Florin Faur

University of Petrosani, Faculty of Mining · Environmental Engineering and Geology

Starting from the necessity to ensure the physical stability of waste dumps and the protection of the natural and anthropogenic components of the environment situated in their vicinity, the paper presents a general and uniform methodology for assessing the environmental risk associated to waste dumps slides. For this purpose a case study on active...

Ecological restoration and reuse of degraded lands must contribute to the region's sustainable development. Therefore, in order to determine the post degradation land destination, a number of opportunities and restrictions should be taken into account. For this reason, it is necessary to develop a methodology for establishing the optimal reuse alte...

The concept of sustainable development has crystallized gradually in the ninth decade of the last century, ecologists and environmental economists defining it, initially, as that form of society development based on both the use of renewable natural resources at rates below their regeneration capacity and the optimal use of non-renewable resources,...

Flooding the residual gaps of former lignite open pits is often applied worldwide, offering opportunities for the use of the lake and the reclaimed land, as well as many benefits, ranging from the restoration of ecosystems to the development of the local economy. The flooding process is conditioned by the available quantities of water from natural...

As a result of open-pit mining exploitations, impressive size gaps occur in the landscape. Their flooding leads to the occurrence of so-called open-pit lakes and represents an interesting way to reclaim and use sustainably the degraded land. In the literature, there are numerous plans, strategies, and guidelines for mine closure and open-pit recove...

Berbești mining basin, located in the area of the Getic Subcarpathians, is part of the Central Heating Power Plant (CHPP) Govora, in fact representing the mining division, and has four open pits: Alunu, Olteț, Panga, and West Berbești. Given that, at least in Europe, there is the issue of giving up energy production based on the burning of fossil f...

Tourism stimulates economic growth and the development of local communities. The mountain areas, as points of tourist attraction, represent real treasures in terms of the spectacular landscapes, the specific geological and floristic elements and the diversity of sports and activities that can be practiced. Problems such as long distance from areas...

Coal mining activity in Jiu Valley is approaching, faster than expected a few years ago, to its end and one of the main directions for transforming the area (while ensuring its sustainability) is the development of tourism. Under these conditions, a problem that has remained partially unresolved is related to the integration of the former mining pe...

This book represents an aggregated material that brings together the research conducted by the authors over the last 6 years in the Berbești lignite-mining basin. The work was focused on geotechnical aspects related to open pit mining (land stability), both during the active period and post closure, and the impact and the risk generated by such neg...

Formation of so-called open-pit lakes has become an increasingly common practice in Romania (more precisely in the Oltenia Mining Basin, where the lignite deposit contained in Dacian and Romanian formations was and is extracted through open-pits). The flooding process of the remaining gaps is in general a natural one, as water comes from undergroun...

The problem of the slope stability of open pit mines is one of constant interest and great importance, both during the period of operation, but also post-closure. The research focused on the Oltețu open pit (located in Berbesti Mining Basin, Romania) and was directed in such a way as to allow consideration in the stability analyses of natural (pred...

Romania’s new commitments to give up coal-based energy production entail the gradual closure of the last four open-pits in operation in Berbești Mining Basin, thus, raising the issue of primarily ensuring the stability of the lands in these perimeters in order to reintroduce them, too, into the economic circuit as soon as possible. Considering the...

The firm commitment of the European Union (EU) to fully implement the 2030 Agenda requires the Member States to find and implement solutions to meet global targets, including ensuring clean and affordable energy. The EU encourages the elimination of coal from the energy mix in order to quantitatively reduce emissions and the impact on the environme...

Flooding the remaining gaps of lignite open-pits and the formation of so-called open-pit lakes tends to become an increasingly common practice in Romania (in the Oltenia Mining Basin, where the lignite deposit contained in Dacian and Romanian formations was and is extracted through open-pits). This type of ecological reconstruction of former exploi...

Often, excavations of natural slopes are necessary in the site area for the construction of civil or industrial objectives. The execution of such works requires special attention, from the design phase, regarding the stability of the slope in the initial state, but also after excavation and identification, if necessary, of technical solutions to in...

