advantages and disadvantages of mining

 

Advantages/Disadvantages

Underground mining- more expensive than surface mining; takes longer to get minerals out; uses less blasting and drilling, and sends less miners underground;

Drift mining- less energy is required to transport miners and heavy equipment, safer transportation because the use of horizontal direction, cheaper and safer than shaft mining.

Shaft mining- is the deepest underground mining; has a vertical manshaft; safer when closing the mine. 

Room and pillar mining- uses pillars of coal to hold up the roof; pillars are mined when the mine begins closing; careful

Continuous mining- uses continuous mining machine to cut coal from walls; companies choose to use this method because they believe it is best.

Long wall mining- uses a machine call continuous miner to slice layer of coal or minerals from the walls, highly efficient.

Surface mining- mining minerals, gemstones, and rocks that are close to the surface; cheaper, can recover more of the resource; is safer and can use larger-scale mining equipment offering higher production rates; its high visibility, the large-scale surface disturbance and the limited economic depth to which mining can take place.

Strip mining- ends up hurting the area around the mine

Mountaintop mining- makes huge changes in the land that’s mined and the area around it; top of the mountain, the water flow, and the environment of and around the mountain are destroyed; causes problems in water supply, water quality, and watersheds