Prepared for Hydrogeology Journal FINAL DRAFT May 1999 1 Social and Ecological Impact of Water Extraction for a Copper-Uranium Mine Gavin M. Mudd 1 Victoria University Saleem H. Ali Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2 Abstract Mining activities often take place in relatively remote regions of the world where water is a limiting resource and infrastructure to harness water is minimal. Copper-uranium mining at Olympic Dam in South Australia provides an interesting example of such a situation. The mine’s water supply is sourced from the south-western margin of the Great Artesian Basin, one of the Basin’s principal groundwater discharge zones where over several millennia unique springs have formed. These springs contain many rare and endemic flora and fauna and were important foci for the traditional people of the region. The social and ecological costs of rapid water extraction are often not accounted for in such ventures because the short-term gains from mineral extraction are enormous and occlude more long-term environmental impacts on water availability. Indeed, the life of a mine is usually no more than half a century but the effect of the mining on water resources is often irreversible. The small settlements of native groups that inhabit such regions have historically been excluded from the decision-making process concerning such mines. Long-term planning for water resource extraction at the Olympic Dam mine is thus an increasingly important task in order to protect the associated environmental and cultural values of the springs. 1 WATER USAGE IN URANIUM MINING There is clear evidence that mining directly affects the immediate environs of a mine project and carries significant potential for off-site impacts (Birrell et al., 1982). The deleterious effects of mining were noticed as early as 1556, when Georgius Agricola wrote his seminal text on mining (Agricola, 1556) : “When ores are washed, the water which has been used poisons the brooks and streams. Therefore the inhabitants of these regions, on account of the devastation of their fields, woods, groves, brooks and rivers find great difficulty in producing the necessities of life.” There are significantly large quantities of waste material generated through mining since minerals are generally a rare appendage to large quantities of worthless sediment. A study conducted by UNESCO specifically highlighted 9 hydrogeological processes which can be affected by mining (Clark, 1988). These included transient groundwater flow, river flow, spring yields, limestone and marl flow, mining volumes, mineralisation of mine water and river water, water pumping and development of a cone of depression. 1 - School of the Built Environment, Victoria University of Technology (Footscray), c/o P.O. Box 81, Watsonia, VIC 3087, Australia (Email - GavinMudd@vu.edu.au) - all views expressed herein are those of the author(s). 2 - Environmental Policy Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, USA.