Collection
Sustainable Development in the Minerals Industry
The activities of extractive industries inevitably have environmental and social consequences, which may negatively impact local communities and their economies, and endanger aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Nonetheless. considering the significance of mining in generating revenue and employment, especially in certain developing nations, the vital importance of these resources to all economic sectors, and acknowledging the finite nature of many extracted resources, ensuring sustainable behaviors in the sector and the sustainability of the industry itself, while optimizing resource utilization for development is imperative. The purpose of this special issue is to present current thinking on the state of sustainability in the extractive industries with the goal of identifying areas of progress and those of immediate and longer term concern.
Editors
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Zach Agioutantis, Ph.D.
Dr. Zach Agioutantis is the Mining Engineering Foundation Professor and Chair of the Department of Mining Engineering at the University of Kentucky. Prior to that, he was a Professor and the Director of the Rock Mechanics Laboratory at the Technical University of Crete in Greece for over 25 years. Over the years, he has taught several mining engineering courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has authored and co-authored more than 80 peer-reviewed journal papers and more than 300 conference papers on subjects related to subsidence, applied and theoretical rock mechanics, etc.
