Abstract
Abandoned mines are a major mining liability for the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The impacts and risks of abandoned mines are specific to the location and type of ore, but they cover social, economic, and cultural aspects. A central element of an abandoned mine management policy is the definition of a methodology to identify and rank characteristics of abandoned mines that pose a risk to the environment and society. This article presents a methodology for the ranking of environmental risks for abandoned mines in the state of Minas Gerais based on different evaluation factors of their external effects on the environment, safety, the population and surrounding areas, heritage and the landscape. The environmental risk of the abandoned mine area was generated to establish the “Abandoned Mine Area Environmental Risk Hierarchy”. To achieve this a multi-criteria analysis (using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)) was adopted with each preponderant factor being compared and measured. The results show that the use this framework can support in the decision-making process of an environmental agency for developing the intervention aimed at situations of greater gravity, which, ultimately, may require the use of public resources to reduce risks.
Highlights
Graduate Program in Mineral Engineering, Departamento de Engenharia de Minas, Escola de Minas, Citation: Fernandes, P.R.M.; Lima, Abstract: Abandoned mines are a major mining liability for the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil
analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is based on three basic principles, which constitute the three steps of the process: (1) the principle of decomposition, which consists of breaking complex problems into less complex “sub-problems” in a hierarchical decision model; (2) the principle of comparative judgment, which consists of the comparative judgment of pairs of criteria or alternatives, from a pre-defined scale of importance, instead of trying to assign arbitrary weights simultaneously to each criterion or classification in all alternatives; and (3) the principle of hierarchical composition, which consists of appropriately aggregating the values determined for each criterion and sub-criterion, based on their respective weights until a final “classification” for the studied objective is determined [24]
Mines in the state of Minas Gerais and of the field reports was conducted to assess what information will be used for the risk assessment and ranking of abandoned mines [17]
Summary
Graduate Program in Mineral Engineering, Departamento de Engenharia de Minas, Escola de Minas, Citation: Fernandes, P.R.M.; Lima, Abstract: Abandoned mines are a major mining liability for the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The environmental risk of the abandoned mine area was generated to establish the “Abandoned Mine Area Environmental Risk Hierarchy” To achieve this a multi-criteria analysis (using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)) was adopted with each preponderant factor being compared and measured. Gerais defines an abandoned mine as one with an inactive mining operation and mineral treatment, with no forecast of restarting the activity, without implemented environmental control or monitoring measures, and with characteristics of abandonment. In this case, the closing process is incomplete or absent [1]. Institutions and authors [4,6,7,8] indicate the need for a strategic structure for the management of abandoned mines, divided into five main elements: (1) inventory and data management; (2) an understanding of the responsibilities and associated risks; (3) intervention performance reports; (4) the standardization of processes and methodologies and (5) the sharing of obligations between agencies
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