Accessible and indispensible freshwater resources for ecosystems and humans represent only 0.26% of total freshwater resources and are found in lakes, reservoirs, and rivers (the rest being confined to glaciers, permanent snow, groundwater, and in the form of vapors). Unfortunately, water pollution is a phenomenon as undesirable as it is frequent a...

At present, larger and larger areas of land within the Romanian Plain are affected by the desertification phenomenon (in various stages, up to real deserts with dunes, for example in the southwest of Dolj County). This phenomenon, resulting from a combination of factors, such as poor management of agricultural land, intensification of erosion (espe...

Long term stability of coal mining waste dumps

The waste dumps resulted from the lignite exploitation activities from Oltenia are constructions that reach, in most cases, impressive dimensions and store large volumes of sterile rocks. Usually, the dumps are arranged and ecologically restored, but between the moment of their release from technological tasks and the beginning of the arrangement w...

In Romania, as in many other countries of the world, there are areas, more or less extensive, which are naturally prone to landslides. Such an area, with great extension, is represented by the Getic Subcarpathians. In general, this predisposition of the mentioned area to landslides is favored by its geology and hydrogeology, its lithological struct...

The Preface contains relevant information about the 9th edition of the International Multidisciplinary Symposium UNIVERSITARIA SIMPRO 2021.

Water is a renewable natural resource, but vulnerable and limited in terms of quantity and quality, which is why its exploitation must be done rationally, so as to ensure a complex recovery and a balanced distribution, depending on needs. The water management activity, which has as object the establishment and application of measures for rational u...

The use of surface heating with heat exchangers significantly affects the temperature regime of the soil and the surface air layer. It is manifested in a change in the distribution of temperatures according to the soil horizon, in a considerable increase in the temperature of the soil and air, in a change of heat exchange between the soil and the s...

Some valuable minerals, such as lignite, are extracted through open-pit mining works. After the cessation of mining activity, large-scale gaps result in the landscape. These gaps, also called "remaining gaps", represent some of the roughest types of environmental impacts. After the cessation of mining activity, recovery and ecological restoration w...

Purpose. This study aims to identify the main factors that influence the flooding process of the remaining gaps of open-pits comprising essentially the velocity and duration of flooding, but also the stability of in situ and dump slopes during and after the flooding and the water quality in order to ensure the takeover of the future function of the...

The exploitation of low-grade ore deposits or the recovery of useful minerals from old waste dumps and tailing ponds is considered as an interesting economic opportunity especially in the context in which we speak more and more of a reduction in availability of some mineral resources or depletion of conventional ore deposits. The exploitation of ol...

With the occasion of complex and detailed studies, conducted especially from the geotechnical point of view (between 2016 and 2019), on the North Pesteana mining perimeter (more precisely on the lignite open-pit with the same name) numerous areas affected by suffosion were highlighted, mainly located on the lower steps (steps III and IV). Starting...

As open-pits occupy the land only temporarily, post-mining planning for sustainable land reuse represents an important stage and it can be done since the pre-exploitation stage. There are more possibilities to reuse former open pits depending on the nature and location of ore deposits. Coal open-pits are often reused as artificial lakes. Depending...

Romania is located in a temperate-continental climate zone with a moderate precipitation regime, but in recent years, as a result of climate change, there have been significant deviations from the average annual values of temperature and precipitation compared to the multiannual average values, both in Europe and around the world. Agriculture and a...

Often the exploitation areas of useful mineral substances through quarry works are compared, in appearance, with selenary landscapes (large areas of land, geologically disturbed, strongly modified physically and morphologically and almost completely devoid of vegetation and fauna). In this paper, a former mining perimeter for the exploitation of ba...

Pornind de la câteva considerente cu privire la modul de interconectare al sistemului de management al calității cu cel de management al mediului, cartea de față se adresează în principal studenților care își perfecționează pregătirea în cadrul domeniului de studii Ingineria Mediului, în același timp dorindu-se a fi și un ghid util tuturor celor ca...

