From 25th to 27th of September, BETA Technological Centre (Uvic-UCC) and Swansea University, together with Natural Resources of Wales (NRW), carried out a field sampling campaign around Frongoch mine, the LIFE DEMINE demonstration site, to get a full description of the ecological status of rivers downstream of the abandoned mine.
Across several sampling points, BETA Technological Centre and Swansea University characterized several structural and functional parameters of the aquatic biofilm, including the metal bioaccumulation and the diatom community. In addition, they also took wáter samples to describe its physicochemical characteristics, and evaluated ecosystem functions such as organic matter decomposition using the cotton-strip approach. In parallel, NRW carried out its monthly monitoring of river courses downstream of Frongoch mine for water quality, gauge flows and aquatic macroinvertebrates as ecological indicators.
Another similar sampling campaign in Frongoch mine will be carry out in the following months to assess how the LIFE DEMINE technology has improved the ecological status of the rivers affected by Frongoch mining effluents after several months of operating.