Legacy Soil Contamination at Abandoned Mine Sites: Making a Case for Guidance on Soil Protection

Abstract

Within the European Union, guidance in the form of a uniform Soil Directive does not exist and member states are left to enact their own legislation governing historic soil contamination. Several historic or "legacy" sites exist in Cyprus - an EU member state with a long history of mining and a significant number of abandoned mining sites. The gold-silver enrichment plant of Mitsero village was abandoned 70 years ago, yet soil samples inside and outside the plant were extremely low in pH, exhibited high leachability of heavy metals and high cyanide levels. Water samples collected from an ephemeral stream located down-gradient of the site contained high levels of heavy metals. Two abandoned open-pit mines (Kokkinopezoula and Mathiatis) were investigated, where elevated metal content in soil samples from the surrounding streams and spoil heaps, and extremely low pH and high metal content in water samples from the mine crater were measured.

Implications of co-contamination with aged heavy metals and total petroleum hydrocarbons on natural attenuation and ecotoxicity in Australian soils

“…Globally, historic industrial sites contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons represent a significant challenge as they pose serious risks to natural ecosystems and human health if left untreated. The 68 th United Nations General Assembly declared the year 2015 as the International Year of Soil (Kostarelos et al 2015), recognising the need and importance of soil remediation. The demand for re-using former industrial sites is driven globally by increased urbanisation, and as a result, many environmental agencies have prioritised the remediation of such sites.…”

Risk Assessment of Potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs) Pollution at a Rural Industrial Wasteland in an Abandoned Metallurgy Factory in North China

“…For example, there are more than 450,000 sites contaminated with toxic chemicals in the United States (U.S.) [ 4 ]. Recent statistics released by the European Environment Information and Observation Network for soil (EIONET-SOIL) indicate that there are approximately 340,000 identified contaminated sites among the European countries surveyed, and the main contaminant categories are PTEs, contributing to approximately 35% of soil contamination [ 5 ]. By 2011, 2095 contaminated sites had been identified within 47 developing countries, and PTEs are the leading primary exposure [ 6 ].…”

Trialling Water‐Treatment Residuals in the Remediation of Former Mine Site Soils: Investigating Improvements Achieved for Plants, Earthworms, and Soil Solution

“…The pH of any receiving soil and water can also be impacted, affecting the mobility and toxicity of PTEs. Indeed, PTEs at elevated concentrations arising from mining activities can adversely affect soil and aquatic biota communities, habitat, and ecosystems (e.g., Anawar 2015; Kostarelos et al 2015).…”