Client: Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment – Environment Department
Other Partners: ENVECO S.A. (Greece)
The main objectives of the project were:
- National Inventory Preparation of all the Mine Waste Facilities in Cyprus, including closed/ abandoned mines according to the requirements of Directive 2006/21/EC “on the management of waste from extractive industries” and the national legislation
- Assessment and classification of the active Mine Waste Facilities in Cyprus based on the risk to cause adverse impact into the environment, especially in water, soil and air
- Assessment and classification of the closed/ abandoned Mine Waste Facilities in Cyprus based on the risk to cause adverse impact into the environment, especially in water, soil and air
- Formulation of model Waste Management Plans
- Development of suitable Database to store and present all the collected data
The tasks that were successfully completed and the services that were provided were:
- Collection and recording of all available data for all mine waste facilities in Cyprus
- Review of international best practices regarding the management of mine waste facilities and restoration of mine waste sites
- Extensive field work to identify existing extractive waste facilities, including closed/ abandoned mines
- Topographic survey of mine waste facilities and determination of the ownership of each facility
- Assessment and Classification of both the active and the closed/ abandoned Mine Waste Facilities in Cyprus based on the risk to cause adverse impact into the environment, especially in water, soil and air according to the National Legislation (Law 82(Ι)/2009)
- Development of Database suitable to store and present the data collected
- Formulation of model Waste Management Plans
In Cyprus the most active extractive waste facilities are originated from quarrying activities, apart from one active copper mine. The majority of the active mine waste facilities have minimum risk to cause adverse impact into the environment, due to the inert characteristics of these wastes.
In contrast, there are many abandoned mine waste facilities, originated from the intense copper mining activities during the second half of 20th century. The majority of these facilities can cause adverse impact into the environment, especially in the degradation of the quality of water and soil.
