JRC Project PA-42 PECOMINES
"Inventory, Regulations and Environmental Impact of Toxic Mining
Wastes in Pre-Accession Countries"
Minutes of the Third Meeting of the Steering Committee
Ispra, Italy, 24th January 2003
The Steering Committee (SC) of the JRC project “Inventory, Regulations and Environmental
Impact of Toxic Mining Waste in Pre-Accession Countries” (PECOMINES) met to discuss the
state of advancement of the project. Eight countries represented by 13 experts attended the
meeting. Slovenia and the Czech Republic could not be present, but ensured their continuing
support to the Project. Country representatives were welcomed by G. Bidoglio, who reported on
JRC plans for FP6 and ERA. During the meeting SC representatives had the opportunity to give
an overview of mining-related activities in their countries. In particular, the Polish representatives
illustrated the main environmental problems in Poland connected with mining activities. The
Slovakian approach for screening the hazardous mine sites and the risk assessment and site
prioritisation methodologies were also presented..
1. Review and discussion of the status and methodology development of the
inventory work package. (Discussion leader G. Jordan)
- A review of the Steering Committee contribution to the inventory was made. The
information on the hot spots (PART I of the questionnaire) has been received from all
countries (Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia do not have hot spots), the background maps of
the hot spots from Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, the data on other
sites from Hungary, Latvia and Slovenia (Estonia and Lithuania do not have other sites
classifying under the inventory), and the country reports have been received from Czech
Republic and Slovakia. The geoenvironmental maps have been provided by Bulgaria,
Czech Republic and Poland
- The final deliverables of the Inventory work package were presented and discussed
- The GIS data layers produced so far were presented

Agreed follow-up actions:
- The countries that have not met the deadline of January 24, 2003 (Bulgaria, Czech
Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia) should complete PART I of the
questionnaires, providing information for the nation-wide inventory of the sites under
PECOMINES scope – deadline 28th February 2003
- Using the Slovakian country report as the structured reference, SC members are asked
to contribute as authors to the publication summarising mining waste situation in their
own country (each country report being a chapter in a book) – deadline April 30, 2003
- Based on the inquiry sent by JRC, all countries should provide information on the existing
data sources (digital databases, paper archives, other) used or potentially being useful
for mining waste inventory. JRC will develop a ‘Metadatabase on Existing Data and
Information Sources in the Candidate Countries for Mining Waste Inventory’. SC
Members are asked to answer the inquiry – deadline May 30, 2003.
1
2. Review of the impact assessment approach. (Discussion leader E. Puura)
- The approach presently adopted in PECOMINES for the contaminant identification and
the description of their fate and transport as first steps towards a risk assessment on a
country scale was explained.
- A review of the outcomes from the inventory questionnaire was made and a definition of
the hot spot given, being either (1) a site generating hazardous emissions with negative
impacts, (2) large contaminated territories with cavities, waste heaps and tailings ponds,
or (3) tailings ponds with large volume of contaminated water or heaps with instable
slopes.
- The past inventories in Candidate Countries were reviewed and the results of the
detailed study of 3 sites in Slovakia and Estonia presented
- The methodological approach for comparison of the emissions potential of the hot spots
was descibed.

Agreed follow-up actions:
-
-
JRC will send out the information request on hot spot emissions after the meeting. The
SC members should check, control, estimate and confirm the data on the hot spot
emissions used in the methodological approach and provide additional quantitative
information – deadline March 15, 2003.
JRC will send out the information on the proposed methodology for the comparison and
prioritisation of mine sites. The SC members should provide information on
methodologies adopted in their own country – deadline March 31, 2003.
3. Progress of the remote sensing work
Stefan Sommer presented the joint work with Anca-Marina Vijdea on the possibilities and
practical use of remote sensing to spectrally map mining and contaminated sites at national
scale. This approach used in conjunction with the CORINE LC system, sets the geo-referenced
spatial frame for the integration of the inventory data into regional scale impact assessment and
risk classification. Parts of the territories of Slovakia and Romania were used to demonstrate
such a methodology.
4. Future regulatory fields of common interest. (Discussion leader T. Hamor)
- A review of mining related legislative actions of the Commission was made.
- The current status of the regulations work package was presented. The final report is in
press as EUR publication and will be distributed within the next few weeks.
- The potential future topics of common interest were presented, such as the extension to
the exercise to Member States and other CCs, to screen the EIA methodologies, mine
water affairs, mining economics, mineral management policies, hazardous waste issues
and emission/contamination limit values.
2

Agreed follow-up actions:
- The SC Members in their own countries will support the distribution of the regulatory
report by providing the names and addresses of interested institutions.
- Future initiatives of the regulatory work will focus on soil (subsoil) and groundwater
contamination limits to address needs identified in the Thematic Strategy on Soil
Protection and in the JRC workprogramme for FP6.
3