Romanian Mining Research Articles

Aspects of compatibility regarding the pre-1990 blasters with new categories of electric detonators

In Romanian mining operations for the initiation of electric detonators are still used blasters manufactured before 1990. These blasters were designed and built for the initiation of electric detonators using the requirements of obsolete standards. For simultaneous initiation of a large number of electric detonators, sufficient electrical power must be supplied to all detonators within milliseconds. The time required to heat up the bridgewire until the fusehead deflagrates is a function of the voltage and the current. In order to be able to use old generation blasters for the initiation of new generation of electric detonators (that are built according to new national and European standards) a comparative analysis must be made between the requirements of the pre-1990 standards and the new standards in use.

Romanian Mining - Past, Present and a Possible Future

Abstract The paper follows the unfolding of the history of Romanian mining in its several major stages: the beginnings until the conquest of Dacia by the Romans, mining in Dacia during the Roman rule, mining activity after the Romans left Dacia until the 10th century, mining activity during the Middle Ages, mining during the capitalist period, Romanian mining during 1948–1990, Romanian mining after 1990, a possible future of Romanian mining and ends with some considerations regarding mining and the environment.

A Thermo-Mechanical Stress Based Fatigue Life Evaluation of a Mine Hoist Drum Brake System Using COMSOL Multiphysics.

In this study, the fatigue usage factors for Findley and Matake stress-based criteria were determined in the case of an MK5×2 mine hoist drum brake system subjected to cyclic maneuver braking. The study was conducted for this type of brake system, because the majority of mine hoists in Romanian mines are equipped with this brake type, being in operation for several decades. A geometric model of the brake was built using SolidWorks and imported in COMSOL Multiphysics to perform thermo-mechanical simulations. Based on the deformations and von Mises stresses determined by the thermomechanical simulation and, considering the calculated endurance limits of the brake system materials, Matake and Findley fatigue life evaluation simulations from COMSOL’s fatigue module were conducted. The results show that the highest fatigue is expected on the drum lining surface towards the exit point from under the brake shoe in both cases, and the values of the usage factor of 0.307 (Findley) and 0.401 (Matake) are both under the critical value 1, meaning that the stress limit has not been exceeded for the brake system components and, thus, failure is not expected. Simulations were conducted considering an estimated 1.06 × 105 cycles during one year, more than both the usual service/replacement interval of the friction components of the brake, and the period of mandatory technical inspections imposed by regulations.

Implementation of the Romanian Mining Strategy 2017-2035, with special regard to pit coal: failure or abandonment?

Jiu Valley is currently the only national mining basin capable of producing pit coal. Romania has undergone an extensive industrial restructuring in the last 30 years, including mining, which has led to job losses, generated economic-social and environmental effects that have severely affected the quality of life of the inhabitants of mining communities. As a consequence, the Mining Strategy of Romania 2017 - 2035 was elaborated. The paper analyses the objectives, measures and actions provided in the strategy related to the exploitation of pit coal, putting, face to face, the true state of the mines and the inhabitants of Jiu Valley. 4 years after the elaboration of the Strategy, it is clear that it has not yet come to life: mines are still being closed, there is no clear vision for the sustainable development of mining communities, the mine closure process, the greening of post-closure areas is difficult or not at all, research (e.g. capture of methane from coal), development and innovation are not stimulated, the operation of coal-fired power plants is endangered, with major implications on the supply of inhabitants with heating and of domestic hot water -resulting in major discomfort for locals.

Application of Innovative Processes for Gold Recovery from Romanian Mining Wastes

The application of a new hydrometallurgical process for gold extraction by thiosulphate leaching from Romanian mining wastes, coming from Balan and Deva deposits, was studied. There was obtained 85% of Au extraction after leaching; moreover, an integrated flow-sheet, including recycling of process solution and carbon, was outlined, based on results obtained at a laboratory scale, using a schematic chemical circuit of treatment. Global recovery of the process (leaching-adsorption-desorption-electrodeposition) of about 75-80% of Au was achieved. The developed integrated flow-sheet, allows to recycle the reagents during the process, with a loss of only 5-10%, in particular thiosulphate and alcohol, for each complete circuit of treatment.

