Geomorphic rehabilitation ([GR], also known as geomorphic reclamation or geomorphic restoration) is a general term to describe alternative methods and procedures to conventional mine rehabilitation. The main aim of GR is to replicate 'natural' landforms for the new conditions after mining and to restore functionality and diversity of ecosystems at degraded sites. The correct application of the GR technique ensures visual integration with surrounding landscapes. Although GR is a broad term, referring to any geomorphic restoration of land, GR is often synonymous with fluvial GR, mostly following the GeoFluv TM-Natural Regrade method. This paper describes how and why the application of GR through GeoFluv-Natural Regrade in Spain since 2009 has attracted formal recognition by the European Commission (EC) of the European Union (EU) as one, among others, of a catalogue of best available techniques (BATs) for the management of waste from extractive industries, in accordance with the European Directive 2006/21/EC. GR has been recognised as BAT at the EU for multiple reasons, including mine site monitoring results that demonstrate increased physical stability with minimised erosion from stormwater and snowmelt runoff; natural hydrological function being established; the variability within the formed landform promotes ecological diversity for vegetation and wildlife communities; construction and short and long-term maintenance and repair costs are minimised; and visual impact of the mined landscape is reduced. This paper describes also the role of GeoFluv-Natural Regrade GR in the L'Instrument Financier pour l'Environnement (LIFE) program, which is the EU's most important funding instrument addressing environment and climate action. A focus is provided on the LIFE TECMINE project, described in detail, since it is the most recent and complete GeoFluv-Natural Regrade example in Europe. The TECMINE project is a geomorphic-based ecological restoration project in the Valencia province, within the Iberian Mountain Range and where conventional mine rehabilitation practice, based on gradient terraces, shows general and widespread failure. The demonstration project is fostered by the Administration of the Valencia Region, which seeks to test innovative techniques (GR, micro-catchments, soil amendments and new protocols of revegetation) for mine rehabilitation, promote improved practices and disseminate the best practice output through their development and analysis. Testing GR is the main focus of the project. The application of GR at the TECMINE project included (a) finding 'natural' and 'stable' landforms and landscapes to be used as reference or analogues for replication in GR, although difficult, was possible due to ancestral land transformation; (b) the steep terrain, characteristic of the Iberian Range, challenged the formation of GR GeoFluv-Natural Regrade designs, but the project demonstrated that they can be implemented in that mountain setting; (b) the mining company reported similar cost estimations for this alternative ...
The environmental impact of mining on landscape systems is well recognised. New technologies for landscape reconstruction have been developed and advanced in recent decades alongside the recognition of the environmental impact and resultant societal expectation of a restored and integrated post-mining system. A post-mining landscape requires physical stability (and, if present, chemical stability). Australia, the United States, Canada, Chile and the European Union, among others, have mine regulations requiring non-polluting post-mining landforms. We describe mine closure actions in Spain and Portugal (LIFE RIBERMINE project) that integrate two geomorphic landform design techniques: (a) GeoFluv-Natural Regrade, for unconsolidated sandy waste dumps in Spain and pyrite waste deposits in Portugal, and (b) Talus Royal, for hard-rock residual highwalls in Spain. SIBERIA landscape evolution modelling has been used to evaluate the erosional stability of post-mining geomorphic landform designs in Spain. Acid mine drainage (AMD) chemical stabilisation and remediation measures were combined with geomorphic landform designs in Portugal. Design procedures of LIFE RIBERMINE took place in the years 2019 and 2020, being constructed in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Design and construction phases were executed as planned, with minor deviations. The monitoring procedures (lasting until 2029) are intended to verify the real effectiveness of such solutions. The improvement of the water quality downstream in the demonstration site of Spain (Santa Engracia mine, Peñalén) will be quantified by measuring the sediment emission-immission to water bodies. Erosion rate (sediment yield) at the Santa Engracia mine previous to LIFE RIBERMINE was 353 t ha -1 yr -1 . The target values after restoration should range between 4 and 15 t ha -1 yr -1 , forecasted by the SIBERIA modelling and measured by monitoring similar geomorphic-based solutions at nearby mines. Regarding turbidity, suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) at a pre-rehabilitation phase were 391 g l -1 and target values (baseline) are 24 g l -1 . In Portugal (Lousal, Grândola), where AMD is the main problem, it is expected that the dissolved potentially toxic elements' maximum concentration values of Pb (0.9 mg/L), Cd (0.5 mg/L), Zn (80 mg/L) and Cu (20 mg/L) are reduced to values at least closer to the values established by the Portuguese legislation for minimum water quality in surface waters (Pb -0.05 mg/L, Cd -0.01 mg/L, Zn -0.5 mg/L, Cu -0.1 mg/L). If the AMD treatment measures are effective, initial physicochemical values of pH (between 1.8 and 3.1) and conductivity (2.71-3.9 mS/cm) should also change to near common non-polluted water values (around pH -7, conductivity -0.75 mS/cm). LIFE RIBERMINE aims to significantly reduce mined land environmental contamination and to demonstrate the efficiency of a combination of some best available techniques for mine closure. The performance results can be used to consider applying the innovative rehabilitation and remediation designs to other min...
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