Transcript Information System on Toxification and Vulnerability

Project PA n° 42
Inventory, Regulations and Environmental Risks of
Toxic Mining Wastes in Pre-Accession Countries
Introduction to PECOMINES project
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Inventory, Regulations and Environmental Risks of
Toxic Mining Wastes in Pre-Accession Countries
PROJECT TEAM:
G. Bidoglio, Project Leader
National Experts seconded to JRC:
A.-M. Vijdea, Remote sensing applications
E. Puura, Inventory and impact assessment
G. Jordan, Inventory and impact assessment, GIS applications
T. Hamor, Legislation and regulatory aspects
JRC scientific staff
M. D’Alessandro, Impact assessment
S. Sommer, Coordination remote sensing and geo-referenced spatial data
M.Van Liedekerke, Information management and GIS applications
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PECOMINES Principal Objectives
• to compile an inventory of toxic waste sites from mineral mining in
Pre-Accession countries in relation to “sensitive” catchment areas, by
combining an indicator approach according to the DPSIR framework
and an analysis of satellite remote sensing
• to compare criteria and legislation for safety disposal of mining
waste and for assessment and remediation of contaminated areas in
candidate countries with regulations adopted by EU Member States
and with the existing EU legislative framework in the area of waste
• to contribute to the assessment of the consequences of emissions
and accidents related to mining wastes in a perspective of ecosystem
protection, by comparing approaches and measures for impact
evaluation to ecosystem recovery and restoration
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PECOMINES Rationale
• DG Environment is currently taking the initiative for the preparation of a
proposal of a EU regulatory framework on mining waste, either as a
separate piece of EU legislation or as an annex to existing Directives
• Previous studies have shown that in the EU Member States harmonised
and precisely geo-referenced information on active and abandoned mine
tailings is fairly limited
• Data from EUROSTAT/OECD surveys show that mining wastes rank first
in the relative contribution of wastes in many Central and Eastern
European Countries
• Given the widespread nature of toxic mining waste in Pre-Accession
countries, DG Environment attaches a particular importance to
prioritisation in this area, in order to involve the applicant countries
during their environmental approximation process from the beginning
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PECOMINES Rationale
Why Mining Waste?
In general: it differs from other waste
• Large volumes of waste in huge areas
• Often historic waste covered by soil and vegetation
• Long-lasting, mainly diffuse-source pollutant
• Catastrophic events are regular
• Mining waste (s.l.) is generated throughout the mining cycle
• Has impact on all elements of environment
• Has long-distance, catchment-scale, cross-border impacts
• No existing specific national, international, supranational
legislation
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PECOMINES Project Structure
Inventory
European
Environment Agency
•MoU on Contaminated Sites
•TC Wastes
Collaboration
with National
and Regional
Authorities
National
Experts
Regulations
Workshop
DG Environment
New Initiative on
Mining Waste
Environmental
Impact
Workshop
JRC Institutional Links
IWES (EI 4;JRC 42); EURO-LANDSCAPE (SAI 4;JRC 39)
(ongoing activities at the
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Aznalcóllar mining site, Spain)
PECOMINES Methods
•The state-of-art study reviews relevant EU and international
legislations (environment, water, nature conservation,
mining).
•The communications for the inquiry are carried out through
personal contacts, written inquiries, missions etc.
•Through collection of PECO regulations and licency
practices, the complete texts of relevant regulations,
standards and regulatory authorities licensing practice are
obtained.
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PECOMINES Methods
Linkage of different scales
Multi-SCALE MODELLING
Catchment scale
Site surroundings
scale
Site scale
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Different amount of data is
available for the toxic mining
waste sites, and different scales
have been studied. In addition,
different modelling tools have
been used for the scales.
The linkage between different
scales is carried out by developing
geo-referenced spatial data
interfaces - the type of data,
taking into account site-specifity
and catchment-specifity.
PECOMINES Methods
Learning from studying mining sites:
the Guadiamar River Aznalcóllar Mine Accident
Integrated approach at watershed level to determine pollutant pathways
and impacts on the Guadiamar River basin ecosystem
• In 1999 and 2000 Collaborative Field Campaigns
were organised together with EI, SAI, Consejeria de
Medio Ambiente de Andalucia and the Consejo
Superior de Investigacion Cientificas (CSIC).
• Achievements :
– Characterisation of the residual levels of heavy
metal contamination after initial remediation
procedures
– Establishment of a relationship between soil
contamination and spectral response of airborne
imaging spectrometry
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PECOMINES Principal Deliverables
Inventory and mapping of toxic waste sites from mineral
mining in Pre-Accession countries (document and georeferenced database)
Environmental Vulnerability Indicators in relation to toxic
waste sites from mineral mining using DPSIR approach
Contribution to DGs on definition of criteria for assessment
of contaminated lands
Provide input data for an environmental impact assessment
of management of toxic mining wastes
Technical reports on combined survey and assessment of
exposure pathways at contaminated sites
Harmonised and geographically referenced tool to predict
the potential risk from mining wastes at local and regional
level
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