Post-mining of the Ukraine’s mining regions as a new direction for the environmentally safe use of mineral resources

The growth of market requirements for socio-economic and environmental parameters of mineral resources in most developed (“old”) mining areas (MA) of Ukraine has led to the closure of mines and quarries, including by the method of “wet conservation” (autorehabilitation uncontrolled flooding). This process is most actively developing in the MA of the Donbas, including in areas affected by armed conflict. In most developed EU countries, the decommissioning of coal mines (Ruhr, Lorraine, Wales), which have large depths (up to 1,0–1,5 km) and area (thousand sq. km) of minefields, is a research and production complex of post-mining (PM), which is based on scientific and technical measures to prevent dangerous changes in the geological environment (GE) - subsidence of the earth’s surface, flooding of lands, release of explosive and toxic gases, limiting the leakage of polluted water. In addition, the PM provides for the transformation of part of the mine workings into a hydraulic filtration system of mine water retention at a depth of 250–350 m in order to prevent the flow of pollutants into freshwater horizons and river network, preservation of regional aquicludes, degassing of mining space. In general, the set of PM measures is aimed at maintaining the balance and protective potential of the GE as a mineral and landscape base of the biosphere. In this regard, the article compares the protective potential of the GE of the Chornobyl accident zone and the Donbas region, as well as performs an expert assessment of the environmental protection potential of the PM in the leading MA of Ukraine. It is shown that a new model of mineral resourses use, structure of geological exploration works, scientific substantiation of maximum allowable changes of GE at closing of “old” and formation of new MA, improvement of environmental monitoring based on GIS technologies and remote sensing of the Earth are needed.