Initial situation

After the exploration and discovery of copper deposits at the location by Czech geologists within the 1960s the intensive copper and molybdenum mining started as an open pit mine in 1978. The copper open pit mine which is operating until 2040, involving the about 250 m deep and 3 km² open cast, 3 spoil dumps with total altitude of 90 m and an area of around 350 ha, leaching heaps, extra-balance ore heaps, a tailing with about 90 m high and about 2.4 km wide dam, mine processing plant, the flotation plant as well as ancillary constructions like heating plant, office buildings, foundry et.
For the minimization of environmental consequences and for the rehabilitation of finished heaps already shut down, at first the charges shall be determined for a redevelopment plan in form of a study.

Approach

For the acquirement of the study an expert team was on the spot to record the present condition of the complete business area, the conditioning lines as well as the opencast mining, the tailings and the outer dumps in March 2008.
By analogy with existing experiences in Germany in the field of the mining redevelopment and rehabilitation the necessary planning steps and planning costs will be prepared for the acquirement of a complete redevelopment plan.

Result

The composed study shows costs and time charges for the acquirement of the redevelopment plan based on possible rehabilitation variants for the open pit mine, the tailing with dam, the dumps as well as the business and conditioning lines. It is a profound basis of the further planning of short, means and long-term redevelopment and rehabilitation measures for Erdent Mining Corporation.