introduction

where are we now

Western Australia (WA) has the highest number of people employed in the mining
industry within Australia with 56,000 people employed. WA has been enjoying a
mining boom since 2006, however, the boom is slowing down with the construction
phase out of the way and the maintenance phase under way with jobs becoming
harder and harder to sustain and even harder to get a job and as such the mining
boom has calmed down and unemployment rate has increased by 1.2%(see
appendix I)
where weve been
then
During the mid-eighties mining was in decline from its already shaky business due
to lack of resources, however, during the beginning of the 21st century the mining
industry began to increase drastically (see appendixes I) due to investments and
increasing commodities. The mining industry had not been this busy since the gold
rush of 1800 and because of this it was extremely easy to procure a job. This event
was controversial because some believed that we were living in a false economy
forcing the country to go into recession when the boom finished, however, the boom
has had some major effects on the local wildlife and environment.

natural Environment
effects of the mining industry on the landscape
Mining has a significant impact on the natural environment in many ways for
example the gold rush in Victoria resulted in mass deforestation and pollution.
These are the two main environmental issues when it comes to the mining industry:
deforestation and pollution, as well as social impacts. When a mine is built usually
massive amounts of forest is cut down forcing other animals to flee and decreasing
air quality, increasing erosion and temperature change for example the Flimston
open cut gold mine was once a lush green environment and is now a barren desert
(see appendix III) there was a large amount of wildlife living in Flimston, however,
when gold was discovered in the caves below they cut down the entire forest and
dug a hole 3.5 kilometers long, 1.5 kilometers wide and 570 meters deep. At these
dimensions, it is large enough to be seen from space. This gargantuan pit is the
largest open cut mine in the world and because of this there was a large amount of
deforestation and pollution because of the constant machines working day and
night to keep the mines functional which also produces a large amount of CO2 gas

into the atmosphere, unfortunately this is normality with most mines. There are
policies in place from the Environmental Protection Act 1986 and the Conservation
and Land Management Act 1984. Which places restrictions on how much land they
can cut down and where they can interfere with the land because of acts such as
the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972.
social impacts
Mining has had many impacts on social services infastruture and the population
displacement a prime example of this is the mining town of kalgoorie which in 1893
was founded by a team of prospecters speccifically for the sole puropse of gold
mining there is now a population of over 31,000 people now living in kalgoolie, this
provides lots of money for social services such as electrical and gas companies
kalgoorie is also a hotspot for FIFO. FIFO (fly in fly out) is a system in which you
spend an allocated time onsite doing things such as mining catering counstruction
ect. and you spend an allocated time at home, like many thing FIFO has good things
and bad things. a good thing is that you dont have to spend all year at the mining
site. one of the main drawbacks of FIFO is that it puts a tremendous strain on
relationships spending extended periods of time away from one another is one
reason another reason is that when on sit e everything is done for them while at
home they have to do everythings themselves this is a challange to overcome every
time they come home from extended periods of work this can lead to an unsteady
relationship or divorce . another way that mining affects social and infrastrutureial
aspects of western australia as well as enviromental is immigration. immagration is
directly affected by the mining industry. immgrints from overseas move to western
australia looking for jobs in the mining industry as such the demand for house rise
giving real esate agents something to do bu that aslo menas more housing plots
which means deforestaion it also causes a wider cultural backround

THE FUTURE
when
the mining boom has finished but mining is still a steady commodity expected to
hold strong for another twenty years according to leading statistions as well as if
you look at appendices V VI and VII you will se that the commodities are holding
stable( see apendice V VI VII) other believe that the australian government may
already start to look for another commodity this could be things like software
exports car exports ect. howevr most believe that we are safe however if this is true
then australia will then have to go into rescceion for an amount of time and as such
unempolyment rate will rise.
what can we do
i have come up with a series of simple solution to the mining boom great
enviromental destruction. to start with deforestaion. to minimise the amount of
trees being cut down you place the entire mining site on an elevated platform much

like those on the oil rig in the ocean but on land this method will directly cut down
the amount of deforestaion by a signifigant amount. anotherthing that should
happen is that the government should even though the mining idustry is stable it
should still find another commodity as a so called "backup plan"

apenndixes
Appendix I

The super pit before and after appendix III

appendix IV