Is There Sustainable Development after Mining? A Case Study of Three Mining Areas in the Apuseni Region (Romania)

The cessation or downsizing of mining activities induced complex challenges for entire regions in Romania, leading to depopulation, poverty, and pollution. Resource-dependency locked these regions in a mono-industry setting where it was difficult for new development paths to emerge. This paper presents a historical overview of a well-known Romanian mining region and identifies promising recovery opportunities that could shift the trajectory of its mining communities towards new sustainable paths. The research was based on official statistical data for the period 1965/1966–2018, complemented by qualitative data extracted from 39 semi-structured interviews with residents from the study area. The results revealed that the concentration of employment in the mining sector, together with other concurring factors, made it difficult for the communities to find sustainable ways of development while, at the same time, highlighting some possible revitalization and recovery opportunities. The findings contribute to a better understanding of mining communities, which will support the creation of tailored policies and planning strategies aimed towards their sustainable redevelopment.

Applicability of selected stable isotopes to study the hydrodynamics and contaminant transport within mining areas in Romania and Finland

Abstract Mining operations disturb the natural hydrological cycle at a local scale by creating new pathways for water flow and conveying large amounts of water, both for use in ore beneficiation and through the dewatering of mining workings. Sulfide minerals exposed to water and oxygen are oxidized through chemical and microbial-enhanced reactions, significantly altering the quality of water (acid mine drainage). Stable isotopes may reveal important information concerning water origin and transfer, as well as chemical processes and solute fluxes within the aqueous environment. Several case studies illustrate the use of stable isotope techniques for clarifying aspects related to water circulation in mining areas within Romania and Finland. Hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopes coupled with total dissolved solids have been used to characterize mine water and for assessing water sources, flow paths and mixing processes at some Romanian mining sites. At Talvivaara mine in Finland, water isotopes and chemical composition were used to determine the extent of waste water contamination in groundwater systems after a leakage at gypsum ponds.

Improving the Performance of Entities in the Mining Industry by Optimizing Green Business Processes and Emission Inventories

Due to environmental considerations, environmental sustainability has become the main target of contemporary organizations, which has a direct influence on increasing their performance. The purpose of this study was to present the efficiency of green business process optimization for the performances of mining entities. Quantitative research was carried out on a sample of 209 people in an economic entity in the mining industry. The results of the study indicated real possibilities to achieve the objectives set in the research undertaken. Using business process management, the authors examined how green business processes can be optimized in a Romanian mining entity. The main results determined the degree of pollution from suspended and sedimentary dust particles due to coal production from the mining entity that was studied. Moreover, the present research proved that certain key environmental indicators underlie the performance and optimization of green business processes. The practical implications of this study are to respect and continually improve the management of the processes of activities, to reduce the costs of depollution and increase the performances.

The Modeling of dams’ Stability Considering a Seismic Solicitation for the Tailings Ponds

The activities associated to the mining industry are a major source of risk to the environment, but especially for the local community. In Romania, mining of precious metals (gold, silver and copper) have changed the landscape permanently, having a profound impact both locally and regionally. To determine the behavior of the material inside the tailings ponds dams in case of a major seismic event, two ponds were chosen as study cases, both belonging to Rosia Montana mining region: Valea Salistei tailings pond and Gura Rosiei tailings pond. Rosia Montana mining region is one of the most important Romanian mining regions is the Golden Quadrilateral of the Apuseni Mountains, which it delivered over time significant quantities of nonferrous metals, especially gold and silver. For the two study cases the dams' stability was evaluated by classical methods (analytical and numerical), each method using two hypothesis: static and pseudo-static (seismic). The aim of the study is to monitoring the values of the safety factors when the dams of the tailings ponds are affected by an major seismic event and to observe the potential sliding surfaces through the dam's body, the shear deformations distribution and the total displacements and distribution from the resulted graphics on two random sections chosen for each of the case studies.

An Activist Perspective on Industrial Heritage in Petrila, a Romanian Mining City

The Petrila Coal Mine closed on October 30, 2015, and was slated to be demolished by January 2016 after more than 150 years of mining history. The company proposed no alternatives and made the decision to close the mine without any consultation with the local community. In 2011, however, after learning about the fate of the mine, a local artist and a team of architects initiated a series of projects offering alternatives to demolition. This article shows the complicated emotional relationship between the local inhabitants and the mine, as well as the dysfunctional communication between community, NGOs, and the local and central authorities. In a broader discussion of the neglected Romanian industrial legacy, it depicts how industrial heritage has made alternative scenarios an unavoidable topic of debate.

