Mining Engineering
Mining Law and Environment
Environmental Impact of Mining Operations
The physical impacts of mining, how they are measured, and the controls that genuinely reduce them.
- Duration
- 5 days
- Contact hours
- 30
- Level
- Intermediate
- Fee from
- On enquiry
Overview
Every mine changes water, air, land and the things living on them. This week works through those impacts mechanism by mechanism rather than as a list of concerns: where acid drainage comes from and what actually prevents it, how dust and blast emissions disperse, what mining does to groundwater, and the controls available for each. Monitoring runs throughout, because an impact nobody measures is one nobody can manage or defend.
Who should attend
Environmental managers, officers and consultants, mine planners and engineers, compliance staff, and community liaison officers who have to explain impacts.
What you will be able to do
- Explain the mechanism behind each major mining impact.
- Predict acid rock drainage potential and plan for it early.
- Design monitoring that would detect a problem before a regulator does.
- Select controls proportionate to the actual risk.
- Report impact data honestly to a sceptical audience.
How it is taught
Short input, then work, across 5 days of roughly 6 teaching hours each. Exercises run on situations delegates bring rather than on a case study written for a different organisation. Cohorts are capped so that everybody is asked something.
Available as classroom, live online, in house.
Programme outline
Day 1
Water
- Acid rock drainage and metal leaching
- Groundwater drawdown and contamination
- Surface water, sediment and discharge
Day 2
Air and noise
- Dust generation, dispersion and control
- Blast fume, gases and combustion sources
- Noise and vibration at boundaries
Day 3
Land and biodiversity
- Land disturbance and soil loss
- Habitat, species and offsets
- Waste rock and tailings footprints
Day 4
Monitoring
- Baseline, and why it is worth the money
- Sampling design and quality control
- Data management and trending
Day 5
Control and reporting
- Hierarchy of control applied to environment
- Cost and effectiveness of common measures
- Reporting to regulators and communities
What you leave with
- An impact register with mechanisms identified.
- A monitoring plan with locations, parameters and frequencies.
- A control assessment for the highest ranked impact.
Dates and fees
| Dates | Location | Format | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 to 27 November 2026 | Kampala, Uganda | Classroom | US$1,500 |
| 30 November 2026 to 4 December 2026 | Cairo, Egypt | Classroom | US$1,500 |
| 7 to 11 December 2026 | Cape Town, South Africa | Classroom | R15,000 |
| 14 to 18 December 2026 | Nairobi, Kenya | Classroom | US$1,500 |
Fees are per delegate and cover tuition, all programme materials and the certificate. Travel, accommodation and visas are arranged by the delegate. Registration closes two weeks before a programme starts.
Certificate
A GATI certificate recording what was attended, issued after the programme has run and attendance has been taken. Attending at least 80 per cent of the days earns a certificate of completion; attending less earns a certificate of attendance stating exactly what was attended. Every certificate carries a code that anybody can check against GATI's own record.
It records participation. and GATI does not claim one it does not hold.