Controlled flooding of the remaining gaps of former open-pits (especially lignite open-pits) and the formation of lakes that can take different uses is one of the ways of recovering and rehabilitating degraded mining lands which offer opportunities for sustainable development of a mining region. The advantages of such a solution are multiple, start...

Surface mining is the main exploitation method of lignite in Europe. EU lignite production since 2017 is somehow stable at aprox. 380 million tones/year and is a very important source of energy in Poland, Germany, Greece, Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria. Flooding the residual gaps of former lignite open pits is often applied worldwide, offerin...

Alunu lignite open pit, part of Berbești Mining Basin (Vâlcea County), is located in a hilly area, whose morphology, structure as well as the geological and tectonic conditions favor the periodic triggering (especially in periods characterized by heavy rainfall) of landslides, variable in size, volume of material involved and velocity. Obviously, o...

Assessing land stability is a difficult process. Over time, evaluation methods have been developed providing a high degree of reliability. Stability studies are complex activities that involve interdisciplinary research, time, material resources, and financial resources. In addition, many uncertainties and errors could affect the stability studies....

This paper presents a case study aimed at a project for the exploitation of mineral aggregates in gravel pits slightly different from the usual ones, in the sense that it does not have as its sole purpose the exploitation of mineral aggregates, but has provided from the design phase a second purpose, namely to create fish ponds in the exploited are...

Pit lakes result from the natural and/or artificial flooding of the remaining gaps of the former open-pit mining perimeters. Urdari and South Pesteana pit lakes were formed by natural flooding of the former lignite open-pits located in the mining perimeters identically named. The paper presents data regarding the quality of the water in the two lak...

This issue aims to pit lakes, which is one of the most common uses of post exploitation voids There are many examples of flooded smaller final pits and in some of these, during the process of filling with water, serious geotechnical problems have been encountered Almost all such artificial lakes are currently (and in the future) dedicated to recrea...

Lake South Pesteana was formed, starting with 2015, with the cessation of productive activities (lignite mining) in the open pit of the same name. Until now, the remaining gap of the open pit is flooded in a proportion of over 70%, the level being maintained by keeping in operation a part of the dewatering system that served the open pit, in order...

The paper presents a method for determining the minimum safety distance of underground workings from areas with major tectonic accidents (block faults). Of course, the proposed method was applied for a case study (a concrete situation encountered in one of the underground mining operations in the Jiu Valley), and for its validation other determinat...

In the conditions of the dump slopes formed by loose rocks, predominantly sandy rocks, which are at the first saturation, there is a significant risk of sliding due to liquefaction of the waste material. The liquefaction process may be triggered by hydrological, mechanical or seismic factors. In saturated sand, the space between the solid granules...

The city of Petroșani, as well as the whole area known as Jiu's Valley, is integrated in a general vision of transforming a mining region into a tourist destination and, in this context, the aspects related to the quality of the urban landscape must be taken into account in a very serious manner. Although most people, when they hear about landscape...

The city of Petroșani, as well as the whole area known as Jiu's Valley, is integrated in a general vision of transforming a mining region into a tourist destination and, in this context, the aspects related to the quality of the urban landscape must be taken into account in a vary serious manner. Although the Petroșani municipality is located in an...

Continuing the process of restructuring the mining sector in Romania, more specifically coal mining (and as a result of aligning national energy policies with the common policy of the European Union), means closing in the near perspective of 2 more mining units from Jiu Valley, namely Lupeni M.E. and Lonea M.E. With the cessation of the productive...

Controlled flooding of the remaining gaps of former quarries (especially lignite quarries) and the formation of lakes that can take different uses is one of the ways of recovering and rehabilitating degraded mining lands which offer opportunities for sustainable development of a mining region. The advantages of such a solution are multiple, startin...

