  • Caribou (the 3rd, and sometimes 2nd, largest herd in the state)
  • Wolves
  • Waterfowl & Migratory Birds
      • Mine

      Other mines in the region are:


      For more information go to: http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/mlw/mining/ and for the violations that occured during exploration and the fines PLP was assessed go to:

      Niblack is located off Moira Sound on southeastern Prince of Wales Island about 30 miles southwest of Ketchikan roughly centered at Latitude 55º 03’ 53”, Longitude -132º 08’ 48”.

      The property is composed of 17 patented claims, 101 staked federal lode claims and 2 Alaska State tideland claims. The claims are within Township 78 South, Range 88 East, Copper River Meridian, Sections 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34 and 35; and Township 79 South, Range 88 East, Copper River Meridian, Sections 1, 2, 3 and 4, Ketchikan Recording District, Alaska. Work contemplated herein will be conducted on patented claims within mineral survey numbers 553, 644, and 1437. All claims are owned 100% by Niblack Mining Corp. subject to a variable 1%-3% NSR to Barrick Gold Corp. and a 15% NPI to Cook Inlet Region Inc. (“Cook Inlet”), an Alaska Native Corporation.

      Niblack will be using traditional mining operations, ventilation systems and power generation systems.       http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/mlw/mining/largemine/niblack/index.htm


      Pollutants from Mining Processes



      When looking at mining processes, we know that air can be affected by dust or chemical emissions. Mining creates many pollutants to be released into the atmosphere. Long-term storage of tailings and dust, which can be easily blown off site by wind and erosion of exposed hillsides, mine dumps, tailings dams and resultant siltation of drainages, creeks and rivers are also significant issues with mines.

      In areas of wilderness mining, like Alaska, there may be habitat destruction and destruction or disturbance of ecosystems which in-turn affect subsistence. Mining may produce several types of pollution, like dust pollution and diesel emissions. Other pollutants likely to be seen are airborne lead, mercury and methane from coal bed extractions.

      All mining and mineral processing activities produce substantial quantities of dust. Fugitive dust is particulate matter that is carried in the air by wind. Dust sources from mines come from sources like open pits (blasting, hauling and moving materials), ore and waste piles along with concentrated storage areas, ore crushing, uncovered ore trucks and roads.

      These sources can cause impacts to the quality of air itself which can impact, those living near the mine, workers and wildlife. Also as the dust particles settle, soils and vegetation can be impacted. This is particularly of concern if dust contains high levels of metals.

      The Center for Disease Control and NIOSH has come up with a document that provides operators of large-opening mines with a ventilation planning tool that will help them develop a healthier, safer, and more efficient ventilation system in the underground workplace. http://www.cdc.gov/NIOSH/mining/pubs/pdfs/2006-124.pdf

      Good dust mitigation procedures can be:

      Other ways to decrease emissions are by the use of alternate power sources (wind, solar), clean power sources and using emission control equipment like scrubbers, filters, adsorption units. Emission control equipment can be put on the end of the pipe/stack to reduce emissions and these can be effective in decreasing emissions that effect Tribal communities.


      Community and Health Effects of Mining Pollution



      Mining practices are associated with various health hazards and these have serious effects on the welfare of women and children ranging from pollution of the air and water bodies to noise and vibration.

      The air pollution in mining areas resulting from the emission of substances such as nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxides and other atmospheric particles can cause upper respiratory tract Infections The high silica -content rocks however generate a lot of dust in the process and prolonged exposure to this dust according to medical experts can cause silicosis and silico-tuberculosis.

      There have been studies conducted at the Center for Social Policy Studies at the University of Ghana http://www.geocities.com/csps_ghana/ that have revealed mercury poising of small scale miners is a serious health hazard ( Agyapong E.K.:1998) This is a result of indiscriminate use as well as improper application of mercury in the processing of gold by small scale miners.

      Nursing mothers as well as their children stand a great risk of poisoning. According to medical experts, mercury poisoning can lead to birth defects in women when it enters the placenta and may lead to death.

      Community studies conducted in areas of coal mining were predominantly concerned with respiratory illness caused by air pollution from mining activities. An evaluatinon was conducted of long-term effects of exposure to air pollutants in school children. The prevalence of pulmonary and ear, nose and throat symptoms was higher in the polluted communities, but a statistically significant difference was only observed for the symptom “wheezing in the chest”.

      Pless, Mulloli and colleagues (2000) investigated whether living near open cast coal mining, like the Usibelli site, affects acute and chronic respiratory health. Patterns of the daily variation of PM10 were similar in open cast and control mining communities, but PM10 was higher in open cast areas. Children in open cast coal mine communities had significantly more respiratory consultations compared to children in the control communities.


      What Can Communities do to Minimize Exposures?


      Babies



      Knowledge and information empowers people to become vocal participants in the political decision-making process. Knowledge about the environmental and public health effects of mining and environmental contamination induce indigenous and tribal communities to identify the training, research and policy needs that are priorities from their own perspective.

      Given access to knowledge regarding the impacts of mining and the potential for pollution and negative impacts in the subsistence way of life, communities should be able to negotiate and apply pressure for socially and environmentally responsible activities in their own territories. Informed communities are able to demand and shape transparency and accountability in the activities of governmental and nongovernmental organizations.

      For more information on mining and health in communities, go the following websites:

      Mines and Communities
      http://www.minesandcommunities.org/

      Mining Watch Canada
      Overburdened: Understanding the Impacts of Mineral Extraction on Womens Health in Mining Communities Minewatch Canada
      http://www.miningwatch.ca/updir/Overburdened.pdf