The effect of mining on animals is referred to in the world's first mining textbook, De Re Metallica by Georgius Agricola (1556), which contains an excellent description of the destruction caused by mining in Germany:

the strongest argument of the detractors is that the fields are devastated by mining operations . . . The woods and groves are cut down, for there is need of an endless amount of wood for timber, machines and the smelting of metals. And when the woods and groves are felled, then are exterminated the beasts and birds, very many of which furnish a pleasant and agreeable food for man. Further, when the areas are washed, the water which has been used poisons the brooks and streams and either destroys the fish or drives them away.

I think it is true to say that while mineral exploitation has caused some damage to nature conservation interest in Britain, this has been mostly on a local and minor scale, and on the whole the gains have outweighed the losses, especially in the creation of interesting new habitats.

(D. A. Radcliffe, 1974, p. 368).