TY - GEN
T1 - Using environmental permits for boosting the environmental performance of large-scale lignite surface mining activities in greece
AU - Pavloudakis, Francis F.
AU - Agioutantis, Zach
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - More than 350 Mm 3 of materials are excavated annually from the mines of the Ptolemais basin which produce about 50 Mt of lignite. This lignite is subsequently supplied to Thermal Power Plants located in the vicinity of the mines. Mining activities currently occupy a total of 16,000 ha. Unless appropriate preventive and mitigation measures are applied, environmental conditions will deteriorate in numerous ways due to the scale of the operations and the applied surface mining method. From calendar year 2002, it is required that the Ptolemais mining complex complies with environmental permits set by Ministerial Decisions signed in common by the Ministers of Environment, Development, Culture and Agriculture. For the core mining activity, which consists of four pits with an annual lignite production of more than 35 Mt, the permits were signed eight years after the submission of the relevant Environmental Impact Assessment study. During this long period of negotiations, the mine operator was called many times to submit supplementary information that was deemed necessary in order to agree to the terms and conditions that were finally included in the permit. This paper presents the main terms and conditions of these permits, which provide a framework for developing and implementing an integrated environmental management system. This system comprises several preventive and mitigation measures related to waste management and monitoring of environmental quality, which are applicable from the early stages of mine operation. The implementation of this system is completed after the mine closure with a series of site-specific land rehabilitation and post-mining monitoring activities. Based on the experience gained so far from the implementation of the terms and conditions prescribed in the permits, this paper also presents some critical aspects regarding the benefits of this process, the regular implementation of auditing procedures and the effective settlement of conflicts between mining companies, supervising authorities and other stakeholders.
AB - More than 350 Mm 3 of materials are excavated annually from the mines of the Ptolemais basin which produce about 50 Mt of lignite. This lignite is subsequently supplied to Thermal Power Plants located in the vicinity of the mines. Mining activities currently occupy a total of 16,000 ha. Unless appropriate preventive and mitigation measures are applied, environmental conditions will deteriorate in numerous ways due to the scale of the operations and the applied surface mining method. From calendar year 2002, it is required that the Ptolemais mining complex complies with environmental permits set by Ministerial Decisions signed in common by the Ministers of Environment, Development, Culture and Agriculture. For the core mining activity, which consists of four pits with an annual lignite production of more than 35 Mt, the permits were signed eight years after the submission of the relevant Environmental Impact Assessment study. During this long period of negotiations, the mine operator was called many times to submit supplementary information that was deemed necessary in order to agree to the terms and conditions that were finally included in the permit. This paper presents the main terms and conditions of these permits, which provide a framework for developing and implementing an integrated environmental management system. This system comprises several preventive and mitigation measures related to waste management and monitoring of environmental quality, which are applicable from the early stages of mine operation. The implementation of this system is completed after the mine closure with a series of site-specific land rehabilitation and post-mining monitoring activities. Based on the experience gained so far from the implementation of the terms and conditions prescribed in the permits, this paper also presents some critical aspects regarding the benefits of this process, the regular implementation of auditing procedures and the effective settlement of conflicts between mining companies, supervising authorities and other stakeholders.
KW - Impact assessment
KW - Land reclamation
KW - Rehabilitation
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84865432470
SN - 9781605605487
T3 - 25th Annual Meetings of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation and 10th Meeting of IALR 2008
SP - 797
EP - 818
BT - 25th Annual Meetings of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation and 10th Meeting of IALR 2008
T2 - 25th Annual Meetings of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation, ASMR 2008 and 10th Meeting of International Affiliation of Land Reclamationists, IALR 2008
Y2 - 14 June 2008 through 19 June 2008
ER -