Observed environmental impacts as well as uncertainties and knowledge gaps related to these impacts can affect local stakeholders’ land use in areas surrounding old mines.
Local stakeholders need more information than is currently available to them on the impacts of former mining activities on ground water and surface water, potential soil contamination and the safety of natural products, a new study from Finland shows. The majority of the respondents generally regarded post-mining sites as unpleasant places that are in need of better reclamation and landscaping measures.
“Our study shows that more attention should be paid to post-mining land use planning. This is especially important when we take into consideration the fact that the demand for various minerals is growing globally and the average size of mining projects has generally increased,” Researcher Sonja Kivinen from the University of Eastern Finland explains.
The study was carried out in collaboration between the University of Eastern Finland and the Finnish Environment Institute. The researchers used a public participation geographic information system approach to analyse local residents’ and visitors’ conceptions of two post-mining areas in northern Finland. The reopening of mines is currently planned in these areas.
“The shadow cast by old mines is long. The impacts on local land use are experienced far beyond the mining sites and long after their closure. When old mining sites are not reclaimed and landscaped properly, this has an effect on landscape values, natural values and possibilities for post-mining land use,” Kivinen says.
PHOTO CAPTION:
In the two areas studied in northern Finland, environmental impacts were highlighted as a cause for concern. Photo: the Hannukainen mine, by National Land Survey of Finland.