EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE WORKSHOP

MINE AND QUARRY WASTE – THE BURDEN FROM THE PAST

LAKE ORTA, ITALY, MAY 27-28, 2002

Background

Mining for resources to satisfy energy and raw material requirements can seriously alter the composition of the landscape, disrupting land use and drainage patterns, contaminating soil and water resources, and affecting habitats for wildlife.

Recent mine accidents have brought back to the attention of the media, public and decision-makers the problem of potential emissions from thousands of mining sites in Europe, highlighting the priority of prevention as opposed to aftercare. The workshop jointly organised by the Joint Research Centre and by the DG Environment of the European Commission was a contribution to the initiative that DG Environment has taken for the preparation of a proposal of an EU Directive on the management of waste from the extractive industry.

The substantial gap on European level in information on the location and management of mining and quarry wastes, especially in Candidate Countries, exists not because the information is lacking, but because it is scattered between different institutions and is in different formats. The understanding of the full range of pressures can be achieved through compilation of the inventories that include closed and abandoned mines and quarries – the burden from the past. The screening and ranking of all the pressures should be scientifically linked to the impact assessment and prevention of water and soil pollution from mines and quarries.

Participants

70 participants from 23 countries attended, mainly from the Environment Ministries and Geological Surveys in EU Candidate Countries, also representatives of Member States (D, E, IRL and UK), Geological Surveys in Member States (F, FIN, S), scientific institutes (D, UK, PL) industry (Euromines, CECSO, UEPG, IMA, Turkish chemical industry), NGO (WWF), EU (DG ENTR, EEA/TC Material Flows), and organisers (DG ENV and JRC).

Keynote presentations

SESSION I: LESSONS LEARNT FROM ACCIDENTS AND CORRESPONDING ON-GOING ACTIVITIES/INITIATIVES:

A preliminary part included general introductions by DG Environment, Euromines and WWF, two presentations focused on the aftermath of the Azñalcóllar and Baia Mare accidents.

I.1 Current status of the new mine and quarry waste: proposal for a Directive and BAT document (Luca Marmo, DG Environment, and Stephan Theben, JRC)

I.2 View of the mining industry (Nils Eriksson, Euromines)

I.3 The management of mining impacts and the role of EU policy: An NGO view (Frank Almond, WWF

I.4 Lessons learnt from the Aznacollar accident, consequences for remediation and future planning (Jose Maria Arenas, Spain)

I.5 Baia Mare and Baia Borsa accidents, the aftermath (Cyanide and heavy metals pollution and environmental impact on catchments) (Radu Raitiu, UK)

SESSION II: MINE AND QUARRY WASTE PROBLEMS IN CANDIDATE COUNTRIES:

The situation of metal mining in Romania, coal mining in Poland, uranium mining in Bulgaria, and impacts from quarrying in Slovenia were presented, as well as the content and objectives of the PECOMINES project - a research project on mine waste inventory, impacts and regulations carried out by the JRC in cooperation with EU Candidate Countries.

II.1 Environmental impacts of metal mining (Serban Veliciu, Romania)

II.2 Environmental impacts of coal mining (Edeltrauda Helios-Rybicka, Poland)

II.3 Inventory and environmental impacts of uranium mines (Botjo Tabakov, Bulgaria)

II.4 Environmental impacts of quarrying (Slavko Solar, Slovenia)

II.5 Concept to link inventory, impact assessment and legislation development - The PECOMINES project (Stefan Sommer, JRC)

SESSION III: IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND PREVENTION OF EMISSIONS ORIGINATING FROM ABANDONED MINES:

The attention was focused on how to carry out an inventory of abandoned mine sites through reviewing European and World practice, including the issue of funding.

III.1 UNEP initiatives on World’s abandoned mines (Wanda Hoskin, UNEP)

III.2 Experiences of Canadian MEND programme (Gilles Tremblay, Canada)

III.3 Don’t forget the voids: impacts of emissions from abandoned mines in Europe (Paul Younger, United Kingdom)

III.4 Abandoned mines in Portugal – A programme of rehabilitation (Fernando Da Silva Daniel, Portugal)

III.5 Corporate responses and national policies (Paul Mitchell, UK)

Conclusions

An expert panel discussion concluded the workshop with an exchange of views on the three major aspects addressed during the two days: 1) how to carry out an inventory of closed sites, 2) which procedures should be used for a prioritisation of such sites for remedial action, and 3) who should finance such action.

The main outcomes of the discussion included the following:

(1) A lot of work regarding the inventories has already been carried out both in Member States and Candidate Countries. However, the data situation differs country by country, the data are not easily accessible and do not always provide up-to-date information on many sites, based on modern technology. Presently no reliable synoptic picture of number, extent, distribution and emissions from mining waste sites exists, neither for the Candidate Countries nor for EU Member States. Lack of information is not the fundamental problem, but available data are often scattered (different responsibilities, ownership), heterogeneous and lack standardisation in terms of parameterisation, formats and reference systems. The real issue is therefore how to compare and update existing data, rather than producing new data sets. The approach of the PECOMINES project combining existing inventory data with remote sensing applications and site assessment based on geo-environmental information is a good example of such comparative integration, simultaneously analysing the received information in order to establish the criteria for ranking environmental impacts. The requirement in the working document according to which Member States would have to carry out an inventory within a few years after the adoption of the Directive is feasible and would not imply unrealistic astronomic costs, as the experience of UK and Portugal shows. Such an inventory should characterise the pressures originating both from waste and mine voids, as at many sites, the loads of contaminants from mine voids are more than an order of magnitude higher than these from the waste. The inventory should also be focused clearly on identifying and ranking the impacts, and on selected details of the mine and quarry sites to assist remediation design.

(2) The role of the Commission, once the Directive is adopted, could be to pull together the massive amount of data and research already available with a view to produce commonly agreed guidelines and prioritisation for remedial action. Generally accepted criteria for prioritisation have not yet been agreed upon, but are badly needed. For prioritisation, not only environmental but also socio-economic criteria are necessary to account for. The detailed discussion by national and regional authorities as well as the local stakeholders on the future intended use of the mining areas would facilitate the identification of best possible remediation techniques and involved costs, followed by the search of funds at all levels.

(3) The major issue is that of “orphan” sites, for which it is difficult to identify any liable person and even more difficult to actually mobilise funding for remedial action. Possible ways forward are: a) a fund made available by each Member State for dealing with the most significant sites (like in the UK); b) the involvement of the local community, in particular by stimulating voluntary work and local sponsors; c) joint partnership public sector/private sector, in a spirit of emulation; or a combination of these. With a view to promoting sustainable development for the extractive industry on a global scale a suggestion was made to stimulate multinational companies to adopt the same EU standards in their dealing with mining waste management in third countries. This could even imply the requirement that all minerals imported in the EU should be extracted under the same high standards the future Directive will set.

Proceedings and presentations

The organisers are going to publish the Proceedings of the Workshop including short summaries that the keynote speakers have been asked to provide. In addition, many of the speakers have agreed to make the presentations available to access and download through internet.