Many mining companies are following the following steps to extract gold from the earth surface. As technology improves more and more mining techniques are being discovered to make the work simple.

Literature Survey:
In India lot of government agencies are taking out verification surveys on gold mining. Among those agencies there are two main agencies. They are Geological Survey of India and Mineral Exploration Corporation of India. Already in many parts of India, these agencies have undergone surveys of extensive regional and underground exploration for gold. Collection of all these data forms the initial step in exploration process.

Geological Mapping:
This mapping is done by using the photographs of the geographical area where gold is presented.

Identification of Gold Bearing Zones:
This step is carried out by collecting the sample stones from the favorable places and it will be sent for gold mineralization. If the rocks are uncovered then some geochemical methods like stream sediment and soil sampling will be used to find the gold anomalous areas. Based upon the results of the sampling the target areas will be fixed for the further process.

Three Dimension Sampling:
This sampling method is carried out by using two types of drilling. They are Reverse Circulation (RC) and Diamond Core Drilling. The RC drill is easily movable and the sample rock is obtained in the form of chips but in the diamond core drilling the sample is obtained in the form of solid core.

Estimation of Global Resource:
Based upon the previous step result (i.e.) length, width, depth, etc. a global resource of the gold deposit is estimated.

Pre-feasibility exploration:
Based upon the result of global resource estimation, further process will be taken place by using “Close Spaced Diamond Core Drilling” along with the dip and sampling of ore body to improve the reliability. This also helps to predict whether the deposit is mineral or not.

Feasibility Exploration:
This involves additional extensive sampling on the earth surface and underground by using closed space drilling, bench cutting and bench sampling etc. to extract gold. And the “Sluice Box” will be used to filter the extract gold from placer deposits. Then the filtered particles will be sent for further process.

The process of mining the earth and finding the metals, minerals, etc and again making the earth to return back to its original state consists of different steps. Generally, mining techniques can be broadly classified into two types, they are Surface Mining and Underground Mining.

In pre-historic period, when the people had found metals like copper, iron on or close to earth surface, they used to manufacture some tools and weapons.

The ancient known mine is the “Lion Cave” which is in Swaziland. Ancient people used hammers, crude picks, etc. But they found very difficult to find the metals or any other precious stones which was in too deep. So they slowly started to invent new ideas to make the work simple. Since there is no blasting method available in that period, they first used to keep fire on the hard rocks to make it soft then they used water to cool it up and so they had broken those hard rocks easily.

The slaves, prisoners of war and the people who did criminal things had forced to work on the mining areas. And the kids were used to carry the ores from the underground mining area to the outer surface. Then the people who are so weak to work underground had made to separate the rich and poor metals.

In some countries they used “Black Powder” to disclose ore veins and earth to loosen. Then as the development occurs, the people have found a plenty of techniques to find the metals, minerals and other precious stones.

Some of the ancient mining techniques were,

• Fire setting
• Hydraulic mining
• Reverse overshot water-wheels

The development of mining technology plays an important role in the mining industry as well as in the environment. The mining industry plays a crucial role in our economy. The mining industry was very conservative in initiating and adopting new technologies in the past due to high capital requirements, environmental limitations and small profit margins. However, the mining industry has made significant progress in productivity, mining technologies used, environmental control, and worker health and safety. The mining industry has also introduced improved clean technology to carry out best mining processes and practices. Such practices have been applied in developing countries which achieved best results. When mining technologies become more widely available, there will be only technology gap between mining industries and countries.

The mining industries continue to play their essential role in sustainable technological development to improve their performance, reduce environmental pollution to all media and enhance the quality of life within their operational work area. The mining industry aims at adopting and implementing innovative technologies through the usage of both mining and environmental technologies to create a better environment quality in mining industry areas, reduce negative impact to human health and environment, reduce water and air pollution, and land degradation.

Most of the recent developments made in mining technologies prove to be cost-effective and environment-friendly technologies. For example, Solvent-extraction/electro-winning (SXEW) is a hydrometallurgical process that differs from the traditional method of producing copper by milling, smelting, and refining. The development of the SXEW process helps in the low-cost production of copper from waste and raw ore dumps of copper minerals excavated from copper mines. SXEW helps United States and few other copper-producing countries very much. EESTECH provides environmentally sustainable technologies that have direct application in the world’s coal mining and energy industries. EESTECH’s Hybrid Coalmine Gas Technology (HCGT) is a recognized Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that uses waste coal and ventilated coalmine methane as a fuel source to produce cost effective clean coal energy. Clean coal technology offer solutions in the fight against global warming.
The development of new mining technologies helps to reduce production costs, enhance the quality of mined metals and minerals , enhance the quality of commodities using mined minerals, reduce adverse environmental effects, health and safety impacts. Thus the mining technological developments benefits consumers and producers, as well as nation’s economy, national defense, health and social well being.

The most developed and developing countries have already imposed environmental standards for emission, effluent, groundwater contamination, and hazard and toxic management guidelines. But because of weak law enforcement, lack of monitoring capability and skilled human resources, the mining industry do not obey. Hence, the environment standards must be harmonized within the developing countries in order to improve the environmental performance and management of mining industries.

Political and social institutions could exert enormous influence over the mining industry development. Political Institutions including central government, local government and public decision makers must creating international harmonization of environmental standards for better positioning for global competitiveness in mining product. Doing so will improve the corporate image of the mining industries as well as benefit the global consumers.

Workshops and training programs on pollution control and measurement techniques of mining activities, and development of network among mining partnership organizations should be carried out through internship and technical assistance in mining industries.