The mining waste dump has emerged as a result of lignite extraction from Ruget quarry. The waste dump should have 6 steps with a total height of 90 m (as designed), but, at present, only 5 steps have been constructed (in different stages of execution) due to cessation of the activity. Since the stability analysis showed a high degree of instability...

According to EC Decision No. C (2018) 1001 final, at the end of this year, productive activity at Lupeni Mining Exploitation will cease, and from the beginning of next year the ecological reconstruction of the site will be started. In this context, the ecological reconstruction of the mining waste dump (branch III), active at the moment, is also un...

The geomorphological changes in the Berbeşti Mining Basin have an impact on the environment by: excavating the mining mass and depositing the tailings in the waste dumps, the contrast between the black color of the coal with the general green landscape, the local damage to vegetation and fauna, the change of groundwater regime and aquifers, the exp...

Deformations and changes occurring in a rock mass, whether natural or anthropic, result from the geotechnical characteristics of the rocks and the influence of various external or internal factors. Under the influence of external factors, such as vibrations, overloads, the presence of groundwater or surface water, there results deformations and cha...

The main intervention to eliminate the environmental impact of mining activities is represented by the ecological reconstruction of the affected areas at the end of exploitation, and consists in establishing all the necessary measures to prepare the area for an environmentally compatible reuse. The problem of ecological rehabilitation of the lands,...

The problem of slope's instability has always been a concern for scientists. The superficial or deep landslides are manifested in the conditions of an imbalance occurring at the level of the rock masses or the engineering constructions due to the influence of many internal or external factors, which causes the worsening of the quality of the geotec...

Desertification is a complex economic hazard defined by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (Paris 1994) as "the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and sub-dry areas as a result of the action of various factors, including climate change as well as human activities". Soil degradation in areas subjected to desertification is identified as...

The idea of exploiting shale hydrocarbons has generated vivid and intense controversy in the European space, both at central and civil society levels. These controversies are due, on one hand, to the issue of the injection of hazardous chemicals during the exploitation process and, on the other hand, to the imbalance between the economic benefits o...

Rezumat: Recuperarea golurilor remanente ale carierelor reprezintă o etapă importantă pentru dezvoltarea sustenabilă a mediului, economiei și societății. Aceasta asigură reducerea impactului negativ generat de exploatările miniere, impact care nu poate fi evitat pe perioada desfășurării activităților, dar care poate fi compensat prin aplicarea prac...

The recovery of the remaining gaps of former quarries represents an important stage for the sustainable development of the environment, economy and society. This stage ensures the reduction of the negative impact of mining operations, which can't be avoided during exploitation but can be offset by the application of practices aimed at recovering th...

Lignite open pit mines have large extent, the excavating and stacking equipment are far one from other, the conveying equipment ale very long, so, the face / mine managers have to record a big amount of data when making daily/weekly/monthly inspections. Also, they are critical inspection points, which are moving with the face's advance. The paper d...

Lucrarea de față se dorește a fi un ghid de proiectare a sistemelor de monitorizare a mediului (la nivel local), care, odată pus la dispoziția celor implicați în această activitate să constituie un instrument și totodată un exemplu util. Lucrarea este structurată în două părți principale: o primă parte care abordează aspectele generale legate de or...

Underground mines from Jiu Valley have as objective the extraction of hard coal, used for energetic purposes. Exploitation activities are associated with the extraction of significant amounts of sterile, derived from opening and preparing works, but also from coal processing activity. The sterile rocks are stored in waste dumps of different sizes,...

The central objective of the European Water Framework Directive is to achieve a "good status" for all bodies of water, both surface and underground, with the exception of heavily modified and artificial bodies, for which the goal is to achieve a "good ecological potential". Based on the principles contained in this directive, at the level of the Ji...

The quality of bucket wheel excavators (BWEs) operations is largely influenced by the physical-mechanical (structure, mineralogical composition, plasticity, anisotropy, degree of fracturing etc.) and technological properties (compressive strength, tensile strength, shear strength, compaction, consolidation, cutting resistance etc.) of the rocks. If...