Social Issues of Sandvik Mining Company and Environmental Damage

This report discusses the social issues of the Sandvik Mining Company and how it damages the environment and ecosystems in their mining sites. It includes a problem statement, methodology, literature review, solution development and proposal, business taxonomy, process model, and discussion.

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Introduction
There are many social issues that arise from mining. This is because most mining
companies tend to damage the environment and the ecosystem in their mining sites (Seal et al.,
2017). Consequently, these issues result to social consensuses that when not resolved would
result to hazardous problems in the short and long run within the environment. Mining
companies should be aware of the various social issues that result from their processes that may
have a negative impact on the environment as well as the ecosystem (Paris and Mandil, 2017, p.
511). Consequently, this report is on the various social issues of the Sandvik Mining Company
and how it damages the environment and ecosystems in their mining sites. The report discusses
in depth all of these issues. As a result, it is very important for the management of this company
to read the information contained in the report as it will help them come up with effective
solutions to the problem. It is important to note that the company will have so much to lose if it
declines to read this report. This report contains; an introduction of the issue, the methodology
used to attain significant information on the social problem within the company, a review of
literature regarding social issues that arise from mining companies and how they damage the
environment and ecosystem, solution development and proposal, a taxonomy model process as
well as a discussion on the same. Therefore, these are some of the topics that readers should
expect from the report.
Problem Statement
Environment and ecosystem pollution are some of the social issues that arise from mining
processes (Pavlickova and Vyskupova, 2015, p. 79). It has actually been a serious issue in the
world today. Introducing this issue gives us the insights of the problems that it has on our lives. It

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is due to excessive mining that we have lost many lives due to health, climate, and environmental
effects. Since the issue here is mining, it is very important for an organization top realize to what
extent mining affects the environment as well as the ecosystem and some of the solutions that
can be undertaken to resolve the issue. Mining too affects the health of every human being. The
cost of having health complications is realized in our health centers. Here, doctors can narrate
how deadly air contamination is. In the UK for example, 29,000 deaths were experienced in 2008
as a result of mining effects on the ecosystem (Wang et al., 2018, p. 1265). Over the years,
excessive mining has been a burden to the environment and the ecosystem. This is the reason
why Sandvik Mining Company needs to focus on solutions for the same. Mining done by
Sandvik Mining Company among other mining companies in Australia and globally is an
epidemic to the environment and the ecosystem. Indeed, the global platforms have realized its
impacts and problems that it comes along with. It is through the effects of mining that masses are
massively affected. This is because it affects the healthcare systems, nations have to spend a lot.
Spending means burden to the taxpayer which strains economies. Besides health and economic
effects, there is a climate effect.
Due to the social effects of mining on the environment and ecosystem, our climate has
been negatively affected. This is something that has affected every sector of economy. One of
these negative effects is global warming. Global warming has for long been a threat to human
health and existence (Kusi-Sarpong et al., 2016, p. 333). Finding the right solutions for clean
mining will help keep the environment clean the ecosystem safe hence resolving the main
problem of Sandvik Mining Company at hand. There are so many ways to do this. This is
because human activities are the leading causes of mining effects. When we consider clean
mining, individuals will benefit collectively because it accounts for 25% lung cancer, 17% acute

