ABSTRACT
Although data on the proportion of land disturbed by mining globally is not available, extrapolation from data available for major mining countries such as the United States and Australia would suggest that this percentage is small (<1%) in relation to that devoted to other land uses. For example, in Australia it is estimated that land disturbed by mining is less than 0.02% (Farrell and Kratzing, 1996), whereas 54% is devoted to grazing and 6% to cropping (Alexander, 1996).
