User:Jennacarleton/sandbox

Article Evaluation- Longwall Mining

After reading and evaluating the longwall mining page, I have determined that there are areas that are well done and many areas where improvement is needed. Everything that is presented in the article is relevant to the topic, however, some areas could be improved and edited. The beginning history paragraph is informative with excellent examples and stories, however the next section, Layout, just right into talking about gate rods with no explanation. The information became long and dense and very hard to follow. I would suggest that this section should add a transition from history to layout instead of jumping into the modern technology with no explanation. Furthermore, the equipment section of the article is extremely long and dense with a lot of mining words that someone with no mining knowledge would not understand. I would suggest to condense and simplify this section, adding more photos and diagrams.

The article comes from a neutral voice, however after reading through the talk page someone comments on how this article is non-neutral based on how the author only discusses subsidence as a benefit. Although if you continue reading through the talk page, many others jump in to support the author and claims its neutrality. Therefore, I would still say that it is coming from a neutral point of view based on the written arguments and the citations provided.

The links to view the citations, however, they are not all credible sources and should be reviewed and updated. For example, the second citation leads to a website that simply has photos of an old journal that was written in. I would not consider this to be an appropriate source for an in-text citation.

The talk page contains mainly the argument about the neutrality. Furthermore, there is talk about the excessive "mining jargon" which I also agree with as well as a user pointing out that the photos are confusing and lack a descriptive caption. After reviewing this, I agree and suggest that newer photos and diagrams of a longwall mining machine are added with relevant captions about the location and the purpose of the tool in the photo. This could be used in place of or as an addition to more background information that needs to be added at the beginning of the article to prevent confusion. There was also a user who added an external link which I think is beneficial to the reader as well as the original writer.

Overall, I think the page is well written, however I believe areas of improvement include softening the paragraphs, making it more user friendly to all audiences, which includes definitions and photos and diagrams. I also think that the article lacks the ideas of advantages and disadvantages of this type of mining, highlights of important mines and events that occurred with this type of mining, as well as possible dangers that could occur from a mine that is no longer in use. For example, the risk that it could collapse at any moment.

Add to an article- draft Description Open-pit mining is to be considered one of the most dangerous sectors in the industrial world. Open-pit mining also causes significant effects to the ecological land. This type of mining causes changes to vegetation, soil, and bedrock, which ultimately contribute to changes in surface hydrology, groundwater levels, and flow paths. Reference

Contributing to an article- draft

Impact of Open-pit Mining: I am going to contribute and add this section as I feel it is necessary to include negative impacts that this type of mining contributes to the environment.

Open-pit mining involves the process of disrupting the ground, which leads to the creation of air pollutants. The main source of air pollutants comes from the transportation of minerals, but their are various other factors including drilling, blasting and the loading and unloading of overburden. These type of pollutants cause significant damage to public health and safety in addition to damaging the air quality. The inhalation of these pollutants can cause issues to the lungs and ultimately increase mortality. Furthermore, the pollutants affect flora and fauna in the areas surrounding open-pit mines.

Not only do these air born particles have a health and safety and environmental impact, one of the most major issues that arise from this pollutants is its effect on the climate.

I will then go on to discuss general overview of how the pollutants effect the climate. Another area of contribution I an going to contribute is a full examination of the citations used and add more valid sources and in-text citations.

Peer Review

A very interesting article to review, especially in the context of this course. Unfortunately, I would disagree that this article needs improvement in such a manner as is suggested here, as it seems the motive behind the proposed additions would be to discredit open pit mining out of what appears to be a complete distaste for the practice by the contributor. I would argue that motive alone in this case is not what Wikipedia intends and should perhaps be rethought. I would suggest learning more about the main cause of pollution is in regards to mining, focussing your attention on the smelting and refining processes. Try to review your work for typing errors.

Contribution to Open-Pit Mining

This form of mining differs from extractive methods that require tunnelling into the earth, such as long wall mining. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or rocks are found near the surface. It is applied to ore or rocks found at the surface because the overburden is relatively thin or the material of interest is structurally unsuitable for tunnelling (as would be the case for sand, cinder, and gravel).In contrast, minerals that have been found underground, but are difficult to retrieve due to hard surface rock, can be reached using a form of underground mining..

To create an open-pit mine, the miners must determine the information of the ore that is underground. This is done through drilling of probe holes in the ground, then plotting each hole location on a map. The information gained through the holes with provide an idea of the vertical extent of the ore's body. This vertical information is then used to pit tentative locations of the benches that will occur in the mine. It is important to consider the grade and economic value of the ore in the potential pit. Open-pit mines that produce building materials and dimension stone are commonly referred to as "quarries."

