Tin mining offshore
Tin mining on and offshore off Bangka island has a devastating effect on its environment. People who mine offshore by using suction ships of bucket dredgers negatively effect Bangkas sea life. This is because the miners use suction tubes which suck up the sand which contains tin. There are Hundreds of makeshift pontoons that are in operation for tin mining, as well as 52 dredgers and other types of ship, belonging to PT Timah and other companies, that are sucking up the seabed. The workers then dump the sand and other non valuable materials like silt and sludge back into the ocean which has so far killed 30 to 60 per cent of the local coral reef, sea grass and mangroves. It takes at least 20 years for the coral to regrow itself, but this is would only happen if the coral was not further damaged by having sand dumped back onto it. As a result of coral dying, fish have to move away from the coast as they no longer have a home or die from the unvaluable materials getting dumped back into the ocean. Unlike fish and turtles, which can move away from the area, endangered giant clams are getting killed by the silt deposit as they can’t move. From seagrass getting killed by dredgers dumping non valuable materials into the sea, this means that Endangered turtles are threatened because of the loss of sea grass and from coastlines being effected where they nest on the beach.
|
Tin mining onshore
Tin Mining on land also has devastating impacts on the environment. After 13 years of aimless mining, the island's tropical forests are now filled with thousands of craters filled with acidic water and heavy metals. As a result of this island being fulled with craters of mining pits, the landscape of Bangka is drastrically changed forever. On land the mine pits pools of water have become breeding grounds for dengue fever and malaria. Tin mining needs land to be bulldozed, then hosed down and dug up, meaning that the fertile topsoil turns into acidic soil which is brought to the surface instead, resulting in a loss of soil fertility. 77% of Bangka's forests are already in critical condition from people destroying the forest and making open pits to mine for tin. Fauna on the island are at risk, for example the tarsier monkey which is a native species are losing their homes as the forest is being destroyed. Even when open pits have been covered up it is still hard to grow crops on areas that have been mined. Coast lines are becoming polluted and destroyed, for example The coastline in Rebo has been shaped into a series of small gulfs by the sand dumped by dredgers over the years. |
Social impacts of Tin mining in Bangka
Tin mining has social impacts that have a negative effect on the people who are mining. This is because the working conditions are dangerous in Bangka for mining for tin as many mines are illegal and some are even employing children. BBC found children digging for tin in mud pits in Bangka. Children are at a serious risk of being buried in landslides because the walls of the open mines get hosed down to find more tin ore for iPhone and Samsung parts. Mining on shore is dangerous because the mud pits that they work in, frequently have landslides so it’s common that workers get buried alive from the landslides. However Mining offshore is the most dangerous because there are pits beneath the water which are created by drawing ore from the seabed which is deep and can easily collapse, therefore divers get buried under metres of sand. Some of the miners operate in private, licensed concessions, but the majority work on illegal sites all over the island, most are in the middle of protected forests. In illegal mining pits, child labour is common and there are more work related injuries and fatal accidents that occur. An estimated 53 miners in Bangka die each year from tin mining which is almost one miner a week. Mining holes that haven’t been covered up become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, the changes of getting Malaria in Bangka has increased to 29.3 per 1,000 people. |
Economic impacts of Tin mining in Bangka
Tin mining has a positive and negative economic impacts on Bangka-Belitung province because the mining counts for 60% of the provinces revenue with 35 companies involved and related industries. Tin mining's revenue in the province is now over £42m and 30% of the worlds tin comes from Bangka. 40 per cent of the one million people who live in Bangka's population work in the mining industry. Although Bangkas locals know that mining is bad on the environment, they have no alternative as they can get up to $10 a day which is double what they would get working in the agriculture industry. It’s also harder for fishermen to be able to fish because before mining started which was around 13 years ago people could fish within 6.5 km of the coast, however now they have to throw their nets as far as 27km to fish because of mining which has scared the fish away. As a result most fishermen have turned to mining because over the years dredgers and suction ships owned have polluted the water and destroyed coral reefs off the coast, which have driven the fish away. Therefore mining has made people quit their jobs, like the fishermen and agriculture workers and made them miners. About 80% of the island's population depends on mining. The tourism industry used to count for a lot of Bangkas revenue. Tourists come to Bangka island because of its beautiful scenery and snorkeling, however tourism is decreasing because of the mining which has destroyed the environment. The eastern beaches of Bangka are very rich in tin, but is also a popular tourist destination. Therefore people will mine on the eastern beaches, making the environment noisy and the water becomes dirty. This effects Bangkas tourism because the majority of people who go to Bangka go to the eastern beaches, which are becoming more polluted and unpleasant, therefore less people will come to visit Bangka. An example of less people visiting Bangkas beaches is where Parai beach restort and spa is which is a four-star resort. Despite a location on one of Bangka's most popular beaches, occupancy here is down 90% – all because of the seabed mining which started happening last year. Tourism which used to count for a lot of Banga-Belitung provinces revenue has now dropped dramatically and is just brings in a mere fraction of what mining earns – just £810,000 compared with mining's £42m.
|