Yearn to Wander

Slag Pit Regreening Announcement

Sudbury, a mining city, and more

Much of Sudbury's economy is based on the riches left to it by geology: a plethora of ores, especially nickel and copper, and lesser amounts of gold, silver, cobalt and other products all of which we use every day.

In our tour of the city, we came upon an open pit nickel mine. The miners had been on strike for eleven months. They directed us to another side of the mine where remediation of the slag pile, or regreening as the sign called it, was in process.

With underground mining, we frequently forget the dangers and devastation of mining. But with open pit mining, the pit stared us in the face, as would others on our trip. We saw how the earth's surface and resources had been marred. Mining is a tough, dirty, dangerous business. It's easy to be critical of it, but we forget the benefits of mining, especially the jobs that give families a way of life, the products that enable our high standard of living and support our economies. we continue to use the products extracted to support our standard of living. After all, how would we have electricity without copper?

It's a huge conflict for me. Fortunately, great strides have been made in making the processes more environmentally friendly. In fact, Sudbury has received awards for its environmental efforts and successes.

Sudbury is a real city. It has industry, commerce, arts, and education, combined with a high percentage of bi-lingual residents, which make it a city I'd like to explore further.