LIFE DEMINE project partners met the 26th and 27th of November in Oviedo (Asturias) to follow-up the project progress during the last 6 months. The meeting was organised by the Principality of Asturias, Spanish partner of the project.
The first day of the meeting consist on a visit to a mining company managed by OroValle Minerals, S.L, and established on Belmonte de Miranda. There, the partners could see the details of the cycle of extraction and production of gold, silver and copper. During the visit, a special emphasis was placed on the treatment of the effluents generated during the mining process, which is the main link with LIFE DEMINE.
The second day aimed to assess the progress of the different on-going project actions. As main aspects to be highlighted, during the last 6 months, SWANSEA and ELENTEC have been working on testing and optimising the LIFE DEMINE technology at bench scale using the mining effluent from Frongoch (UK) and Menteroda (Germany). Based on the results obtained, ELENTEC has already begun to design and build the pilot plant that will be installed in Wales next summer to treat the effluents generated by Frongoch abandoned metal mines.
The balance of the meeting has been very positive because it has shown that the project is progressing satisfactorily, and the results obtained to date are promising and are in line with the objectives that are expected to be achieved by the end of the project.