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National facility established to research mine site remediation

November 08, 2002

A major new national research facility designed to help find practical, low cost, low energy solutions for land contaminated by mining activities is to be based in the North East of England.

The establishment of the National Mine Site Research Facility will be announced at a conference in Newcastle upon Tyne this Monday, 11 November.
The National Mine Site Research Facility has been established by Newcastle University, the Coal Authority and Durham and Northumberland County Councils, supported by CL:AIRE (Contaminated Land: Applications in Real Environments), a public/private partnership established in 1999 with a remit to encourage the demonstration of remediation research and technologies on contaminated sites throughout the UK. CL:AIRE has a wide range of public and private supporters including English Partnerships, the regeneration agency for England which manages the National Coalfields Programme.

The six former coal mining sites (Shilbottle, Whittle, Acomb, Quaking Houses, Bowden Close and St Helen Auckland) which will form the core of the facility are all within 30 minutes' drive of Newcastle University, where a research team led by Paul Younger, Professor of Hydrogeochemical Engineering, pioneered a number of community-based natural regeneration techniques which use waste materials to treat polluted mine waters.
The National Mine Site Research Facility sites all have different ground and drainage conditions, and have been remediated using several different techniques. Continual monitoring of these sites will provide useful information to answer questions about whether the physical and chemical conditions at the site change over time, and whether any changes will affect the efficacy of the treatment method.

The legacy of land contaminated by mining activities world-wide is considerable. In the UK alone, more than 6,800 hectares of land1 and 200 km of river water have been affected by metalliferous mining and more than 400km of river water2 have been impacted by coal mining operations.

Whilst many mining operations have terminated, leachate from old mine spoil and backfill, and waters discharging from flooded mine workings which have been abandoned, continue to act as a source of contamination to land and water.

Paul Beck, Chief Executive of CL:AIRE, said: "The establishment of this new Research Facility addresses one of the key points of CL:AIRE's Research Strategy, which is to identify priority research areas on which to demonstrate remediation research and technologies. Because land in many of the areas affected by past mining activities has a low economic value, there is a real need to find low cost, low energy solutions to provide adequate protection to human health and the environment.

"There are still some basic questions relating to which remedial techniques work best under what conditions, and more importantly, how long these methods will remain effective before renovation or modification is required. These questions will be answered by research carried out at this Facility which builds on the previous work supported by the Coal Authority and the world class research being carried out by Paul Younger at Newcastle University."
   
Keith Parker of the Coal Authority, said, "The Authority is pleased to be involved through inclusion of some of our minewater treatment sites in the facility. The opportunity to further the understanding and share data on the performance of such systems is welcomed and should provide valuable assistance with continual improvement of future projects by the Authority and others."
Euan Hall, Divisional Director of Coalfields and Joint Ventures at English Partnerships, welcomed the announcement. He said: "One of our principal aims is to encourage as much sustainable new development as possible on former industrial land. Research like this makes an extremely important and valuable contribution to the remediation of sites throughout the country."

Newcastle upon Tyne, University of