This is where my passion for land use planning comes in. Humanity needs the resources, generally. I sat generally, because gold is about 50% industrial and 50% jeweler use.

Anyway, my paradigm is that we shouldn’t disturb more than is absolutely necessary. I’ve seen first and where their poor planning has resulted in more disturbed area than required, or a huge operational inefficiency.

If we can’t leave something intact, then we need to survey the crap out of it so we have a clear vision of what we are gunning for in post-closure. Ideally, we will have some undisturbed islands on the site to act as seed and wildlife banks to help re-establishment. The refuges, then, should generally only be temporary, but designed so they aren’t traps or hazards to the spp we want