Open-pit mines are typically enlarged until either the mineral resource is exhausted, or an increasing ratio of overburden to ore makes further mining uneconomic. When this occurs, the exhausted mines are sometimes converted to landfills for disposal of solid wastes. However, some form of water control is usually required to keep the mine pit from becoming a lake, if the mine is situated in a climate of considerable precipitation or if any layers of the pit forming the mine border productive aquifers.

Open-pit mining is to be considered one of the most dangerous sectors in the industrial world. It causes significant effects to miners health, as well as damage to the ecological land. Open-pit mining causes changes to vegetation, soil, and bedrock, which ultimately contributes to changes in surface hydrology, groundwater levels, and flow paths. Additionally, open-pit produces harmful pollutants depending on the type of mineral being mined, and the type of mining process being used.

Extraction

Note the angled and stepped sides of the Sunrise Dam Gold Mine, Australia.

Heavy machinery extracting lignite from Garzweiler surface mine in Germany during 2008.

Open-cast mines are dug on benches, which describe vertical levels of the hole. The interval of the benches depends on the deposit being mined, the mineral being mined, and the size of the machinery that is being used. Generally, large mine benches are 12 to 15 metres thick. In contrast, many quarries do not use benches, as they are usually shallow. Mining can be conducted on more than one bench at a time, and access to different benches is done with a system of ramps. The width of each bench is determined by the size of the equipment being used, generally 20-40 metres wide. Downward ramps are created to allow mining on a new level to begin. This new level will become progressively wider to form the new pit bottom.

Most walls of the pit are generally mined on an angle less than vertical. Waste rock is stripped when the pit becomes deeper , therefore this angle is a safety precaution to prevent and minimize damage and danger from rock falls. However, this depends on how weathered and eroded the rocks are, and the type of rock involved. It also depends on the amount of structural weaknesses that occur within the rocks, such as a faults, shears, joints or foliations.

The walls are stepped. The inclined section of the wall is known as the batter, and the flat part of the step is known as the bench or berm. The steps in the walls help prevent rock falls continuing down the entire face of the wall. In some instances additional ground support is required and rock bolts, cable bolts and shotcrete are used. De-watering bores may be used to relieve water pressure by drilling horizontally into the wall, which is often enough to cause failures in the wall by itself.

A haul road is usually situated at the side of the pit, forming a ramp up which trucks can drive, carrying ore and waste rock.

Contribution to Waste

Open-pit mines create a significant amount of waste. For example, almost one million tons of ore and waste rock can move from the largest mines per day, and a couple thousand tons moved from small mines per day. There is generally four main operations in a mine that contribute to this load: drilling, blasting, loading and hauling.

Waste rock is hauled to a waste dump. Waste dumps can be piled at the surface of the active pit, or in previously mined pits.

Leftover waste from processing the ore is called tailings, and is generally in the form of a slurry. This is pumped to a tailings dam or settling pond, where the water is reused or evaporated. Tailings dams can be toxic due to the presence of unextracted sulfide minerals, some forms of toxic minerals in the gangue, and often cyanide which is used to treat gold ore via the cyanide leach process. If proper environmental protections are not in place, this toxicity can harm the surrounding environment.

Pollutants

Open-pit mining involves the process of disrupting the ground, which leads to the creation of air pollutants. The main source of air pollutants comes from the transportation of minerals, but their are various other factors including drilling, blasting and the loading and unloading of overburden. These type of pollutants cause significant damage to public health and safety in addition to damaging the air quality. The inhalation of these pollutants can cause issues to the lungs and ultimately increase mortality. Furthermore, the pollutants affect flora and fauna in the areas surrounding open-pit mines.

Open-pit gold mining is one of the highest potential mining threats on the environment as it effects the air and water chemistry. The exposed dust may be toxic or radioactive, making it a health concern for the workers and the surrounding communities.

Contribution to Untopping

A form of open-cast quarrying may be carried out as 'untopping'. This is done where a previous underground mine is becoming uneconomic or worked-out, but still leaves valuable rock in place, often as a result of pillar and stall working. Untopping removes the overburden from above this, opens up the mine from above, and then allows the previously 'trapped' minerals to be won.

Untopping was a feature of Welsh slate workings in the 1930s and 2000s, where Martyn Williams-Ellis, manager at Llechwedd found that earlier Victorian workings could be kept profitable with the newly mechanised techniques for bulk excavation to extract their pillars, and more recently across a number of worked-out mines.

Contribution to Rehabilitation

Opencut coal mine loadout station and reclaimed land at the North Antelope Rochelle coal mine in Wyoming, United States.

