Closing Mining Operations

After a mining job has been completed, the material that was not used will need to be placed back in the removal site and smoothed so as to copy the original lines of the bar. Remember that material that was not used should not be piled up in the channel, placed against the stream banks or deposited in a stream side marsh. Stockpiling material in the channel gets in the way of high stream flow and this is able to add to stream bank erosion. Pushing material against stream banks might in point of fact augment erosion at the site. Keep in mind, any sand, gravel, silt or other sediment eroded from one place will deposit in another place and may possibly bring about problems for you or those living around the area. Something that is always a big worry is the quality of the water therefore fuel, oil and other wastes should not ever be placed in the channel. Unexpected high flows from rain storms may bring about spills. Fish, macro invertebrates and other stream creatures rely a great deal on the stream bottom to keep strong populations. The stream bottom makes available food, producing habitat, a place to guard eggs, nursery habitat and protection from predators. It only makes sense that gravel mining can be harmful to these stream occupiers. The teensiest specks of sand and soil carried by a stream are known as "fines." This is what causes a stream look muddy after a heavy rain. More often than not, these fines settle as the water level in the stream falls after a rain and no damage comes from their occurrence. If anything is done to produce an unnecessary quantity of fines, then the water stays muddy and the bottom might get covered with this silt, and this can bring about a lot of problems for fish and other marine life. It is possible to avoid some of the risk by avoiding mining throughout the spawning season. A frequent custom in gravel mining is to wash the gravel to get rid of these fines. Sand and gravel washing as well as gravel crushing and sorting should take place far enough away from the channel so that the warm, stagnant, silty wash water is not able to go into the stream. This will conserve the quality of the water and put off sedimentation of main stream bed habitats. By means of appropriate methods and safeguards, it's feasible to dig sand and gravel without increasing erosion and with little or no damage to main habitats of water plants and animals.