Land Reclamation After Surface Mining in the Ussr: Economic, Political, and Legal Issues

Abstract

This paper surveys economic, political, and legal factors involved in decisions to reclaim surface-mined land in the USSR, with particular emphasis on coal and iron ore, two of the most economically significant minerals extracted by surface methods. An initial section presents estimates of areas disturbed by surface mining and subsequently reclaimed. An analysis of selected economic, political, and legal factors follows. These include changing ratios of surface to underground production; a price system which undervalues mineral raw materials relative to finished products; Gorbachev's economic reforms; fragmentation of jurisdiction over reclamation activities; and extant reclamation law and its interpretation.

Active revegetation after mining: what is the contribution of peer-reviewed studies?

“…In the USA, there are laws dating back to 1977 that oblige mine companies to perform after-mining restoration of the vegetation cover ( Macdonald et al., 2015 ); this fact may help to explain the high interest in the topic in the scientific community. Other countries with intense mineral extraction, such as China and Russia, also have laws regulating mine reclamation since 1986 and 1968, respectively ( Bond and Piepenburg, 1990 ; Cheng and Skousen, 2017 ); however, in practice, this legislation is not enforced ( Cao, 2007 ; Faizuldayeva, 2016 ). Countries with greater compliance with restoration laws are likely to make greater investments and be more interested in restoration research to contribute to the success of reclamation initiatives.…”