LIFE BRINE-MINING

Coal mines comprise an important sector in the EU. The total hard coal production in Europe in 2015 was 100.3 million tons. Poland is the dominant European hard coal producer accounting for approx. 72% of the production in EU-28. Coal mines generate vast amounts of saline wastewaters. The direct drainage of these streams to water bodies results in their salination, which causes harm to the ecosystems and river life, as well as to water shortages that impact the environment and society. Poland, as by far the largest coal producer delivers high value to the EU, but this comes with a high environmental cost at national level. This project aims to facilitate the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Circular Economy package, by enabling the coal mining industry to improve its wastewater management performance in a way which yields cost-effective, resource efficient and legally compliant results. This will be achieved through the development and application of an economically viable, innovative system for the elimination and full recovery of resources included in the coal mining wastewater, at source. The system will be able to treat and directly recover end-products (minerals/salts and water) of high quality and purity. In the course of the project, the consumers of the materials recovered will be involved in order to ensure that the end-products will satisfy market specifications and that the recovered materials are exploited. The project will be implemented in Poland.