After mining finishes, the mine area may undergo land rehabilitation. Waste dumps are contoured to flatten them out, to further stabilize them. If the ore contains sulfides it is usually covered with a layer of clay to prevent access of rain and oxygen from the air, which can oxidize the sulfides to produce sulfuric acid, a phenomenon known as acid mine drainage. Generally, this will be covered with soil, and vegetation is planted to help consolidate the material. Eventually this layer will erode, but it is hoped that the rate of leaching or acid will be slowed by the soil cover such that the environment can handle the load of acid and associated heavy metals. There are no long term studies on the success of these covers due to the relatively short time in which large scale open pit mining has existed. It may take hundreds to thousands of years for some waste dumps to become "acid neutral" and stop leaching to the environment. The dumps are usually fenced off to prevent livestock denuding them of vegetation. The open pit is then surrounded with a fence, to prevent access, and in most cases, it will eventually fill up with ground water. In arid areas it may not fill due to deep groundwater levels. Instead of returning the land to its former natural state, it may also be reused, converting it into recreational parks or even residential/mixed communities.

An open-pit sulfur mine at Tarnobrzeg, Poland undergoing land rehabilitation

Reflective Essay

Through the variety of tasks and exercises that was assigned through Wikipedia, I gained a whole new appreciation for the way Wikipedia can be used. First, I learned that Wikipedia articles can be more reliable than people have led me to believe in the past. Many articles are written, evaluated and critiqued by scholarly individuals who contribute the most relevant and informative information. Another interesting aspect of Wikipedia that I was not aware about was the ability to see what level each article was on to determine how much work needed to be completed on it to allow it to be a reliable source. Therefore, to find an article to critique, I was able to read a few pages relevant to the course, and from there I could see the level of work expert Wikipedia users thought it needed. I chose an article that experts believed could use a lot of work to allow myself to be able to understand why it was a poor article. I then went through the list of critiquing questions that the Wikipedia training provided and tried to thoroughly answer each question for my chosen article. I think the questions Wikipedia provided allowed me to effectively analyze and determine what parts of the article needed the most work.

Another interesting aspect of Wikipedia articles is the Talk pages. This allows you to see what others have said about the article, whether it be a critique or a positive note. Using this insight, as well as my own article analysis, I was able to develop an idea for what kind of information I wanted to add. In my article, I found the information to be neutral, although, the article was missing important health and environmental impacts that mining can cause. I added a new section called pollutants to add a brief description of the possible impacts the open-pit mining has on the environment and society. I think it was important to keep this information brief to maintain neutrality and not make it seem as though Wikipedia wants to change people’s opinions on open-pit mining. Furthermore, in the talkpage, a user suggested that an economic value section be added. I agreed with the idea of economic value be added but I felt it was more appropriate to add this information in the Description section with information on how the location is decided. This is because when they are deciding where to locate the mine, holes are dug to determine economic value of the ore in the area. Therefore, having economic value as its own section would be a broad topic as each mine can be a different economic value depending on factors such as type of ore being mined, and size of the mine. In addition to this information added, I made grammar and sentence repairs to improve the structure of the sentences.

Although I was unable to complete a peer review, I did receive feedback. I thought this feedback was useful for my work because a peer suggested that I make pollutants its own section rather than adding to another section to maintain neutrality. Furthermore, they suggested that I introduce the idea of the pollutants in the beginning of the article to balance the information. I used each peer review to help me create my page to the best of my ability.

Overall, while contributing to a Wikipedia article, I learned the process and work needed to create a reliable and useful page. It takes much more work and planning than I anticipated and changed my negative view of Wikipedia to a more positive outlook. However, if obtaining information from Wikipedia, I think it is important to check the citations used to ensure you are receiving the best information, and these links could even bring you to more informative websites. This assignment was very different than assignments I have completed in the past. This was the first time I was supposed to edit other peoples work to create more reliable information. It took me quite a few tries and re-doing of the training exercises to get a hang of how the edits can be done and how you should complete the work. I will not say it was an easy assignment for me to complete, however through Wikipedia experts, training and the help of TA’s, I think I completed the assignment well. I did learn more about open-pit mines than I knew before this assignment. As a psychology student, I thought this assignment was interesting because although I have some knowledge about the topics from class, I would say I’m not as knowledgeable as my peers. After reading through multiple articles, I think anyone in the public could use Wikipedia to gather an understanding of the ideas and work done in the Earth Science field. I think this is important because the ideas in this course not only impact the science community but society as a whole. Therefore, using Wikipedia to obtain general knowledge is beneficial for everyone.