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3.1.3        Mining

Overview

Mining has been undertaken in Europe for many hundreds of years. Today many mines have been closed but both recent and abandoned mines still affect the quantitative, chemical and ecological quality of water. This section covers both mining and extraction (gravel, peat) activities.  Main pressures and impacts include acidification caused by lowering pH and discharge of heavy metals, other chemical pollution or pollution resulting by saltwater intrusion, alteration in flow, or lowering water table caused by an excessive dewatering during mine operation or after mining activities have stopped. Recovery of affected aquatic ecosystems – including groundwater - may take decades.

In the 2^nd RBMP, 17 WFD countries reported mining as significant point and/or diffuse source pressure, affecting ca. 1 100 surface water bodies (less than 1 % out of all surface water bodies), and 7.5 % of the whole groundwater area. Countries with high shares of reported pressures from mining included the UK, Norway, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain, and Italy.

Other analyses of mining pressures and their potential risks to water show a slightly different picture due to the use of other sources of data. In Figure 5 below, countries are scored based on mining activities (existing and abandoned mines) and Czechia, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Spain and United Kingdom are the Member States with the highest potential risk of mining pressures (WRc, 2012).

Figure 5             Potential risk of specific mining activities in European river basin districts

Notes: Map produces by CENIA, CR on behalf of European Commission ©; DG Environment, September 2012.

Source: WRc ( 2012)

Mining activities include the extraction of coal and lignite, minerals mainly potassium, rock salt and magnesium-containing minerals, clay, peat, metals such as copper and gold as well as stones, gravel, or sand (aggregates). It is estimated that in EU more than 32 000 sites with mining activities exist, of which more than 25 000 are used for the extraction of aggregates, with the highest numbers of sites in Poland and Germany. The number of peat extraction is some 1 400 sites of which 75 % is located in Finland (EU, 2018).

On the number of abandoned mines, European-wide data are rare, e.g. (EC, 2017a), and the number of abandoned mines is likely to be much higher than of active ones based on available data on certain countries, like Slovakia and Hungary. Slovakia has registered more than 17 000 and Hungary has reported some 6 000 abandoned mining sites (UNCCD, 2000). The bulk of mine water problems in Europe are in fact associated with abandoned mining sites and in numerous catchments, the single greatest cause of freshwater pollution is pollution from abandoned mines (ERMITE-Consortium et al., 2004).