From mine to wine: creative uses for old holes in the ground(1)
Is it possible to have an ice-skating rink in an old mine? Or perhaps a wine and cheese cellar in a mine shaft? Or even a swimming pool in a processing plant?
It isn’t just possible – it can be environmentally, socially and economically friendly too.
Restoring the environment
In Australia, mining companies must rehabilitate the land they use once mining is finished. Rehabilitation usually focuses on restoring the pre-mine environment. This may be a natural environment, agriculture, forest or whatever was there before the mine.
In Western Australia, Alcoa focuses on recreating the surrounding Jarrah forest after completing their bauxite mine operations.
In the Hunter Region, Xstrata is working on ways of restoring agricultural land on old coal mines and processing plants.
Sometimes it isn’t possible to restore the pre-mine environment. Sometimes there has just been too much change to the landscape. Changes might include altered topography (holes and hills), the addition or removal of above- and below-ground water, and changes to environmental chemistry.
In these cases, we need to consider other options for mine rehabilitation.
Building new ecosystems when old ones are too far gone
Ecosystem engineering is all about designing ecosystems suitable to changed sites. These ecosystems should be stable, self-sustainable, and resilient to fire, flood and drought.
The AMD&ART project, conducted in Pennsylvania between 1994 and 2005, included designing a landscape that could cope with changes to environmental chemistry.
In Ontario, industry waste is used to grow corn and canola crops for biofuels production.
Getting creative with old mines
The Post Mining Alliance is a UK-based, not-for-profit group undertaking international research into creative uses for old mine sites.
