Mine spoils consist of overburdened dumps of haphazardly, mixed consolidated and unconsolidated material. Mine spoils are nutritionally and microbiologically impoverished habitats. Natural restoration of mine spoil is a slow process. Afforestation of mine spoils with fast growing tree species accelerates the revegetation process and fulfils the restoration goal.

The stomatal response of cassia (Cassia streata L.) and dhaincha (Sesbania rostrata L.) to a coalmine overburden (OB) substrate was studied with a view to rehabilitate such areas. Plants raised in unmined soil were used as controls. The mine OB induced significant increase in stomatal index (SI) with diminished stomatal size and a stomatal closure in the test plants.

Mining is generally followed by a revegetation programme carried by the Forest Department. In such programmes, often exotic plant species are also used along with native tree species. Since the last one and half decades an exotic tree species, Prosopis juliflora has gained tremendous popularity among forest officials due to its easy establishment, low mortality rate and fast growth rate on mine spoil, compared to other woody species.

Studies carried out in Sal forest of Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh revealed that the artificially reclaimed sites develop much faster in terms of soil and vegetation as compared to abandoned mines.

In India 18,289 hectares of land is under various type of land degradation due to coal mining in which 1100 ha is by overburden dump. With the increase demand of coal and its opencast mining degrade 1400 ha of fertile land every year. This deterioration in the fertility is due to loss of soil through water erosion, contamination through leaching of heavy metals and siltation with runoff.

Studies carried out in Sal forest of Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh revealed that the artificially reclaimed sites develop much faster in terms of soil and vegetation as compared to abandoned mines.

The mining sector in Asia has often been characterized more by poor rather than by good environmental management. Thus, "mining and the environment' occupy contested terrain. This article focuses mainly on the small-scale mining sector, with examples drawn from the region.

In the mining industry in India, a trend has emerged for the adoption of advance technologies intended for maximum extraction of mineral resources, to fulfill the developmental needs. As a result, they have achieved very high production rate and huge profit margin.