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Integrated approach of environmental impact and risk assessment of Rosia Montana Mining Area, Romania

  • Mining and the Environment - Understanding Processes, Assessing Impacts and Developing Remediation
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Abstract

The environmental impact assessment of mining sites represents nowadays a large interest topic in Romania. Historical pollution in the Rosia Montana mining area of Romania caused extensive damage to environmental media. This paper has two goals: to investigate the environmental pollution induced by mining activities in the Rosia Montana area and to quantify the environmental impacts and associated risks by means of an integrated approach. Thus, a new method was developed and applied for quantifying the impact of mining activities, taking account of the quality of environmental media in the mining area, and used as case study in the present paper. The associated risks are a function of the environmental impacts and the probability of their occurrence. The results show that the environmental impacts and quantified risks, based on quality indicators to characterize the environmental quality, are of a higher order, and thus measures for pollution remediation and control need to be considered in the investigated area. The conclusion drawn is that an integrated approach for the assessment of environmental impact and associated risks is a valuable and more objective method, and is an important tool that can be applied in the decision-making process for national authorities in the prioritization of emergency action.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the support (consisting of experimental data) provided by the Mining Branch RosiaMin and the Romanian Waters National Administration. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their careful review and suggestions that helped improve the quality of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Research Centre for Disaster Management, 30 Fantanele Street, 400294, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Lucrina Ştefănescu & Alexandru Ozunu

  2. Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi, Department of Environmental Engineering and Management, 71 Prof. Dr. Docent Dimitrie Mangeron Street, 700050, Iasi, Romania

    Brînduşa Mihaela Robu

Authors
  1. Lucrina Ştefănescu
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  2. Brînduşa Mihaela Robu
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  3. Alexandru Ozunu
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Correspondence to Brînduşa Mihaela Robu.

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Responsible editor: Stuart Simpson

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Ştefănescu, L., Robu, B.M. & Ozunu, A. Integrated approach of environmental impact and risk assessment of Rosia Montana Mining Area, Romania. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20, 7719–7727 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1528-x

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