This review is focused on various possibilities of application of foundry sands. The evaluation was performed by summarizing available resources. The application of waste sand as an admixture in concrete brings with it economic advantages compared to the use of exclusively natural sand in the production of concrete. On the other hand, due to the mechanical properties, only a 10–20 % substitution of natural material with waste sand appears to be optimal. Road construction works provide an opportunity to reuse large amounts of surplus material, including foundry sand waste. High demands on the properties of the embankment (low internal deformation, sufficient shear strength, homogeneity, erosion resistance) are required for this application. Waste sands are a suitable substitute for clay cladding material. It is necessary to consider various criteria for the application of waste sand – economic, technical or environmental benefits. In the future, research should focus on evaluating the use of waste foundry sands in grasslands. There is currently insufficient knowledge to evaluate this application.

Mine water is one of the factors threatening the environment. The aim of the review article is to discuss and critically evaluate individual strategies for the remediation of neutral mine water. A critical evaluation is an essential tool to determine an appropriate remediation strategy. A wetland system is the preferred method of metal removal. However, the disadvantage is that it takes up more space compared to other methods and has a lower metal removal efficiency compared to active metal removal methods. When creating a suitable strategy, it is also necessary to assess the conditions of the mining site, which partially or completely prevent the use of the selected remediation strategy. The benefit of this review article is the processing of suitable combinations of treatment methods for the removal of potentially hazardous elements and their subsequent recovery. Future research in the field needs to focus on the analysis of the negative aspects of the environment that may disrupt or support the implementation of the selected method of remediation.

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There are several sources of mine drainage left over from past mining sites in the Central Slovakian neovolcanites. The neutral pH and high concentrations of sulphates and multiple potentially hazardous elements, such as zinc or manganese, are typical in this region. However, this environment could be home to specific microbiota. The aim of the study was to characterize bacterial populations in mine drainage in the Central Slovakian neovolcanites. Direct microscopic observations, cultivation methods, MALDI TOF mass spectrometry, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing of isolates were used for identification. Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria were almost equally represented in the mine water samples. The most abundant bacterium was the genus Bacillus spp. (43.48%). Another large group of bacteria consisted of Proteobacteria (34.78%), represented by Pseudomonas spp. (17.39%), Serratia spp. (13.04%), and Providencia spp. (4.35%). Our data confirm the presence of Bacillus spp. and Pseudomonas spp. as bacterial species occurring in an environment polluted by potentially hazardous elements, which may indicate their bioremediation potential.

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