Mining Waste

Community legislation

Summary of EU legislation on mining waste

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/environment/waste_management/l28134_en.htm

Directive 2006/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the management of waste from the extractive industries

Implementing measures

In accordance with Article 22(1) of the Directive, the Commission has adopted by Comitology the following implementing measures:

Commission Decision 2009/337/EC on the Criteria for the classification of waste facilities in accordance with Annex III, adopted on 20/04/09, published on 22/04/09 (L 102, page 7)
Commission Decision 2009/335/EC on the Technical guidelines for the establishment of the financial guarantee, adopted on 20/04/09, published on 21/04/09 (L 101, page 25)
Commission Decision 2009/360/EC completing the technical requirements for waste characterisation, adopted on 30/04/09, published on 1/05/09 (L 110, page 48)
Commission Decision 2009/359/EC on the Definition of inert waste in implementation of Article 22 (1)(f), adopted on 30/04/09, published on 1/05/09 (L110, page 46)
Commission Decision 2009/358/EC on the Harmonisation, the regular transmission of the information and the questionnaire referred to in Articles 22(1) (a) and 18, adopted on 29/04/09, published on 1/05/09 (L 110, page 39)

In accordance with Article 22 (2) (a, b and e), the Commission has given a mandate to CEN in order to develop the required standardised sampling and analysing methods. CEN has also been mandated for the interpretation of the definition of inert waste, pursuant to article 22 (2) c). The final report was published end of 2012. For more details on the standards, please click here.

The Commission has also formally adopted the reference document on the best available techniques on the management of waste from extractive industries

Preparatory work

Commission Proposal

Studies

Study on Establishment of guidelines for the inspection of mining waste facilities, inventory and rehabilitation of abandoned facilities and review of the BREF document - DHI (April 2012)

Final report

Annex 1: Workshops in Brussels and Lisbon

Annex 2: Guidelines for the inspection of mining waste facilities

Annex 3: Supporting document on closure methodologies for closed and abandoned mining waste facilities

Annex 3 – Appendix II Prioritization of abandoned non-coal mine impacts on the environment

Annex 3 – Appendix III The legacy of abandoned mines

Annex 4 Comments on draft guidelines for the inspection of mining waste facilities

Annex 5 - Comments on draft supporting document on closure

Study on the impact of gold extraction in the EU- Bio Intelligence Service (April 2010)
Final Report (pdf ~1,330K)

The Commission has launched a study in January 2011 a study aiming at establishing guidance on inspection activities, exchange of information of rehabilitation of the closed and abandoned facilities and assessing the utility of updating the best available technique reference document (see terms of references of the study). A consortium led by DHI Denmark (lead person: M Ole Hjelmar, oh@dhigroup.com) and including Cantab Consulting Ltd, University of Tartu, Mecsek-Öko, VTT and Miskolc University was designed after a call for tender. Two seminars will be organised in the framework of the implementation of the study, one on inspection and another on the rehabilitation of the abandoned and closed facilities. The final report is expected by early 2012.

Management of mining, quarrying and ore-processing waste in the European Union
Final Report (pdf ~1,160K)
Annexes (pdf ~840K)

A study on the costs of improving the management of mining waste
Executive summary (pdf ~ 40K)
Final report (pdf ~ 460 K)

Study on the "Classification of mining waste facilities" (pdf ~5,550K)

Study on Financial Guarantees and Inspections - Montec April 2008
Final Report (pdf ~750K)
Annexes (zip ~1,010K)

Other relevant EU legislation

Seveso II Directive Directive 2003/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2003 amending Council Directive 96/82/EC on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances
Directive 2006/12/EC (pdf ~ 387 KB) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on waste (Waste Framework Directive)
Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste