Proof of Environmental Viability of the Submerged Mining Concept. ¡Viable Alternative Mine Operating System! Deliverable 5.5. European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement 642477

The report describes the environmental monitoring approach, methods and technologies employed during inland submerged mining trials, and the interpretation of the data acquired in order to assess the environmental viability of the ¡VAMOS! mining concept.

Measurements of important environmental parameters were acquired before, during and after mining operations in two inland flooded pits, at Lee Moor, Devon, UK and Silvermines, County Tipperary, Ireland, over a range of mining vehicle cutting modes and cutter head operating speeds.

Site-specific parameters were selected for each trial, with consideration of the following criteria:

• Historical datasets for relevant parameters.
• Suitability for supporting reliable measurement before, during and after mining.
• Relevance to the deposit type.
• Relevance to potential zones of influence to the surrounding environment.
• Their appropriateness for supporting robust and defensible environmental impact assessment.

Key parameters included pit water levels, suspended sediment concentrations (SSC), turbidity, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), nitrogen, phosphorus, metals and other relevant water quality parameters.

No evidence was found to indicate that the mining activities that took place at Lee Moor and Silvermines resulted in any significant impacts to surrounding surface waters during the trial monitoring periods.

Geological and hydrological models may be required to assess inflow and outflow through groundwater hydrological flows to support impact assessment for other inland flooded mine sites. While there is nothing in the trial results to suggest that the ¡VAMOS! submerged mining concept is inherently harmful, different sites may have different levels of hydrological connectivity to surrounding sensitive receptors. Therefore, some sites may require site-specific mitigation and monitoring measures.

The ¡VAMOS! trials only assessed inland open pits, therefore trial data cannot be extrapolated to assess potential environmental impacts of mining in marine or coastal environments, which have the added complexity of variable currents, wave action and a greater abundance of fauna and flora in immediate proximity.

Project DOI: https://doi.org/10.3030/642477

CORDIS web page: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/642477