Major environmental impacts from mining activities are typically depletion of natural resources, mining waste and energy use. Most of the minerals used in welding consumables are fairly common in the crust of the earth and are not considered as hazardous to the environment. There are however some, like heavy metals used in high alloyed steels that can be hazardous to the environment. In some cases mining waste contains hazardous components especially when metals like lead or cadmium is present in the rock.