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During its 13 years of non-continuous operation, the Osamu Utsumi Mine has generated serious environmental impacts. This mining complex is now attempting to decommission this uranium mine to reduce its environmental liabilities. As part of a hydrogeological analysis of the old Osamu Utsumi Mine pit area, a geophysical investigation was carried out along each front of the mine pit using electrical resistivity tomography and a dipole–dipole array. The lithology described in each front, the physical access, and data from monitoring wells also contributed to the geophysical interpretation and, hence, the hydrogeological analysis. The field results and geochemical data from monitoring wells enabled us to distinguish areas where water was flowing through fractures in the massif and areas with more acidic water, with electrical resistivity values less than 15 Ω m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In order to provide the owners of construction material concessions with a methodological tool that was not available until today to deal with mine decommissioning and to ensure a sustainable mining, it is proposed to implement a six-phase procedure based on the analysis carried out on 22 quarries located in three mining areas of Cuba. The procedure is to reduce environmental impacts caused by the exploitation of quarries and provide the industry with a standard procedure to achieve uniform closure planning and execution at a minimum cost [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Passive waste water treatment technologies based on ecological principles for organic pollutants are gaining gradual acceptance in many industrial sectors in the western world. They represent a revival of the ancient stewardship of natural resources in response to the need for sustainable development. This revival has also lead to the use of wetlands for mine waste water with inorganic pollutants. Constructed wetlands for metal-laden acid mine drainage (AMD), the major environmental issue in mining, are only part of the solution, as the metals in the waste water need to be mineralized in sediments. The principles of ecological engineering need to be embraced if sustainable solutions are to be found. Neither the scientific community working in mine-site restoration nor the mineral sector itself has fully integrated ecological engineering principles into restoration efforts. The many delaying factors are explored in this paper.A precise understanding of the underlying microbial dynamics of AMD generation is a prerequisite to any successful remediation strategy. The effectiveness of sediments in the open water sections of wetlands which bio-mineralize nutrients and organics, reduce metal acidity and increase pH has been widely demonstrated but the message doesn’t seem to be getting out. In addition to gaining an understanding of the underlying processes, effective treatment systems need to be designed, constructed and monitored over a sufficient time period to assess the sustainability of the approach. A few mine waste management areas have been developed where ecological engineering principles are utilized and demonstrate that through supporting biogeochemical cycles, nature''s repair mechanisms are at work. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]