Europe & CIS

Feasibility study for the remediation of the bor mine surface and groundwaters

Project Vision /Goals
The project goal has a two-fold approach: the first is to perform an assessment to determine and identify necessary follow-up measures, in terms of further studies and/or action. Another aspect of this is to provide an overview of potential remediation measures adapted to the specific circumstances of the Bor site. The second goal is to enhance local capacity to perform such assessments independently and carry out remediation activities.
Project Description
The copper mine Bor is the oldest for copper ore exploitation dating from the beginning of 20th century. The process of copper ore treatment has produced large amounts of ore waste and flotation tailing heaps that are unsecured, unprotected and are contributing to ongoing environmental risk/harm. These are located in the vicinity of Bor. The waste and tailing heaps pollute the environment in a number of ways, sometimes to the extent of ecological catastrophes. Forming of ore tailing disposal in Eastern Serbia is often not followed by adequate surface and groundwater protection measures in the zone of inflow.

The lack of reliable data creates a need to make a study on the real scope of the environment pollution on the territory of the region of Bor, ion the vicinity of which there is a copper mine. The Identification and resolution of pollution problem on the territory of Bor, as a large community, proves to be a substantial multidisciplinary and socially complex undertaking.

The project focus is to in a community participatory manner prepare a feasibility study of selected sites in the Bor mine complex, to determine the requirements of environmental remediation of pollution sources in water. It will focus on both surface- and groundwater quality. To determine water quality, a monitoring network will be established and the samples will be analysed both on the field and in laboratory. Conventional measures/steps in remediation techniques will be explored and cross-examined. Their economic effects and expected outcomes will be also compared. In addition, some novel ways of remediation will be tested, i.e. extracting copper from water streams.

The project also addresses the aspects of the EnvSec Initiative, contributing to its larger mining initiative, and is formulated in such a way that the outcome of remediation recommendations would build capacity for mine site management in Serbia, draw both political and community attention, and it provide learning in a regional context. The mining initiative of EnvSec addresses pilot sites identified by a desk assessment in 2004 and further consulted and elaborated in 2005 at the Cluj-Napoca Ministerial Conference. The activities in this project will take the document “Mining for Closure” developed through this initiative and endorsed at the Conference into account as a policy recommendation document.
 

Project Phases
The project activities to reach the two goals will be focused on the following:

1.    To perform an initial assessment of surface and groundwater quality and identify priority areas for more in-depth study and/or action and to provide an overview of and recommendations to potential remediation measures and techniques for further evaluation.
2.    To identify both institutional (legislative) and local-community-based capacity gaps to deal with environmental problems.

In detail, the project goals will be reached through the following activity stages:

Goal 1:
Analysis of water quality with identification of remediation measures:
-    Collection, selection and reinterpretation of already published materials to date
-    Hydrogeological recconaissance
-    Identification of all the hot spots in the Bor area that pollute environment
-    Detailed hydrogeological mapping of selected pilot study area(s),
-    Establishment of monitoring network for water quality observations (surface- and groundwater, possible polluters etc.)
-    Data collection from the monitoring network
-    Field and laboratory analysis
-    Result interpretation

Goal 2:
Analysis of the socio-political fields of influence to identify the following issues and produce recommendations to address them:

-    Analysis of existent legal framework, identification of gaps and measures to address them;
-    Level of involvement of public institutions in the application of the given regulations;
-    Challenges for NGOs’, dealing with the environment protection, to make their actions effective;
-    Strengthening the influence of NGOs through involvement in municipality assembly;
-    Economic circumstances of the region affecting potential investments;
-    Lack of Local Environmental Action Plan;
-    Public awareness capacities.

Final activity: Production and dissemination of study results in a joint report with recommendations on potential remediation measures and social capacity building measures.

Project Responsibilities
The project will be conducted by the Faculty of Mining & Geology, University of Belgrade, Serbia, and NGO “Responsibility for the future” from Belgrade, Serbia, with backstopping from the UNDP Country office in Belgrade and UNDP Regional office in Bratislava. Potential sub-contractors (specialized institutions and experts) will be hired for specific inputs
Project Deliverables
The main output of the project is a feasibility study of the Bor mine surface- and groundwaters with recommendations for follow-up remediation action. These recommendations will also comprise of the identification of necessary mechanisms and actors in community-based activities in the follow-up remediation.
 

Peter Svedberg