Environmental Sensitivity and Management of Toxic Chemical Waste in Mining Industry with Special Reference to Cyanide

Wide ranges of toxic and hazardous (T&H) chemicals are being synthesized and produced by man on grand scales in a variety of industrial processes for its use in agricultural, commercial, household and industrial systems. One such known toxic chemical is ‘cyanide’. It produced on large scale for its use in various industries. Consequently, these industries emanate huge quantity of free cyanide, metal-cyanides and thiocyanate containing wastes in solid, liquid or gaseous form. If improperly managed, greater degree of risk is involved in releasing such wastes and has therefore become an issue of ‘Environmental Sensitivity (ES)’. ES is a condition or number of conditions, where symptoms are linked to the exposures of relatively low level of toxic or hazardous chemicals. The obvious reasons are (i) health and safety aspects of workers in industrial environment; and (ii) impact on various environmental segments like air, water, soil and life forms. This has created challenging problem confronting the present day so called ‘technological society’. In a developing country like India, there is a negative legacy among the corporate bodies towards managing the natural resources and wastes due to one or the several reasons, main being the cost. In order to safeguard the industrial and natural environment from the deleterious impact of cyanide wastes, it is imperative to implement effective management practices to bring the level of these pollutants within the permissible limits as prescribed by the statutory agencies. The present paper describes the various aspects of cyanide and the corporate response towards managing the industrial and natural environment