De Beers Researches To Repair Environmental Damage With ‘Mineral Carbonation’


08/11/2017

Research work is being done to restore the damages caused by the mining industry to the environment.


Dailycsr.com – 10 August 2017 – The “leading diamond” company in the world, De Beers is researching to turn “some of its mines carbon-neutral” within a span of five years, reported Brian Collett.
 
Anglo American, a “huge” mining group based out of the United Kingdom is the 85% owner of De Beers, whereby the latter has put forth a goal of turning its mines into “carbon capture and storage centres”, the ones located in Canada, Botswana, South Africa and Namibia.
 
Post the extraction of diamonds, the mines are left with “porous igneous” rocks, namely kimberlite. Therefore, the diamond company plans on injecting “carbon gases within a fluid into waste kimberlite”. While, an alternative procedure for the company would be to thinly “spread the kimberlite”, whereby allowing them to “absorb” carbon present in the atmosphere.
 
The said operation called “mineral carbonation” could be a befitting reply to damaging allegations of environment that shadows the mining sector ominously, whereby resulting in “soil erosion, sinkholes, loss of biodiversity and contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water by chemicals used in the industry”.
 
De Beers has begun its research in two of its mines located in Canada and South Africa, while the company has also given hints of licensing the “carbonation technology” in case “it succeeds” in its attempts, whereby the same could be applied to the “abundant kimberlite it has at its nickel and platinum excavations as well as its diamond mines”.
 
 
References:
http://www.ethicalperformance.com