In the Yukon, we have the mess of the past producing open pit mine left behind by Anvil Range Mining in Faro. It will probably be on care and maintenance (liming water, etc) for a couple hundred years. It doesn't necessarily make you against mining. What it does do is make you a lot more aware of the eventual costs, and make you want to charge larger environmental and remediation costs up front. The dilemma is that in the past, standards were not so high, and the companies were not required to pay much of a deposit up front. Then if the company went under, it left the taxpayer to clean up the mess.

Not good as an investor. But still not insurmountable.