FP5 project helping to shape EU policy on environmental management of mines
An international initiative has been established, with financial support from the Commission, aimed at providing European policy makers with practical guidelines for drafting new EU legislation on environmental management of the mining sector. The ERMITE project (environmental regulation of mine waters in the European Union) began in February 2001, and is funded under the energy, environment and sustainable development section of the Fifth Framework Programme (FP5). It was created in response to instances of environmental contamination by mines in Europe, such as the release of cyanide contaminated water into the Danube from a local gold mine in 2000, and the failure of a tailings dam in Los Frailes, Spain, which released tons of acid generating silt which threatened a nearby nature reserve. Further problems are envisaged when coal mining countries such as Belgium, Germany and Poland cease pumping their abandoned mines, leading EU decision makers to place more of an emphasis on the water management aspect of mines in current draft legislation. To this end, research teams in Spain, the UK, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina were asked to provide politicians with policy guidelines. In order to do so, the consortium emphasised the need to integrate water management and mining engineering perspectives alongside the more traditional waste management approach. As project partner Dr Luis Santamaria, from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology, told CORDIS News: 'The scope of international and interdisciplinary collaboration is what makes this project unique. The wide range of fields that we are able to cover has given us much more certainty in our conclusions.' A key element of ERMITE was the creation of stakeholder networks in each country and at European level. Participants were informed of the progress of the project and asked to provide input to the research programme. Dr Santamaria explains: 'We are working at the interface of research and policy making in order to promote the importance of water pollution in mining. The most persistent form of active pollution from abandoned mines isn't solids, it's water.' During September, the team will formulate their final policy guidelines, and the final phase will be a meeting with national stakeholders and the Commission, which, it is hoped, will lead to a comprehensive and sustainable legislative approach to the environmental management of Europe's mining industries.
Countries
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Slovenia, United Kingdom