historically dependent on coal for jobs and income, associated economic and social 

 consequences will result. 



Nonfuel minerals are supplied by a combination of domestic primary production, 

 imported primary and refined production, recycling, and the import of minerals embod- 

 ied in final products. The amount supplied by each source differs among the minerals. 

 Recycling rates for light, heavy and precious metals have risen since 1989, a trend 

 which is expected to continue given increasing regulatory and economic incentives. 

 However, some agricultural and industrial uses of minerals are dissipative, in which 

 cases recycling is neither feasible nor economical. This implies domestic exploration, 

 development, and production or further reliance on imports for several metallic 

 minerals. 



Overall, world resources of energy and minerals are extensive, with Canada and 

 Mexico important producers of many commodities including natural gas, oil, and 

 metallic and industrial minerals. Availability of supplies will depend on market prices, 

 and in some cases the politics and stability of the government of the producing 

 country. For energy and those nonfuel minerals present in the United States, domestic 

 production levels will be determined by relative cost, access to resources, and regula- 

 tion. 



Issue Highlight Prior to the 1 970's, reclamation of abandoned mine sites was not required and 



Abandoned Mines consequently was not performed for the majority of mines (Shields, et al 1994). The 



failure to reclaim these mines has left a legacy of abandoned mines across the United 

 States, with numerous associated environmental problems. Among the more serious 

 of these are acid and other toxic mine drainage, which can contaminate both surface 

 and underground water, physical danger from open mine shafts, and sedimentation of 

 streams from acres of unrevegetated spoil piles (fig. 35). While these abandoned 

 mines continue to harm the environment, current reclamation practices can do a great 

 deal to alleviate past problems. Most new mine sites can be and are reclaimed. 

 Moreover, new approaches are being developed to identify areas at high risk for acid 

 mine drainage, with the goal of designing mine and waste management plans to 

 prevent or mitigate adverse impacts. 



— Over 89,000 past producing mines have been identified by the Bureau of Mines. 

 Only 10,000 of the estimated 50,000 to 60,000 past producing coal mines are 

 included in this figure. Current estimates of the total number of past producing 

 mines exceed 500,000, many of which date from the 1800's through the 1940's. 



— Past producers range in size from small prospecting holes to large underground 

 mines. Environmental impacts similarly range from minimal at the majority of 

 sites to severe at several thousand locations. 



— Over half the locations had surface mining operations, with sand, gravel, and 

 crushed stone operations accounting for 22 percent of the sites. Mines where 

 the primary product was copper, gold, lead, silver or zinc account for 44 percent 



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