In the USA, the mining companies are suppose to store the top soil and allow scientists/botanists to return the land to a benevolent natural condition. I doubt there is any international laws that would govern such a focus. It should be made a part of the Kyoto Protocol. If the global community is sincere about ending the climate crisis these problems have to be addressed.
If Russia is worried about the cost, it needs to realize the ECONOMY OF THE NATURAL WORLD, can be just as much an investment to the future as the original diamonds were. Why is it abandoning a mine is a better idea than returning it to a natural state where ultimately trapping, hunting, fishing and tourism can flourish.
Mir Mine (click here) also called Mirny Mine is a former open pit diamond mine located in Mirny, Eastern Siberia, Russia. At the time of its closing in 2004, the mine was 525 meters deep and 1,200 meters across making it the second largest excavated hole in the world, after Bingham Canyon Mine. The hole is so big that airspace above the mine is closed for helicopters because of incidents in which they were sucked in by the downward air flow....
