I'm sure no-one will be upset, it's an intelligent thought out post. I do know what you mean by raising revenue, but could that short term boost come at a cost? It's hard to measure what effect it could have on our biggest export which I'm sure you know is tourism. Maybe out of sight mines won't be noticed by the tourists. Maybe the false 'clean green' image which attracts people will put them off.
If I could be sure that it would only be small areas affected, with underground mines... Might be a different story. But even underground mines need their entrances & all the access roads and heavy machinery that needs to be transported in causes damage.
When looking at tourism in SE Asia I remember how they have supposedly protected national parks too, but with enough money any developer can build in them, with the detriment to locals who wouldn't stand a chance of competing with international resort chains. Is that how we'll turn out? National Parks full of hotels and mines, purchased by the higher bidder?