Proposed EU Directive on the Management of Waste from the Extractive Industries
TABLE 5
WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITIES AT ACTIVE MINERAL SITES
Type of Mineral | Total No of sites | No of sites with discrete waste manage-ment facilities | Type of waste management facilities |
Spoil tip | Lagoon with dam | Lagoon below ground level | Over-burden for Backfill | Stock-pile | Other - Flint store | Other - waste water stored in ponds |
Limestone/ Dolomite | 109 | 74 | 51 | 13 | 12 | 39 | 59 | | |
China Clay | 1 | | 17 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 8 | | |
Coal (Deep) | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 1 | | 1 | | |
Coal (Open) | 12 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 12 | 11 | | |
Oil/ Gas | 24 | 18 | | | | 18 | | | |
Chalk | 19 | 11 | 1 | | 1 | 11 | 6 | 1 | |
Clay/Shale | 64 | 45 | 10 | 3 | 14 | 37 | 30 | | 8 |
Gypsum/ Anhydrite | 2 | 1 | | | | | 1 | | |
Igneous | 69 | 30 | 22 | 6 | 19 | 8 | 28 | | |
Ironstone | 1 | | | | | | | | |
Peat | 120 | 15 | | | 1 | 2 | 14 | | |
Salt | 1 | | | | | | | | |
Sand/ Gravel | 290 | 177 | 6 | 36 | 108 | 143 | 106 | | |
Sand (Industrial) | 18 | 17 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 13 | 16 | | |
Sandstone | 72 | 31 | 8 | 2 | 7 | 34 | 18 | | |
Slate | 11 | 9 | 9 | | 2 | 2 | 2 | | |
Vein Minerals | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | | |
Other Mineral | 11 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | | |
TOTAL | 835 | 450 | 133 | 89 | 186 | 330 | 308 | 1 | 8 |
Source: MPA Survey , 2002
TABLE 6
SUMMARY OF WASTE CLASSIFICATION AND AMOUNT OF WASTE PRODUCED BY ACTIVE MINERAL WORKINGS IN THE UK
Mineral commodity | Number of active sites1 | Total UK production 2001 2 (thousands of tonnes) | Mineral to waste ratio 3 | Estimated waste production (thousands of tonnes) | Waste Classification | Perceived Risk* | Comments |
Sand & Gravel | 801 | 80793 | 9:1 | 8977 | Inert | Very low | Possibility of deleterious minerals (radioactive) in fine tailings in some quarries, especially near granite areas. |
Limestone | 347 | 102552 | 9:1 | 11394 | Non-hazardous | Very low | Possibility of included vein minerals Pb, Ba, Zn, F in a few quarries |
Sandstone | 305 | 19967 | 9:1 | 2219 | Inert | Very low | |
Igneous and Metamorphic Rock | 205 | 51501 | 9:1 | 5722 | Inert | Low | Possibility of deleterious minerals (radioactive and asbestiform) in fine tailings |
Chalk | 65 | 8205 | 9:1 | 912 | Non-hazardous | Very low | |
Silica Sand | 48 | 3848 | 9:1 | 428 | Inert | Low | Possibility of sulphides in some operations |
Common Clay and Shale | 178 | 10426 | | | Inert | Very low | Possibility of sulphides and gypsum in some operations |
Slate | 41 | 551 | 1:20 | 11020 | Inert | Very low | |
Coal - deep mined | 26 | 17347 | 2:1 | 8674 | Hazardous | Low | Pyrite in most operations |
Opencast Coal | 55 | 14166 | 2:1 | 7083 | Non-hazardous | Low | Much lower pyrite levels than deep-mined coal |
Peat | 114 | 1814000m3 | 100% mineral | Very small | Non-hazardous | Very Low | Very absorbtive substance |
China Clay | 17 | 2204 | 1:9 | 19836 | Non-hazardous | Very low | Possibility of deleterious minerals (radioactive) in fine tailings at some locations |
Ball Clay | 20 | 999 | | | Non-hazardous | Very low | Small amounts of lignite at some locations |
Fuller's Earth | 2 | 52000 | | Small | Non-hazardous | Very low | |
Gypsum | 6 | 1700 - includes anhydrite | | Small | Non-hazardous | Very low | |
Anhydrite | 1 | With gypsum figure | | Very small | Non-hazardous | Very low | |
Salt | 9 | 6100 | 100% mineral | Small | Non-hazardous | Very low | Waste disposed of in abandoned solution cavities. |
Potash | 1 | 882 | | 180 | Non-hazardous | Low | Possiblity of minor hazard due to mercury in clay waste. |
Fluorspar | 8 | 50 | | 100 | Hazardous F Pb Zn Ba | Low | Fluorite and sulphides in all operations. |