"The Dynamics Of The Romanian Energy Mining Industry In The European Context "

The study presents aspects regarding the evolution of the coal industry inRomania in the conditions of alignment with the convergence factors stipulated by the decision-makers of the community space. In the last century, the Romanian mining industry has witnessed astrong development. The intensification of exploitation activities has intensified considerably ascoal demand has been on the rise from one period to the next. Thus, the European directives imposethe need to optimize the production costs in the coal industry on the basis of competitiveness in theconditions of obtaining alternative electricity at a lower cost than the one obtained through thecombustion of coal.

Metal contamination in environmental media in residential areas around Romanian mining sites.

Hard-rock mining for metals, such as gold, silver, copper, zinc, iron and others, is recognized to have a significant impact on the environmental media, soil and water, in particular. Toxic contaminants released from mine waste to surface water and groundwater is the primary concern, but human exposure to soil contaminants either directly, via inhalation of airborne dust particles, or indirectly, via food chain (ingestion of animal products and/or vegetables grown in contaminated areas), is also, significant. In this research, we analyzed data collected in 2007, as part of a larger environmental study performed in the Rosia Montana area in Transylvania, to provide the Romanian governmental authorities with data on the levels of metal contamination in environmental media from this historical mining area. The data were also considered in policy decision to address mining-related environmental concerns in the area. We examined soil and water data collected from residential areas near the mining sites to determine relationships among metals analyzed in these different environmental media, using the correlation procedure in the SAS statistical software. Results for residential soil and water analysis indicate that the average values for arsenic (As) (85 mg/kg), cadmium (Cd) (3.2 mg/kg), mercury (Hg) (2.3 mg/kg) and lead (Pb) (92 mg/kg) exceeded the Romanian regulatory exposure levels [the intervention thresholds for residential soil in case of As (25 mg/kg) and Hg (2 mg/kg), and the alert thresholds in case of Pb (50 mg/kg) and Cd (3 mg/kg)]. Average metal concentrations in drinking water did not exceed the maximum contaminant level (MCL) imposed by the Romanian legislation, but high metal concentrations were found in surface water from Rosia creek, downstream from the former mining area.

The Economic Crisis in the Mining Sector - Miners Perspective

The present paper’s objective is to assess the perceptions and reactions of the employees' of Jiu Valley mine (Romania) related to the current crisis. For this, an interview protocol as work instrument was applied which contained 17 opinion and factual questions required for the structuring of the research area. The findings illustrate the way the mining industry workers were impacted by the effects of the financial, economical-social and moral crisis occurred after 2007. In fact, the impact overlaid the effects of the labor system’s crisis in the Romanian mining sector existing for over 20 years. There were identified those who considered themselves affected by this crisis, the solutions they used or were going to use in the future in order to overcome it, what was the institutional responsible for taking the measures to overcome the crisis. The hypothesis of the paper was confirmed: that those who consider themselves affected by the crisis are more afraid for their jobs than the others. The job – as an economical and social safety element - affords them the psychological comfort that will enable them to overcome the crisis. But in the Romanian mining industry, due to the closure of mines, jobs will be lost as a synergic effect and, especially, as a result of the lack of government involvement.

Aspects of Occupational Morbidity in The Mining Sector

Abstract Health and safety of workers have a special importance for the quality of working life even in the current situation of austerity and financial instability. In the general framework of the social determinants of health - the occupation leaves its mark on the employees’ state, and occupational risk assessment aims to prevent and make the employee to be aware of the possible dangers, forming a culture of the work safety. Given the complexity of underground work system, the accidents at work and occupational diseases are dysfunctions that reduce the efficiency, productivity and profitability. Also, these dysfunctions have and some other effects - economic (increased costs with personnel and with security and occupational health), social (because they affect one or more workers, their families, and the other members of the organization) and psychological (the reaction towards risk, problems of inadequacy or incompatibility with the old job, the negative impact on the image of the industry). Considering the overall context of health status of the population and the peculiarities of our country, this paper analyzes comparatively the evolution of the main indicators of morbidity statistics that reflect the health of the employees of some organizations in the Romanian mining sector.

