Mining Waste Classification and Quantity of Non-Metal Mines in Slovenia

Authors

  • Ana Burger
  • Slavko Vekoslav Šolar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5474/geologija.2007.016

Abstract

Mining is an important human activity that creates wealth and supplies materials for maintaining standard of living and further human development. However, mining has also negative impacts on the environment and society. One of them is the production of mining waste throughout the entire mining cycle, in particular in the mine development and operation /production stage. Due to the EU Directive 2006/21/EC on the management of waste from the extractive industries and its implementation in Member state, estimation on quality and quantity of mining waste from active non-metal mines in Slovenia was carried out. In the selected mines mining and processing was closely examined. With material flow analysis quantity and characteristics of mining waste were defined for several mines of different commodities. Data on mining waste were afterwards generalized in order to get an overall country evaluation on mining waste "production" of non-metal mines. Mining waste as a result of mining and beneficiation processes in non-metal mines of Slovenia is either inert or non-hazardous. Most of the mining waste is used for mine reclamation running simultaneously with the production phase. The largest amounts of mining waste per unit produced are created in dimension stone industry. Since the dimension stone production is small, the waste amount is negligible. Large quantities of mining waste are produced in crushed stone and, sand and gravel operations, because aggregate production is pretty large with regard to other non-metals production in Slovenia. We can therefore conclude that large quantities of mining waste from non-metal mines, which are mostly used in reclamation and for side products, do not represent danger to the environment.

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How to Cite

Burger, A., & Šolar, S. V. (2007). Mining Waste Classification and Quantity of Non-Metal Mines in Slovenia. Geologija, 50(1), 197–204. https://doi.org/10.5474/geologija.2007.016

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