Concession contract for environmental recovery of abandoned mining areas

Several decades of mining activity in Portugal, in a period when there was no adequate process of environmental recovery of the areas covered, led to a very significant environmental impact. The recognition of the seriousness of the situation and the urgency to find adequate means to restore the environmental balance of these areas led to a concession contract between the State and EDM - Empresa de Desenvolvimento Mineiro, SA (Decree-Law n.º 198-A/2001, of July 6 and Decree-Law nº 60/2005, of March 9).

DGEG, along with the CCDR's, have, as their competencies in this matter, those arising from Decree-Law 198-A/2001, namely the supervision and fulfillment of the concession contract granted to EDM.

Are objectives of the concession the environmental, cultural and economic valorization of the areas, ensuring the defense of public interest and the preservation of environmental heritage, with a focus on:

• Eliminate, under conditions of long-term stability, risk factors that pose a threat to public health and safety, resulting from water pollution, soil contamination, extraction and treatment waste, and the possible existence of unprotected cavities;

• Rehabilitate the landscape surroundings and the natural conditions for the development of local flora and fauna, with reference to the habitats that existed before the exploitations;

• Ensure the preservation of the abandoned heritage by former exploitations, whenever this presents significant relevance, either economically or in terms of industrial archeological evidence;

• Ensure the necessary conditions for the study, preservation, and valorization of possible existing archaeological remains related to mining activity;

• Allow a future use of the recovered areas, according to their specific aptitude in each case, namely for agricultural or forestry use, tourism and cultural promotion, besides other types of use that may prove adequate and convenient.