For more information on Mining Sites, please contact:
Michele MahoneyTechnology Assessment Branch
PH: (703) 603-9057 | Email: mahoney.michele@epa.gov
Characterization, Cleanup, and Revitalization of Abandoned Mining Sites
Resources and Links
- Overview
- Types of Abandoned Mining Sites
- Characterization
- Cleanup Technologies
- Revitalization and Reuse
- Events
- Resources and Links
- Presentations
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General Information |
Characterization and Remediation Technology |
Revitalization and Redevelopment |
Radioactive Materials
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General Information
- Abandoned Mine Lands Portal. The Abandoned Mine Lands Portal is a partnership that spans federal, state and local efforts and is dedicated to raising awareness about abandoned mine lands.
- EPA Abandoned Mine Lands Program. This website identifies EPA resources related to the range of environmental risks and challenges from abandoned mine lands, as well as risk management approaches.
- Mine Waste Issues in the United States: A White Paper developed by the Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council (ITRC).
This paper highlights the four areas that states and industries consider most important to address: pollution prevention, waste management, remediation and reuse, and legacy management. It also introduces innovative solutions to historical and current environmental problems in the industry. - Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM). OSM is responsible for establishing a nationwide program to protect society and the environment from the adverse effects of surface coal mining operations.
Characterization and Remediation Technology
- Brownfields Technology Primer: Mine Site Cleanup for Brownfields Redevelopment. The Primer provides information about approaches that have been used for redevelopment of mining sites, as well as new and innovative approaches to more efficiently characterize and clean up those sites.
- Mine Waste Characterization Project, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS has taken a multidisciplinary approach to assemble, develop, and refine methods and tools for characterizing and screening weathered solid mine wastes. Tools developed from this work can be used in ranking and prioritizing historical mining waste piles.
- Mining Technology, EPA Office of Research and Development. This program develops and demonstrates innovative, cost-effective cleanup technologies for mine land. Engineering solutions, through laboratory research and field testing, address the environmental legacy of mining and smelting of metallic ores.
- Mining Waste Treatment Technology Selection. Developed by ITRC, this site assists project managers in selecting an applicable technology or suite of technologies that can be used to remediate sites contaminated by mining waste. Each technology is described, along with a summary of the applicability, advantages, limitations, performance, stakeholder and regulatory considerations, and lessons learned from past applications.
- National Technology Development and Transfer Website, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM). OSM's Technology Development and Transfer Program supports and enhances the technical skills that states and tribes need to operate their regulatory and reclamation programs and to effectively implement the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.
- Office of Technology Transfer, Colorado School of Mines. This website provides links to fact sheets on available technologies developed by the school's faculty and students, a list of resources on technology transfer, and links to the school's latest research publications.
Revitalization and Redevelopment
- Abandoned Mine Lands Revitalization and Reuse Website, U.S. EPA. As part of EPA's commitment to finding innovative and effective solutions to the potential threats abandoned mine lands pose to human health and the environment, significant attention is being focused on potential future uses of these lands and the economic, environmental, and social benefits that reuse can provide.
- Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative. The Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative is a coalition of groups, including citizens, the coal industry, and government dedicated to restoring forests on coal mined lands in the Eastern United States.
- RE-Powering America's Land: Siting Renewable Energy on Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites. EPA encourages renewable energy development on current and formerly contaminated land and mine sites when it is aligned with the community's vision for the site. This initiative identifies the renewable energy potential of these sites and provides other useful resources for communities, developers, industry, state and local governments or anyone interested in reusing these sites for renewable energy development.
- Soil Amendments. This page discusses soil-related issues, including soil health and the use of soil amendments to revitalize soils in order to make them suitable for sustaining plant life or development.
Radioactive Materials
- Abandoned Uranium Mines, Abandoned Mine Lands Portal. Provides background information on uranium mining as well as regulatory aspects of reclamation and cleanup.
- Generic Environmental Impact Statement for In Situ Leach Uranium Milling Facilities, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This website addresses common environmental issues associated with the construction, operation, restoration, and decommissioning of in-situ leach facilities.
- Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials, U.S. EPA Radiation Protection Division. This website provides information, resources, laws, regulations, guidance, and key radiation contacts within EPA regions.
- U.S. EPA Technical Report on Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials from Uranium Mining - Volume I: Mining and Reclamation Background Volume I of this report examines the occurrence of uranium in its natural settings in the United States, its industrial uses, and the methods employed over the last century to extract it from ore deposits. In addition, the report explores the nature of solid and liquid wastes generated by extraction methods and the various reclamation and remediation methods that can revitalize the extraction site. Chapter 4 of the report focuses on cleanup options for various media that may be found at an abandoned uranium mine.
- Case Studies
