Sand mining is the extraction of sand, mainly through an open pit (or sand pit)[1][failed verification][2] but sometimes mined from beaches and inland dunes or dredged from ocean and river beds.[3] Sand is often used in manufacturing, for example as an abrasive or in concrete. It is also used on icy and snowy roads usually mixed with salt, to lower the melting point temperature, on the road surface. Sand can replace eroded coastline.[4] Some uses require higher purity than others; for example sand used in concrete must be free of seashell fragments.
Sand mining presents opportunities to extract rutile, ilmenite, and zircon, which contain the industrially useful elements titanium and zirconium. Besides these minerals, beach sand may also contain garnet, leucoxene, sillimanite, and monazite.[5]
These minerals are quite often found in ordinary sand deposits. A process known as elutriation is used, whereby flowing water separates the grains based on their size, shape, and density.
Sand mining is a direct cause of erosion, and impacts the local wildlife.[6] Various animals depend on sandy beaches for nesting clutches, and mining has led to the near extinction of gharials (a species of crocodilian) in India. Disturbance of underwater and coastal sand causes turbidity in the water, which is harmful for organisms like coral that need sunlight. It can also destroy fisheries, financially harming their operators.
Removal of physical coastal barriers, such as dunes, sometimes leads to flooding of beachside communities, and the destruction of picturesque beaches causes tourism to dissipate. Sand mining is regulated by law in many places, but is often done illegally.[7] Globally, it is a $70 billion industry, with sand selling at up to $90 per cubic yard.[8]
^"Sandpit Owners Ordered to Take Corrective Steps". Los Angeles Times. 15 July 1969. p. OC–A1. Archived from the original (Subscription required) on 7 August 2009. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
^Lubasch, Arnold H. (8 October 1967). "$75-Million Industry Park Planned for L.I. Sandpit". The New York Times. p. R1.
^Marco Hernandez; Simon Scarr; Katy Daigle (February 2021). "The messy business of sand mining explained". Reuters.
^"Battle lines in the sand". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 November 2005.
^Ravishankar, Sandhya (20 June 2019). "Mining The Coasts of Tamil Nadu". The Lede. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
^Ratcliffe, Ruth (9 April 1997). "Opposition to sand mining on Stradbroke". Green Left Weekly. Archived from the original on 3 September 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
^Graham J Whitehead (2004). "Sand Mining". City of Kingston Historical Website. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
^Mills, Ryan; Staats, Eric (17 November 2016). "Shrinking Shores: Florida sand shortage leaves beaches in lurch". Naples Daily News. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
Sandmining is the extraction of sand, mainly through an open pit (or sand pit)[failed verification] but sometimes mined from beaches and inland dunes...
National Green Tribunal on 21 March 2024, revealing ongoing 24-hour illegal sandmining in the inspected regions of Krishna and Guntur districts without valid...
filled with aeolian sand, blown from the Thar Desert dunes, and heaps of limestone block, deriving from the prehistoric mining activity. All around these...
Sandmining, especially illegal sandmining in Tamil Nadu state is done on river beds, basins and beaches, It has been on an increase, since the beginning...
Sand theft or unauthorised or illegal sandmining leads to a generally unknown global example of natural and non-renewable resource depletion problem...
previously unknown environmental hazards, notably noise pollution and sandmining, and has won national and International awards for her work. She also...
have surged. People living near the river have petitioned for an end to sandmining there. Large-scale damage has been seen throughout Koh Kong Province...
Sandmining is a serious issue of environmental concern in the Kerala province of India. Even though sandmining is banned in most parts of Kerala, it...
change. Some mining methods (lithium mining, phosphate mining, coal mining, mountaintop removal mining, and sandmining) may have such significant environmental...
the area. Sandmining began at the Mangawhai Harbour entrance pre 1940. In 1978 the collapse of sand dunes, believed to be caused by sandmining, closed...
sometimes illegally. Due to the environmental issues that can be caused by sandmining, this activity is currently banned. Discharge of waste from towns and...
paradise that survived Sri Lanka's civil war. Now an Australian mining company wants its sand". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 30...
sale of tobacco to minors, efforts to counter the politically sponsored sandmining mafia and recognition of the biodiverse Sawantwadi-Dodamarg wildlife...
list of associated species. Sandmining has been conducted in the Sandbelt region since the 1880s. Several former sandmining sites have been used for landfill...
construction boom are driving the increasing demand for sand. The consequences of excessive sandmining and smuggling, which are strongly connected, range...
com/todays-newspaper/wily-mafia-changes-tactics-mines-sand-at-night.html [bare URL] "MoEF team inspects sandmining sites on Yamuna banks in Noida". ibnlive.in...
island. The island has been the site for sandmining for more than sixty years. Tourism and currently mining are the island's main industries. North Stradbroke...
site for sandmining, film making, and had use as pastoral property. It is also known as part of Kurnell Peninsula Headland and Cronulla Sand Hill. It...
connected to the local sandmining mafia as he was exposing their practices. Sandmining is an illegal process of removing sand and selling it as material...
crustaceans . Because it is composed of limestone, coral sand is acid-soluble. Coral sandmining is a significant industry in some areas, and can have damaging...
ghats for sandmining against CESS advice". The Hindu. India. 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2013. Sreebha S (2008). "Environmental impact of sandmining: a case...
government under Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for its sandmining policy. After coming to power in May 2019, sandmining was banned for more than 3 months until a...
became a leper colony, while North Stradbroke Island became a hub for sandmining, and is also associated with the Indigenous rights movement as the home...
The Uttar Pradesh illegal sandmining scam is a political scandal relating to events that occurred in 2012–2017 during the Samajwadi Party (SP) rule....
Seeman has criticised political apathy on this issue and the illegal sandmining of the state's riverbeds. Between 2011 and 2012, when Tamil Nadu was...
captive-bred gharials since the early 1980s. Loss of habitat because of sandmining and conversion to agriculture, depletion of fish resources and detrimental...
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