The Prediction of Successful Probability of CSR and Sustainable Development Strategy Implementation within "Rosia Montana Project" using Fuzzy Logic

This article aims to develop a methodology to forecast the probability of success regarding to the implementation of the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and of the strategy of sustainable development in a mining company of exploitation of mineral resources. It is well known that in the modern period we are witnessing ever more to increased demands in terms of corporate responsibility towards the environment, in the area which can include economic, social, cultural and ecological environment. As a consequence of this fact, it increases the uncertainty of decisions to be adopted by companies, uncertainty that may arise from several aspects such as incompleteness, inconsistencies or inaccuracies in information or simply due to the subjective nature of human reasoning which often is expressed in words, through linguistic values. Thus, for modeling this vagueness of decision or prediction process there is a particularly effective tool, represented by the fuzzy logic through triangular fuzzy numbers. By multiplying the importance weight of factors that influencing the adoption of CSR and sustainable development policy with values resulting from evaluation of the possibility of successful implementation of this policy with respect to each factor, there it results a probability that suggests us if the action of implementation of CSR and of sustainable development strategy will have the overall expected effect and in the case the result is not properly there it will require remedial measures. The proposed methodology is applied in a case study concerning the Romanian mining company Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC) from Rosia Montana, Romania and also concerning the community in which it operates.

Sampling Strategies for Testing and Evaluation of Soil Contamination in Riparian Systems at the Tisza River Basin, Hungary

During the year 2000, two significant pollution waves came from Romanian mines to Hungary and went along the Tisza River, causing serious damage to the ecosystem of the river. The first one, cyanide pollution, at the end of January had an instantaneous effect on the living system; the second, heavy‐metal pollution in March, resulted in a long‐term effect. The heavy‐metal pollution that arrived with floods had two results. On the one hand, increased water speed decreased the grade of sedimentation in the riverbed, and on the other hand, river flooding introduced contaminated water and sediment to the floodplain. After the withdrawal of the flood, a few centimeters of grey sediment remained in the floodplain. Subsequent floods in 2000 and 2001 resuspended and diluted the contaminated sediment on the floodplain. Heavy metals (primarily lead, zinc, cadmium) deposited on the floodplain may have a potential time bomb effect. The aim of this study was to investigate the copper, cadmium, zinc, and lead contamination and bio‐availability on the floodplain applying a novel sampling strategy.

Determination of heavy metals in macrozoobenthos from the rivers Tisza and Szamos by total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

In 2000, accidents in the Romanian mining industry in key catchment areas led to heavy metal contamination of the Hungarian rivers Tisza and Szamos resulting in substantial heavy metal loads in several sediments of the upper river basins. This enhanced metal content might have been bioaccumulated in benthic organisms during the following years. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test, whether the zoobenthic fauna showed an enhanced metal content 3 years after the industrial accident. Macrozoobenthic insect larvae (chironomids) were sampled 100 m below and above the confluent site of the rivers Tisza and Szamos during summer 2003 and for comparison purpose also in the river Maros, a tributary of the Tisza river, during 2005. In order to determine their heavy metal content, single specimens were prepared and analysed by Total Reflection X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (TRXF) according to the modified dry method. Fe was much lower and Mn and Zn much higher concentrated in benthos from the more contaminated Szamos river compared to the Tisza and Maros rivers. In this sense, the benthic organisms reflected very well the enhanced metal concentrations in the contaminated rivers being suitable as bioindicators of metal contamination. However, the sediment bioaccumulation factor was low at all sampling sites indicating a low bioavailability of trace metals for benthic organisms.

Historical, Geological, and Mining Benchmarks Concerning the Endogeneous Breccia Structures Associated with the Neogene Magmatic Events in Romania (in Romanian)

An up-to date exhaustive bibliographic study is presented in order to highlight the evolution of the knowledge of endogenous breccias related to Neogene magmatism from Romania during the 19th and 20th centuries. This approach is based mainly on Romanian literature but there are also several foreign citations. Instead of the general opinion (widespread among Romanian mining companies) according to which the occurrence of the breccia structures in Romania is scarcely, this paper show the ubiquitous presence of breccia pipe and breccia dyke structures among the Neogene ore deposits from Romania, in Apuseni Mountains as well as in Eastern Carpathians.

Transboundary Accident Treaty Is Active

An agreement on international cooperation before, during, and after industrial accidents that have cross-border effects officially became operative in mid-April. Now, governments are considering expansion of the pact to include liability provisions. The accord requires each treaty partner to notify neighboring countries promptly after industrial accidents so they have time to respond adequately. The treaty was completed in 1992 under the aegis of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, a regional group composed of European countries, Russia, Canada, and the U.S. Later this year, treaty partners will discuss a proposal to add liability and responsibility provisions to the pact, says Sergiusz Ludwiczak, secretary of the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents. He says Switzerland proposed adding a liability and responsibility protocol after a Romanian mining company in January spilled cyanide into a river, wiping out fish stocks downstream in Hungary and threatening other ...