The Environmental Impact of Former Uranium Mining Activities at the Novoveska Huta Site, Slovakia

Abstract

Mining and processing activities around Novoveska Huta village are very old. A huge number of old mining dumps and other residues from mining and processing of copper ores are found in the area close to the village. Historical studies show that mining activities have taken place in this area from primeval times. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the copper ores had been completely exploited. From the beginning of the nineteenth century, gypsum and anhydrite were also mined. In the first half of the twentieth century, mining of sulfates and radioactive ores was developed.