Extractive industry, regardless of how it is performed, always leads to long term negative effects on the environment. The environmental component that suffers the most as a result of mining activities is land, and with it the entire ecosystem in the area. The most significant destructive effects of open pit mining are produced, both by the quarry and the associated waste deposits and tailings ponds. Removing the overburden and extracting minerals from an ore deposit constitutes a destructive action, with possible repercussions on local or regional habitats and fauna. These effects can be extremely serious if they interact with natural environments of high value. The effects are obvious when mining operations are performed using explosives and mechanical equipments through noise, large amounts of dust released in the atmosphere, causing major damage to vegetation and problems related to irreversible alterations of habitats (physically, chemically and biologically), with consequences in both the project area and adjacent areas. Storage of tailings from processing activities (in which the mineral material is often associated with dangerous toxic substances) in ponds, may cause functional alterations or destruction of the territory in which they are located. Given the above, based on preexisting data and field observations, the paper aims at making an assessment of the possible consequences on the environment (using three methods, namely: checklists, impact matrices and impact networks) that may be generated by the implementation of a large-scale mining project, being taken as a case study the Certej Mining Project (exploitation and recovery of the sulphide epithermal gold-silver ore deposit quartered in the Metaliferi Mountains).

impact assessment, mining, quarry, tailing ponds, waste dumps

Presentation: oral