The 4th meeting of the LIFE DEMINE project took place at Swansea University facilities from 13th to 15th May 2019. The meeting, that count with the participation of the five partners of the project, was organized by Darren Oatley, from Swansea University.
During the meeting, we reviewed the progress made on the different on-going project actions during the last 6 months. Over this period, Swansea and Elentec has finished the optimization of the LIFE DEMINE technology at bench scale using the mining effluents from Frongoch (UK) and Menteroda (Germany). Results obtained to date are highly satisfactory, with high metal rejection rates from both effluents. At the same time, different experiments performed at UVIC facilities have demonstrated that the application of the LIFE DEMINE technology significantly reduces the ecological impact caused by these mining effluents in water bodies. Based on all the results obtained, Elentec is currently building the DEMINE pilot plant that will be installed in Wales next months to treat effluents generated by Frongoch abandoned zinc and lead mine.
In that sense, during the second day of the project meeting, all project partners had the opportunity to visit Frongoch mine and see where the LIFE DEMINE pilot plant will be installed. During this visit, Natural Resources Wales (NRW), with a wide expertise in the management of abandoned mines across Wales (https://naturalresources.wales), explained us all the restoration actions performed to date in Frongoch mine to improve the environmental quality in this area, including the management of the mining effluents generated.
Finally, during the last day of the meeting, our reports about the progress of the project actions were carefully listened to and examined by our project monitor, Irune Osés, that also helped us to solve minor questions that appeared along the way of implementing the project.