Groundwater Risk Assessment in the Context of an Underground Coal Mine Closure and an Economic Evaluation of Proposed Treatments: A Case Study

Gregorio Fidalgo Valverde, Adam Duda, Francisco Javier Iglesias Rodríguez, Aleksander Frejowski and Ivan Todorov
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Gregorio Fidalgo Valverde: School of Mining, Energy and Materials Engineering, University of Oviedo, Independencia 13, 33004 Oviedo, Spain
Adam Duda: Department of Risk Assessment and Industrial Safety, Central Mining Institute, Plac Gwarków 1, 40-166 Katowice, Poland
Francisco Javier Iglesias Rodríguez: School of Mining, Energy and Materials Engineering, University of Oviedo, Independencia 13, 33004 Oviedo, Spain
Aleksander Frejowski: Department of Risk Assessment and Industrial Safety, Central Mining Institute, Plac Gwarków 1, 40-166 Katowice, Poland
Ivan Todorov: Department of Drilling, Oil and Gas Production & Transport, University of Mining and Geology “Saint Ivan Rilsky”, 1700 Sofia, Bulgaria

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-17

Abstract: Mining companies are responsible for the impacts that result from their mining activities even after the mining period has ended. At the same time, at the European and international levels, there is a lack of a detailed operational methodology comprising environmental risks during and after closure of underground coal mines. The environmental risk aspects that need to be considered when planning the closure of an underground coal mine and post closure in the broader environmental context are the following: modification of water flow scheme, surface instability, mine gas emission on the surface, and water and soil pollution. In this study, we focus on assessing groundwater risk in the context of an underground coal mine closure and evaluating the selected risk mitigation strategies in terms of performance and cost. The results from this study could be used for developing a final closure groundwater assessment plan by selecting the most feasible treatment alternatives for different environmental impacts, together with the transitional monitoring that could guarantee a hazard level in compliance with land reuse and the use of natural resources. Finally, the cost-efficient monitoring and treatment programs are used to estimate the financial provisions needed to mitigate groundwater risks during underground coal mine closure contexts.

Keywords: underground coal mine; groundwater risk assessment; mine closure; risk mitigation; economic evaluation; financial provision (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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