Barytes | 5 | 66 | Na | | Hazardous Ba Pb Zn F | Low | Fluorite and sulphides in some operations |
Calcite | 6 | 12 | Na | Small | Hazardous F Pb Zn Ba | Low | Fluorite and sulphides in some operations |
Serpentine | 1 | Very small | Na | Very small | Inert | Very low | Possibility of presence of deleterious asbestiform minerals. |
Flint | 8 | 2 | Na | Small | Inert | Very low | |
Honestone | 2 | Very small | Na | Very small | Inert | Very low | |
Iron Ore - Ochre | 2 | Very small | Na | Very small | Non-hazardous | Very low | |
Iron Ore - Hematite | 1 | 0.5 | Na | Very small | Non-hazardous | Low | Presence of small amounts of fluorite and sulphides. |
Iron Ore - Ironstone | 6 | Very small | Na | Very small | Non-hazardous | Low | Possibility of minor amounts of radioactive and/or arsenic.minerals. |
Bauxite | 1 | Very small | Na | Very small | Non-hazardous | Very low | |
Tufa | 2 | Very small | Na | Very small | Non-hazardous | Very low | |
China Stone | 1 | 3 | Na | Small | Non-hazardous | Very low | |
Talc | 1 | 5 | Na | Small | Inert | Very low | Possibility of presence of deleterious asbestiform minerals. |
Tin | 1 | Very small tourist operation | Na | Very small | Inert | Low | Similar to sand and gravel operations. Possibility of minor amounts of radioactive and/or arsenic.minerals. |
1 source: BGS BritPits Database
2 source: United Kingdom Minerals Yearbook 2002
3 source: Douglas and Lawson, 2000
Na - No figure available
* Risk cannot be quantified without a proper individual site assessment. The measure shown is simply the perceived risk overall, taking the quarries for each commodity as a whole
TABLE 7
MINERAL PRODUCTION DATA - EU 15
Mineral Type (thousand tonnes) | ***EU (15) Production (thousand tonnes) 2001 | Total EU (15) production (thousand tonnes) | UK as % of EU 15 |
Austria | Bel & Lux | Den | Fin | France | Ger | Gre | Ire | Italy | Neth | Port | Spain | Swed | UK |
Metal (thousand tonnes) |
Lead | 22 | 96 | _ | _ | 242 | 529 | 28 | 58 | 203 | 24 | 4 | 122 | 75 | * 1 | 1,404 | 0.07% |
Energy (thousand tonnes) |
Total coal | 1 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 2,300 | 202,275 | 60,400 | 0 | 150 | 0 | 0 | 22,500 | 0 | * 30,025 | 317,751 | 9.45% |
Industrial (thousand tonnes) |
Potash (K 2O equivalent) | _ | _ | _ | _ | 257 | 3,549 | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | 569 | _ | ** 900 | 5,275 | 17.06% |
Feldspar | _ | _ | 34 | 40 | 650 | 500 | 95 | _ | 2,500 | _ | 120 | 600 | 40 | ** 2 | 4,581 | 0.04% |
Fluorspar | _ | _ | _ | _ | 115 | 30 | _ | _ | 45 | _ | ?? | 134 | 3 | ** 53 | 380 | 13.95% |
Kaolin (China clay) | _ | _ | 2 | _ | 375 | 3,799 | 65 | _ | 100 | _ | 146,4 | 400 | _ | ** 2,100 | 6,841 | 30.70% |
Barytes | _ | 8 | _ | _ | 81 | 108 | 800 | _ | 30 | _ | _ | 44 | _ | ** 59 | 1,130 | 5.22% |
Limestone & dolomite | 31 | 33,500 | 961 | 3 | _ | 68,562 | 90 | 1000 | 120,700 | _ | 45,500 | 12,128 | 484 | ** 99,000 | 381,959 | 25.92% |
Silica sand | _ | _ | _ | 148 | _ | _ | 125 | _ | 3,000 | _ | _ | _ | _ | ** 4,000 | 7,273 | 55.00% |
Chalk | _ | _ | 410 | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | 980 | _ | ** 8,000 | 9,390 | 85.20% |
Gypsum & anhydrite | _ | 400 | _ | _ | 4,500 | 2,000 | 700 | _ | 1,200 | _ | 700 | _ | _ | ** 1,700 | 11,200 | 15.18% |
Fuller's earth | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | 500 | _ | _ | 30 | _ | _ | _ | _ | ** 44 | 574 | 7.67% |
Salt | 401 | _ | 605 | _ | 7,100 | 8,461 | 150 | _ | 3,800 | 5,000 | 626 | 4,100 | _ | ** 6,100 | 36,343 | 16.78% |
Sources:
*A Study on the Costs of Improving the Management of Mining Waste, Symonds Group, October 2001
**UK Minerals Yearbook 2002. Website - http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/statistics/uk/ukmy.html
***The United States Geological Survey (USGS) 2001 data. Website - http://minerals.er.usgs.gov/minerals/
_ Indicates where data are not available