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lower respiratory infection, 16% stroke, 15% ischemic heart disease, and 8% chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease deaths (.Leung et al., 2015, p. 121) Air Pollution from mining emissions is
another problem that Sandvik Mining Company has caused just like any other mining company
has. The solutions that are needed to solve this menace are based on the functionalist centered
approach. Under this functionalist approach, Sandvik Mining Company should focus on the basic
administration of developments that focus on having clean mining processes no matter what
activities we have. Under this approach, Sandvik Mining Company should focus on the quality
of these activities that we engage in. since there is very little referencing that has been made on
the various social issues of the Sandvik Mining Company and how it damages the environment
and ecosystems in their mining sites, this report is very crucial to the company’s management.
Methodology
In the interview, the interviewee said that his job was mainly a managing role in which he
was entitled to report every activity that takes place in the mining sites to his top executives. In
this work, he said that there were various difficulties which included the pressure that he was
frequently given by the superiors more so in delivering the targets on time and as per the quality
that is needed. Since he was in charge of the daily operations that take place in the mining sites
he is often multitasking and really enjoyed been in command and working under any condition
that he was put in. in this job, he finds his joy in associating with the employees and many other
clients who are daily associated with the company. He also said that he was a strong person who
professionally handled every task to meet the company’s goals. His work, therefore, had given
him a great opportunity in which he has led with pride and with exceptional style hence making
the outlet one of the most productive ones in the country. Due to professional employees, the

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interviewee claimed that his work has been a smooth ride in which he even gets eager to return to
work each day since the same people provide him with the hope and desire to achieve more.
Literature Review
A safe and efficient environment and ecosystem is very fundamental to almost all
necessary resources of all sorts of life. A safe and efficient environment and ecosystem is not
only important for staying alive, but also the entire society today relies on these resources on
nearly every process and in nearly everything. However, every day, research shows that mining
companies tend to consciously and subs consciously pollute the environment as well as the
ecosystem (Ross et al., 2016, p. 2068). The amount of environmental and economic damage
resulting from the social effects of mining today has become revolting. Toxins and wastes
resulting from mining activities that get discarded are one of the main causes of the social effects
of mining on the environment and the ecosystem. Research and records show that a lot of liquid
and solid wastes get thrown in water (Helwege, 2015, p. 74). The environment at large also deals
with other sorts of debris from mining sites. The effects of human activities on the environment
more so as regards the degradation of soil, water and air has sparked heated debated as a result of
the widespread public attention that they have gained.
Additionally, this issue of environmental pollution has equally gained significant funding
from the public in an attempt to conduct scientific research (Kapusta and Sobczyk, 2015, p. 521).
The continued pollution of the environment and the ecosystem by humanity has rendered these
scientific studies being conducted almost pointless. This is because the amount of toxins and
wastes being thrown and channeled to the environment is increasing with time and at a fast rate.
As a result, this contradicts the sole purpose of these studies (Li et al., 2017, p. 141) . Research
shows that the public is well aware of this condition in the mining sector but none of the

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individuals in the society is willing to make contributions to stop it (Modarres and Nosoudy,
2015, p. 285). The main reason as to why the fail to contribute toward the stopping of social
effects of mining in the environment and the ecosystem leading to pollution is because they do
not know what to do with the waste channeled to the environment during and after the mining
process. Additionally, a significant portion of the public is ignorant of the fact that through
environmental pollution, they are slowly killing all sorts of life.
The incident in New York, whereby the city was being smothered with debris, wastes,
and mining remains, prompted the initiation of mining social effects awareness. These issues
disgusted the people and as a result, they argued that the waste in mining sites threatened the
health of people and other sorts of life in the city (Taha et al., 2017, p. 131). Similarly, they
believed that mining was equally detrimental to the life and population. This is because the
incident leads to mining deposits, sediment deposits, air pollution and every other form of
pollution in the environment and ecosystem. Despite the fact that people in the society are well
informed about the social effects that result from mining processes leading to environmental and
ecosystem damage and pollution evidence shows that the aspect of environmental pollution
resulting from mining has not improved at all (Sarupria et al. 18). Instead, the rate if
environmental pollution and ecosystem damage is increasing at a very fast rate. This is because
industries and human population is also expanding hence expanding pollution. Mining sites
outfalls and dumping is also another aspect that has a n increased rate of expansion (Sharma,
2015, p. 209). The increase of these aspects can be seen by the increased rate of organic content,
sediments and high levels of coliform in the environment. Disposal of mining waste in the
environment and air has been found to have potential threats and detrimental effects to the
environmental quality.

