Integrated water protection approaches under the WISMUT project: The Ronneburg case

Abstract

At WISMUT's Ronneburg mine site since 1991 a combined remediation strategy has been realised, which consists of the following central elements: clean-up of operational areas, backfilling of the open pit mine with waste rock from the surrounding piles, flooding of the underground mine and construction/operation of technical water management systems. This remediation approach can be characterized by a number of environmental benefits which include the termination of water quality problems caused by the waste rock piles which were originally spread over a large area, the immobilization of toxic substances in the area of the underground and the open pit mine and the termination of surface water pollution by the discharge of effluents from the mine drainage system. These effects enabled WISMUT to minimize the additional construction and operational costs for technical water management and treatment systems which are, however indispensable for the successful completion of the closure work.