Final Report Summary - SAFEMANMIN (Safe Management of Mining Waste and Waste Facilities) The SAFEMANMIN project reviewed information on current international practices in management of wastes from the mining sector in order to become a reference source for the implementation of the European directive on the management of waste from extracting industries. Firstly, the state of the art was identified with the aid of questionnaires that were distributed in institutions operating in the sector. It occurred that in most cases, waste characterisation was not obligatory, therefore it was fragmentarily performed. Moreover, the utilised standards were not specifically developed for mining activities. As such they were not always appropriate and additional tests were required to estimate leaching behaviour. Applicable methods for waste characterisation were evaluated, focusing on geotechnical parameters. Information regarding the classification of facilities was also reviewed. SAFEMANMIN highlighted that the majority of environmental problems were associated to old and abandoned extraction sites. It was pinpointed that European regulations for the rehabilitation of such areas were still missing and relevant international coordination was necessary; however classification systems were already developed in some cases at a local level. In addition, selected proposals and research efforts regarding the prevention and abatement of the generated pollution were reviewed and a workshop aiming in their evaluation was organised. Finally, all data and information collected during the project elaboration were presented in a website, in order to be easily accessible by end users and to serve as a decision support tool (DST) for waste management operations. Additional dissemination activities included the preparation of a brochure and a compact disk containing principal research findings, which were distributed to targeted recipients, as well as presentations in conferences and international scientific events. Related documents Final Report - SAFEMANMIN (Safe Management of Mining Waste and Waste Facilities)
