Recovery: A project whose main objective is to restore degraded and transformed ecosystems in post-mining areas.
It should be borne in mind that each site of this kind, which is a heap following mining activities, has its own specifics,” said Alicja Krzemień, Ph.D., from the Department of Exploitation Technology, Rockbursts and Risk Assessment at the Central Mining Institute, in an interview with netTG.pl.
– The Recovery project, whose main objective is to restore degraded and transformed ecosystems in post-mining areas, is coming to an end in June. So do we already know the answer to the question of how to quickly and effectively restore sites degraded by mining activities?
– We certainly have one of the many solutions, and a tailor-made one at that, for the heap of the Janina mine in Libiąż. This is a difficult site, as natural succession of nature does not occur there as quickly as we would expect. At most of the sites we have seen in Spain, Germany and the Czech Republic as part of the Recovery project, it will be a matter of a few years. In that time, nature can recover. In the case of the heap in Libiąż, this will not happen. Without human intervention, we will be waiting 30, maybe 40 years for an effective biological reclamation of the area to take place. We are talking about an area of more than 30 hectares, so other solutions for the rapid and effective reclamation of the site can also be implemented in parallel with ours developed under the Recovery project. Let them be submitted by scientific centres or municipal entities. The idea is to come up with as many feasible projects as possible. A revitalised heap must serve the community that lives here well in the first place.
– So natural reclamation on the one hand and technical reclamation on the other, for future investments. I guess that’s what it was all about.
– That’s right. Once again, the facility must meet the needs of the local community. If someone lacks running areas, they will certainly offer paths, but if a community already has attractive recreational areas, residents may be more interested in access to cheap energy or other services and job creation. It is important to listen to their voice. This is fundamental to such activities. If we are not willing to talk to the local government, there is a high risk that proposed solutions will be boycotted. There may even be acts of vandalism, as our partners in Spain, for example, have experienced. As scientists representing the Central Mining Institute, we have designed and proposed this rather than another method of biological reclamation of the heap and I hope that Tauron Wydobycie will use this solution. The costs associated with its application are comparable to those that every mine, in accordance with the regulations, has to incur for the reclamation of the heap. We are completing the Recovery project and have reason to be satisfied with the results achieved. This is all the more so as we are talking about a large-scale heap and the tests were conducted on a suitably large test area of 4,000 square metres. This was indeed a huge challenge. But I say again: in order to bear fruit, this solution must continue to be implemented on a full scale.
– Are all sites, such as the heap in Libiąż, characterised by similar reclamation problems?
– This is not quite the case. It should be borne in mind that every site of this kind, which is a heap after mining activities, has its own specifics. In Libiąż, the problem of the local heap is the acidity of the waste and erosion. In the Czech Republic, on the other hand, our partners presented a heap of post-mining waste, characterised by high thermal activity, where fire phenomena develop. Thus, each heap in the reclamation process must be treated individually. What is important for us is that the concept of biological reclamation of the Libiąż heap can also work on another heap of this kind. And this is the case in the GreenJOBS project, in which the Slovenians are the recipients of our solution and for them we are preparing a specific soil mixture to help with the reclamation of the site. The Recovery project has allowed us to exchange experience on the reclamation of post-mining heaps with partners from the Czech Republic, Spain and Germany. With each of these countries, the heaps are at different stages of reclamation projects, and scientists and local governments are facing different challenges. Some have had a slightly longer period of time to implement projects than we in Poland, for example.
– How many tailings piles are there in our region that will need to be developed in the coming years?
– A huge number. The OPI TPP 2.0 project, also implemented by the Central Mining Institute, has just finished. Its aim is to develop and implement a new e-service in the form of a generally accessible information system on post-mining areas in the Silesian Voivodeship. The scope of information and tools to be made available is dedicated to assessing the possibilities and potential for economic and social reuse of these areas. I would like to refer to this project, as it has managed to inventory over 600 sites of this type. A great base has been created for investors who are looking for sites for their ventures.