Sustainability Assessment of Estonian Oil Shale Mining

Abstract

The global importance of and demand for oil shale are currently rapidly growing. Deposits of oil shale are widespread around the world. All this necessitates assessment of the sustainability of existing open-pit and underground mining technologies to improve oil shale mining management.The aim of the present study is to elaborate a method for assessment of the sustainability of oil shale mining to develop advanced mining technologies on this basis. Sustainability assessment has earlier been applied to two exploited Estonian carbonate rock deposits -dolostone and limestone. It was shown that a three-level matrix monitoring scale gives structured results. This paper considers the applicability of a sustainability assessment matrix to Estonian oil shale mining.

What Hinders and What Facilitates Good Living in the Oil Shale Mining Region?

“…Overall, the common standpoint is that industrial activities must continue in Ida-Viru County, otherwise there would be even more unemployment (and consequent emigration) and even less finances for local municipalities to maintain the infrastructure and improve the quality of public services. A positive change that has occurred since the beginning of the survey is that the industrial production of oil shale has been on the rise and mining volumes have been increasing [11], which is largely due to the ever-growing importance of oil shale-based oil production on a global level. As the representatives of mining enterprises said, "Until oil shale mining takes place, scientists can come and do their research on related themes if Ida-Viru County is still alive.…”

“…Several studies have been conducted on the ecological and environmental aspects of mining and the chemical industry [7,8] and the afforestation and natural vegetation of mined areas [9]. Some studies [10][11][12] have shown that from a biodiversity perspective it is best when areas are left for nature to take over. The potential usage of underground mined areas in Estonian oil shale deposits has also been investigated [13,14].…”