Ambient air quality assessment in opencast metal mines

Abstract

The term ‘mining’ is more or less synonymous to environmental pollution. The growing emphasis on open cast mining operation in recent years to achieve ever increasing production targets has further aggravated the problem of air pollution. Great amount of respirable dust concentration are added into the environment by the mining activities due to mechanization, escalating production, large scale blasting etc. Major sources of air pollution in open cast mines are drilling, blasting, overburden loading and unloading, material handling and workshops. The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) are the basis for India’s Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to regulate air pollutants including particulate matter and five other criteria pollutants. PM2.5 and PM10 particles are currently accepted indicators for respirable pollutants. Several methods normally exist to measure the amount the dust.