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Solution Development and Proposal
Upon reviewing the main problem within Sandvik Mining Company and the existing
literature on the social effects of mining on the environment and ecosystem, there are a number
of solutions that the group came up with to help resolve the issue. These solutions were proposed
as they have been found to be effective in mining companies that have implemented them.
Consequently, the group found them useful to Sandvik Mining Company. One of the major
sustainable mining that has been practiced within the mining industry upon research is
incorporating technology in the mining process which has been going on for more than twenty
years now. The new technology has been a success in the mining and business sectors since these
processes as it has been said by the mining companies who have tried them, are easy to take care
of especially when it comes to better pollution control in regard to the environment and
ecosystem (Lange et al., 2017, p. 279). The technology has also been a great deal in
environmental protection since mining companies’ practice no-till mining which is a more
conservative way with fewer pollutants and emissions. As per the discussion with this
technology, there is the improvement in mining conditions in the mining industry with the fact
that it is an easy to approach mining and any other kind of mining activity.
As per the literature review, there has been a great discussion of late about developments
and the healthy mining in the mining industry in Australia, given the social effects resulting from
mining leading to environmental and ecosystem damages that have been experienced over the
years. Over the recent years, there has been a solution that has yielded a lot since we have seen
great improvements in environmental damages and other major steps in keeping the environment
and ecosystem safe and healthy. According to this report, the partnership between the
government and the industry, with the help of the national mining body will be the way forward

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to the successful and clean mining. The entire group really emphasized on the need to
incorporate different technology advancements in the mining process. This is because these
technologies will boost sustainable mining in Sandvik Mining Company. For instance, the report
sheds light on the benefits that Sandvik Mining Company would accrue from incorporating
advanced technological trends especially digital technologies in their mining processes. By
implementing such technologies, Sandvik Mining Company will be encouraging sustainable
mining since by doing so they will improve economic and environmental sustainability. Digital
technologies in mining will improve bio-security in the industry of mining industry since it is
through the implementation of such technologies that environmental and ecosystem hazards will
easily be detected before they spread too much to destroy life.
Sandvik Mining Company can also take advantage of environmental technology sensors
that can be used and deployed on mining sites and their surroundings basis so as to detect
pollution risks and as a result maintain high standards of soil and water quality. The report
generally sheds light on the importance of deploying the available technologies in the mining
sector so as to encourage sustainable mining and also so as to increase the profitability of the
Sandvik Mining Company. Group members during the discussion of the problem at Sandvik
Mining Company highlighted the different ways that mining companies over time have
incorporated different mining practices to encourage sustainable mining. For instance, a lot of
soil lab analyses have been carried out in mining sites from time to time so as to come up with
suitable mining plans. Group members further explained the importance of adopting more
efficient mining methods to use on the mining sites by Sandvik Mining Company. By use of
these methods in the mining process, Sandvik Mining Company will be encouraging sustainable
mining since they will successfully meet the various environmental and ecosystem friendly

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demands and by so doing they will manage a sustainable balance in the environment (Sengupta,
2018). Use of the effective mining methods by Sandvik Mining Company will maximize
economic returns from the process and at the same time reduce pollution and protect the
environment.
Business Taxonomy
Process Model

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Discussion
One of the present mining circumstances or in a more profound meaning a situation that
has had the significant impact on sustainable outcomes in consideration to the future is
preservation and conservation in the broader sense are different but can be relied on. Protection,
unlike maintenance, aims at repairing already damaged resources where the rule of maintaining
the funds in their whole state hasn’t been satisfied. Conservation too helps resolve the problems
that may arise from the application of preservation policy only (Aguilar-Støen and Hirsch, 2015,
473). When both principles are used more important goals are achieved unlike when just one
philosophy is applied hence all the more reason to support that the two ideologies should be used
together (Faucon, 2016, p. 47). Human capital on the other involves both the social sustainability
and the economic sustainability policies since the talented people help in delivering money that
allows financial viability for the future generations. Social capital includes the procedures
applied in commercial forms to provide a social interaction that primarily develops what is

