
The Dangerous Business of Mining - robbybaron
https://delanceyplace.com/view-archives.php?p=3995
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stickfigure
I toured the Empire Mine (CA) some 30 years ago. I vaguely recall it worked
something like this:

The ore was crushed by a giant stamp mill. The resulting slurry was mixed with
cyanide, which dissolved the gold. The gold was separated from the cyanide by
mixing with liquid mercury, forming an amalgam. The amalgam was put in a
retort to evaporate off the mercury... by folks wearing asbestos suits.

I'm happy to work in software, thank you.

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amelius
You can still run a mining operation from behind your desk. And you'll
probably make more money than the men/women in work suits.

~~~
saagarjha
You’ll likely be thrown out by security for racking up a massive electricity
bill before you start making money.

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yummypaint
The main factor that improved the situation was regulation. People like to
complain about OSHA and health/safety people, but they collectively preempt
preventable tragedies like those described in the post. People also like to
complain about lawyers and the threat of litigation, but that is also a key
mechanism for enforcement. If those workers and/or their surviving family
members had been fairly compensated, the mine operators might have prioritized
safety. [https://www.mines.edu/emcis/wp-
content/uploads/sites/185/201...](https://www.mines.edu/emcis/wp-
content/uploads/sites/185/2018/07/total-cost-of-accidents.pdf)

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g82918
Mining in general is a pretty complicated topic, and anecdata like the article
are nice to have. One issue separate from the personal side is that nations
need minerals. Minerals require mining. Mining breeds misery. The answer
probably isn't to stop mining, but to subsidize mining safety and health. If
mineral companies could provided better safer environments there would be less
harm from mining and everyone could go about their business blind to the costs
of mining. We do it for farming, why not dump a ton of money into mining(far
more than we do currently)?

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maxander
Dump more money into mining and more mining will happen (much as what happens
with farm subsidies.). This probably wouldn’t achieve the reduction in
suffering you’re looking for.

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TeMPOraL
More mining, or mining becomes more expensive, in order to transfer the
subsidies to various parties profiting from the mining in the first place.

Unless coupled with laws enforcing increased safety health&standards, or at
least having the money earmarked for that, there's no reason for a company to
improve on those.

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i_am_nomad
Perhaps I should force myself to read that, as someone who uses electronics.
But I bailed out after the descriptions of injuries and accidents in the
second paragraph.

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pjc50
Mining is no longer anywhere near that dangerous in the West.

