1. INVENTORY AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF MINING WASTE
pecomines
INVENTORY AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF MINING WASTE
HAZARDS IN CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPEAN CANDIDATE COUNTRIES
Erik Puura, Gyözö Jordan, Marco D’Alessandro and Giovanni Bidoglio, JRC-IES Soil and Waste Unit
INTRODUCTION
Mining wastes rank first in the relative contribution of wastes in many Central and Eastern European Countries, thus these countries are facing more acute problems than EU Member States. In general, there is a substantial gap in information on European level, how mining wastes in EU Candidate Countries are managed and where the sites generating largest hazards are located, including those that have been abandoned.
In the frames of the INVENTORY and IMPACT ASSESSMENT workpackages of the PECOMINES project ( ), the information already existing in Candidate Countries on geological deposits, mining sites and environmental impacts is collected and analysed using tools of site assessment and modelling. The main focus is concentrated on the sites with existing or potential releases of chemicals that may cause hazards.
METHODOLOGY
For receiving the information, multiple sources are used, as presented on the scheme. A crucial role is given to the Steering Group (SG) of the project - 18 experts from 10 Candidate Countries (mainly from environmental ministries and geological surveys and institutes), who assist in finding appropriate information sources and comment on project deliverables. The first group meeting took place in Ispra in October 2001, the second is associated with the Workshop ‘Mine and Quarry Waste - The Burden from the Past’ at Lago D’Orta, May 27-28, 2002.
EARLY RESULTS
1. The countries have identified ‘mining waste hot spots’ that are connected with metals, uranium or fossil fuels mining and are either single tailings ponds, larger mined-out areas with high number of waste heaps, or releases from mine voids.
2. According to preliminary screening, from 10 Candidate Countries, only 2 - Latvia and Lithuania are not facing ‘burdens from the past’ caused by mining activities. The following table indicates significance of the problems.
3. Detailed study of 4 sites has been carried out, contributing to the development of pressures & impacts classification and finding the indicators for qualitative impact assessment. These are:
Smolnik site in Slovakia: an acid drainage from underground copper mine, concentrated into 1 point source at l/s and covering river bed with Fe-Al oxyhydroxides and heavy metals for tens of kilometres
Banska Stiavnica site in Slovakia: quartzite mine including lenses of pyritic clay, impact of acid drainage to soils
Maardu site in Estonia: an open phosphate mine containing black shale with high pyrite, organic matter and heavy metals content in the overburden, with problems of metals transport and spontaneous combustion
Recsk site in Hungary: metals-rich acid drainage from waste rock and underground mine
For these sites, a lot of quantitative and qualitative emissions data are existing, and the on-going work is focussed on how to use these data for development of qualitative assessment criteria. However, the early results of the inventory show, that for most of the sites, reliable emissions data are not available.
HOW TO CARRY OUT SITES ASSESSMENT?
Understanding the problems of site-specificity with tens and hundreds of parameters being significant, the practice of Canadian MEND-programme and USGS, but also PECOMINES early results indicate the need to create and use ‘TOOLBOXES’ or ‘TOOL KITS’ for sites screening and assessment. These include:
SCREENING TOOLS: sampling strategy, leachability, NAP determination etc
NON-INVASIVE RAPID SCREENING TOOLS: remote sensing, geophysics
RESIDENCE PHASES DETERMINATION: X-Ray analyses, extractions etc
PUTTING MINES INTO CONTEXT: use of geological data and spatial modelling. Related to the tasks and cost-effectiveness, appropriate tools should be chosen.
The main method for obtaining uniformly structured information on mining sites is through a specially designed QUESTIONNAIRE that is accompanied by a detailed guide.
CONTACTS: website project leader authors