What negative impact did gold and silver mining have on the west?

It decreased the enrichment of soil and the natural resources were been used up fast.

For the environment there was air pollution (I imagine water pollution too), and soil was denied its chance to stabilize and replenish itself with nutrients. For the people, a lot of accidents occurred that would result in death, or severe injuries. While some people gained from the gold mining, there were others. These people became laborers, and worked and lived in awful conditions.