Mining, which has as its very base the destruction of parts of the environment, and mineral processing, which deals with recovering the small part of the mined material that is of use to man and discarding the rest as waste, impact negatively on the environment. But it is recognized that whatever the impact, minerals and mining are essential to man’s continuing development and prosperity – hence the need to cope with this impasse.

In terms of the world’s solid mineral production, surface mines (e.g. open pit mine) churn out 65% of the total. Conversely, the global share of underground mines stands at 35%. (After Peters, W.C., Exploration and Mining Geology [1987], pp.198-199)

As cited in McDivitt (1993), the Mining Magazine’s January 1990 issue (page 162) disclosed a 1989 survey of mines of the Western world that counted 1,249 open pit or underground mines with outputs in excess of 150,00 tons per year. (Open pit mines numbered 618 and underground mines, 631.) Accounting for 90% of the Western world output, these mines were distributed as follows: North America, 32%; Central and South America, 14%; Australia, 5%; Western Europe, 15%; Africa, 23%; and Asia, 11%. Included under the Asian group were the 17 Philippine mines, broken down into 10 open-pit and seven underground mines. (The balance of 10% of the Western world output came from 6,000 smaller mines.)