Abstract:The technological process of exploitation of mineral resources and processing of mined ores to cater to the market results, among other things, in a large amount of tailings deposed on tailing ponds. Because of the chemical composition of the material, the increasing amount of waste, and the mismanagement of recovery and reclamation of ponds, these ponds have become a significant element of negative impact on the surrounding ecosystem. Economics was behind the discharging of this material, resulting in tailing ponds created in inappropriate areas. There is an ongoing process of depositing tailings on old tailing ponds, although no special attention has been paid to the subsequent effect on the environment. Application of intelligent multi-criteria analysis AHP and PROMETHEE has been performed in this paper for the purpose of ranking the degree of negative impact on the environment of tailing ponds. Analysis is performed for five tailing ponds of MMCC (Mining Metallurgy Chemical Combine) "Trepča", whereby two of the ponds are active and three inactive. The ponds are in relatively close proximity to the municipalities of Zvečan and Kosovska Mitrovica, to the north of Kosovo and Metohija, Republic of Serbia. In order to achieve the most objective results, the AHP and PROMETHEE methods were applied. By using these methods for calculations, the following ranking for the flotation tailing waste deposits was obtained, regarding their environmental impact: Žitkovac, Tvrdanski Do, Bostanište, Gornje Polje and Žarkov Potok. This result can contribute to the decision-making process of a prioritizing strategy for rehabilitation and remediation of these five flotation tailings. The analysis illustrates that application of intelligent multi-criteria analysis is a useful environmental management tool to be included in the decision-making process.

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Direct discharge of municipal and industrial waste waters and leachate (originating from the illegal landfills) into recipients without prior purification is unfortunately very common practice in the region of northern Kosovo. In addition, irresponsible and incorrect selection of sites for industrial and municipal dumps, which are often located in vicinity or on actual river banks, contributes significantly to environmental pollution. Analysis of the leachate from such sites was done by direct sampling and by using TCLP (Toxicity Characteristic Leashing Procedures) method. Based on the analysis of physicochemical parameters of the filtrated water from the sites Žitkovac, Grabovac and Balaban and analysis of the samples of surface water and groundwater from the site Grabovac, possible steps for removal and reduction of the existing pollution were proposed. Potential permanent solution in form of purification of municipal and industrial waste waters as well as leachate from illegal landfills was suggested. The potential implementation of remediation with a unified system for water purification, by using Membrane Bio Reactor (MBR), which includes the process of stabilization/solidification of a residual sludge, would have as an end product a neutral powder material completely safe for the environment, suitable for a variety of applications.

The aim of this study is to investigate the environmental risk of long-term metallurgical waste disposal. The investigated site was used for the open storage of lead and zinc waste materials originating from a lead smelter and refinery. Even after remediation was performed, the soil in the close vicinity of the metallurgical waste deposit was heavily loaded with heavy metals and arsenic. The pollutants were bound in various compounds in the form of sulfides, oxides, and chlorides, as well as complex minerals, impacting the pH values of the investigated soil, such that they varied between 2.8 for sample 6 and 7.34 for sample 8. In order to assess the environmental risk, some eight soil samples were analyzed by determining the total metal concentration by acid digestion and chemical fractionation of heavy metals using the BCR sequential extraction method. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was used to determine six elements (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Ni). Total concentrations of the elements in the tested soil samples were in the range of 3870.4–52,306.18 mg/kg for As, 2.19–49.84 mg/kg for Cd, 268.03–986.66 mg/kg for Cu, 7.34–114.67 mg/kg for Ni, 1223.13–30,339.74 mg/kg for Pb, and 58.21–8212.99 mg/kg for Zn. The ratio between the mean concentrations of the tested metals was determined in this order: As > Pb > Zn > Cu > Ni > Cd. The BCR results showed that Pb (50.7%), Zn (49.2%), and Cd (34.7%) had the highest concentrations in mobile fractions in the soil compared to the other metals. The contamination factor was very high for Pb (0.09–33.54), As (0.004–195.8), and Zn (0.14–16.06). According to the calculated index of potential environmental risk, it was confirmed that the mobility of Pb and As have a great impact on the environment.

The aim of this work is to present what are the possibilities for providing Pb-Zn ore from the surrounding districts for exploitation the "CRNAC" mine. The amount of excavated ore, as well as a wellknown fact that the ore reserves are not inexhaustible, generated the need for continuation od geological exploration. Enlargement of raw material base should be expected on the indicated locations close to the active deposits of Crnac. One of the identified sites in the Crnac ore zone and the eastern part of active deposit is also the so-called district of "CRNAC-EAST".This paper presents the results of geologically explored operations obtained by interpolation of data from exploratory wells and exploratory mining operations in the district of "CRNAC-EAST".

Exploitation, development and primary extraction of the minerals result in release of the harmful substances, e.g. heavy metals, toxic gases, dirt, etc, that are often uncontrolled deposit in the environment. Those deposited and overlooked substances remain as a heritage and challenge for the coming generations that would involve abundant human, technical and financial resources for the environmental reclamation. The mining activities of the Trepča -RIF Kopaonik has both positive and negative influences within the Leposavić municipality, i.e., industrial development and environmental degradation. As a result of the mining activities the air, land and water resources both surface and underground are severely polluted. The main objective of this paper is to present adverse effects of the mineral resources (lead and zinc) exploitation and primary extraction on the Ibar River water quality degradation mainly by heavy metals. Since the heavy metals are frequently ingested by the people through the food chain and given the high toxicity of them they are crucial parameters for the water quality monitoring practices that should be carefully assessed and controlled. Thus this paper includes comprehensive analyses of the heavy metals concentration (Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd and Fe) in the Ibar River within the Leposavić municipality

As a result of a very limited number of geometric and other input data, the temperature modeling of the river Ibar downstream of the lake Gazivode was started by analyzing one river reach between Pridvorica, secondary dam in the system Gazivode, and the city Kosovska Mitrovica. River reach was selected so that the numerical results can be compared with available measured temperature data. Water quality component of HEC-RAS one-dimensional hydraulic river model was used for temperature calculations.

The aim of this paper is to achieve a rational rates in development the underground facilities at the lowest costs of construction and possible maximum quality (in this case, under