Evaluation methods for the changes in the environmental quality due to the mining activities

Mining is an engineering activity that must be carried out at the place where the resource is located as a result of the demand for metals, industrial minerals, coal or natural stones in the market.In addition, as in all other industrial activities, mining has positive and negative environmental effects in the environment it will be performed.The environmental impacts of mining projects are evaluated both in the preparation of the mining project and in the environmental impact assessment phase, and it is decided whether or not the mining activity will start according to the results of the evaluations.At these stages, projects are evaluated more technically and possible acceptable effects are explained and measures to be taken are listed.Assessment of the cost of the environment deteriorated by mining activities is generally not made and project environmental costs are roughly considered as a cost.However, project environmental costs can actually be effective in deciding whether a mining activity will actually be profitable financially.In this thesis, a limestone quarry with a calculated reserve and a crushing-screening plant (aggregate plant) that will operate at a specified capacity are selected as an example of the calculation of the project environmental costs.In addition to the investment cost elements of the project, environmental cost elements were determined in detail and both costs were accounted for. According to the calculation results obtained with the economic evaluation methods, the preferences of using the project site for mining or leaving the site as a natural environment, including the evaluation of the investment amount considered for mining in another investment tool (e.g. foreign currency), are clearly revealed.