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referred to as a social trust and engages the policies of financial capital to enable a coordinated
connection and the growth of a sustainable economy.
Environmental sustainability is also defined as the way of focusing on the links between
the other types of sustainability by adhering to minimizing the dangers of the environmental
harm that is mainly caused by the operational activities that are done by the people back in the
society (Faucon et al., 2012, p. 457). The link in the three shows that there is need of production
of goods to help grow the economy to promote the social interaction and growth of the society
(Pourret et al., 2016, p. 449). The production too will need the use of raw materials that in this
case are obtained from the natural resources and when we do this, we found out that there is the
necessity of taking precautions concerning the costs that these operations affect the environment.
A good example is the pollution of the natural environment that roots from the discharge from
the services done I the society like processing and manufacturing.
Local efforts can be sued to address the issue of sustainability through the three themes
too. The production of these economic goods, therefore, shows the representation of inefficiency
and waste that need great management. There are a lot of gains when a country focuses on the
global environmental sustainability, and the evidence at this point can be drawn from the
commercial values of production that societies attach to cooperates (Holling, 2017). All these,
however, need a particular kind of empirical practice that can only be managed by social
responsibility. Another issue should be governments using natural regulations to govern their
national parks. Inherent controls involve preservation principle hence suitable to allow the
physical life in the forests with minimal interference from humans. The people who consider a
concern of lives to be only terms of wellbeing should think the quality of life in a relation of
economic social and environmental sustainability in the past that brought this condition (Lallier

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and Maes, 2016, p. 215). It is evident that when a there is an unfortunate community or society,
there is the poor quality of life that leads to a weak environment.
In conclusion production of clean energy is an environmental management problem that
needs to be solved. One of strategic approach can be made on the issue of renewable energy
since it has been seen to entail great security and resilience of humanity when it comes to
sustainability. Through experience and economic theories, it is easy to depict the problems
facing renewable energy management and choosing the right policies to solve such problems. In
recent reports in America, it is clear that people or customers of any energy will choose
renewable power despite the cost because of the conventional message behind it. Market failure
and market barriers have played a crucial role in the expansion of renewable energy. It has also
limited the current policies which have tried to boost or promote renewable energy. One strategy
that the US should adopt is energy conversation. The United States government has this kind of
system however it is not well managed. The policy should focus on consumption reduction,
efficiency, comprehensive resource utilization and energy conservation. Many ways of
producing clean energy are already available in the world. However, the old types of energy
which that have been proven to be environmentally harmful are still in use. People cannot deny
that no effort has been made to protect the environment. However, all these efforts will not be
significant it the world does not switch to using renewable energy. There is a gap that needs to be
filled, and it is all about management. Some of the policies that can be helpful in breaching this
difference have been suggested in the report. Despite these many procedures have been
recommended and implemented things will not change if they will not be enforced.

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References
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pp.212-219.

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Lange, B., Faucon, M.P., Meerts, P., Shutcha, M., Mahy, G. and Pourret, O., 2014. Prediction of
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Equity of Contribution
Each member of the group contributed substantially towards the analysis of this mining
company. They were all cooperative and were helpful towards the writing of the report and
coming up with the various recommendations identified above.

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Appendix: Change Implantation Process
Process or Indicator What data will be
collected
1. Implementation of the proposed solutions The effectiveness of
awareness on
environmental
problems resulting
from mining sites.
2. Engaging with the company employees in the mining sites units
and attentively listening to them on the responses they give as
regards the social problem of mining sites
Perceptions of the
company employees
regarding the issues
arising from mines.
3. Implementation of proposed solutions Observing changes in
the environment and
ecosystem after the
implementation of the
changes.
4. Using alternative methods upon the persistence of environmental
problems
The effectiveness of
alternative
intervention methods.