History of the Project

In this section you can consult the project milestones.

2017

  • The project starts in September 2017. The approval of the project by the European Commission is received as an excellent new which has a relevant press, radio and TV broadcast. One of the inauguration acts was a meeting in La Soterraña site with neighbours of the nearest village to the site, Muñón Cimero. Later, in October 2017 the project is presented in the LIFE Kick-off Meeting in Brussels.
  • In December 2017 the necessary permits for the preparatory works are requested from the Le Council. The authorization will not be able until a year later. Unfortunately, the complex application of the Spanish legislation was one of the main problems during the project causing important delays.

Presentation of the project in the LIFE projects kick-off meeting in Brussels

2018

  • In March 2018 the necessary permits for the main works (pilot cases) are requested from the Principality of Asturias (PRAS). The authorization will not be able until two years later.
  • The activities progress during 2018 can be summarized in a simple sentence: practically the 100% in all the actions that only depend on the project partnership, e.g. elaboration of technical documentation, mapping etc., previous campaigns to take soil and water samples, creation of the website and other diffusion materials, etc. were completed.
  • Related to the development of pilot cases, the project partnership exploited all the possibilities and carried out every action to acquire the licenses and authorizations from the pertinent public bodies at a local (Council of Lena, AYTOLENA) and regional level (Principality of Asturias, PRAS), but implementation actions could not begin due to the delay in the authorisation.
  • In the project case, the delay is even more complicated due to the differences between the activities strictly considered by the law and the innovative actions that SUBproducts4LIFE aims to test and carry out.
  • An important part of the problem is that some national laws (e.g. Spanish law) find this project hard to classify. Although the law regulates how to deposit the “polluted waste” into “clean areas”, the case of SUBproducts4LIFE does exactly the contrary action: clean materials on a polluted area.
  • The project will act close to a large mining waste disposal considering the law related to mining waste. However, PRAS found that a specific demolition waste considered in Pilot Case 2 (Action B2) should be treated according to the general law of industrial waste.
  • On the other hand, two different types of materials will be used, with different management requirements: industrial subproducts (gypsum and blast furnace slag) and industrial waste (coal ash and steelmaking slag). These aspects add complexity to the project. In this way, the authorities are currently being collaborative and are trying to find a way to solve discrepancies.
  • The local press published a new giving details about the delays and its negative effects for the project.
  • In the framework of typical dissemination activities of the SUBproducts4LIFE, in February 2018 the coordinator Uniovi and the beneficiary Biosfera participated in a meeting with neighbours of the village Muñón Cimero the nearest village to La Soterraña site.

2019

  • In March 2019, after the visit of the External Monitor, we sent the first “Progress Report” to the EASME, agency of the European Commission. At that moment it was clear that there was a delay, but it was assumable.
  • We have to say that at that moment we did not think that the delay would be a serious problem. The delay was produced later due to the requirements for the permits of the Principality of Asturias.
  • The year 2019 was the one in which more work was carried out. The expectations at the end of year 2018 were to get approval and permissions from the public administration and to finish the work in La Soterraña by final of 2019, however, the reality was quite different.
  • On February 25th, 2019, the same regional Authority issues a new requirement in which the modification of the project actions is requested for approval. In the same requirement, the installation of additional equipment and actions is also requested to guarantee the non-impact of the project to the land and nearby towns.
  • The regional Authority for the Environment authorizes the project SUBProducts4LIFE imposing several conditions in order to fulfil with the Spanish Law, which we considered not to be acceptable:
    • Set up a bail for 200,000.00 € due to movement of up to 20,000 tons of materials; although is a quantity that huge companies like EDP or EDERSA can assume in their normal activity, it is clearly not assumable by the project.
    • The hiring of a liability and environmental insurance policy for the “refurbishment and remediation of the environment”; this is a condition that we cannot understand because the area in which the project is developed is already a highly contaminated one; in fact, and due to our exertions this condition has been avoided.
    • To consider as dangerous or hazardous waste any mix of subproducts with mining or production plant waste. This implied another requirement: to remove all the waste (both any subproduct which were introduced and existing mining/plant waste); this requirement has no sense because it is against of the objectives of the project themselves.
  • At that moment, there were two possibilities: to finish the project or to modify the project in order to make it reliable. We decided to modify the project and to apply for the authorisation again. Simultaneously, we communicated the problems to the SUBproducts4LIFE project External Monitor. The modifications are the following:
    • Reduction of the total amount of material (subproducts) to introduce in La Soterraña in order to diminish the quantity of the bail required by the regional authority to an assumable value (only 3500 tons).
    • In Pilot Case 1, the mixing between subproducts and waste is reduced to a minimum and subproducts are used mainly to cover the materials of the upper old waste deposit and tail deposit.
    • In Pilot Case 2, the actions are now reduced to the treatment of high contaminated waste of production plant demolition in the lower level. In this case, mixing of subproducts and contaminated demolition waste is allowed under some conditions.
    • In Pilot Case 3 the actions will be carried out according to the initial project. Only the length of filter trenches/channels (or its number) is reduced consequently with the reduction of the contaminated water flow rate.
    • The hiring of a liability insurance policy under the conditions assumable by insurance companies.
  • These modifications diminish the scope of the project (valorization of less quantity of subproducts); nevertheless other main objectives can be reached as for example the test with subproducts a real scale or the improvement/remediation of mining site.
  • These modifications were communicated both the European Research Office of UNIOVI and the External Monitor of the Project and both considered that modifications were reasonable and if the regional authority authorizes the modifications, it would be possible to apply for an Amendment to the European Commission.
  • Once presented the modifications to the project, and as it is usual, the approval of regional authority is got under the following new conditions:
    • Set up a bail for only 37,055.00€.
    • The hiring of a liability and environmental insurance policy.
    • Development of some preliminary works.
  • Taking into account that requirements were assumable, and with the aim to avoid new delays, we decided to start the preliminary works (the same as in the original project), a) to contact to financial entities and insurance companies to get the bail and insurance policy and, simultaneously, b) start the elaboration of the amendment.
  • The 11th of July 2019 the starting of the works is announced officially in a press conference at the Lena Council with the participation of all beneficiaries and other sponsors/stakeholders. The new about the act celebration is published in the two regional newspapers of greatest circulation, La Nueva España and El Comercio.

La Nueva España news

  • From July 2019 and during the second semester of 2019, the preliminary works were carried out. In December 2019 only the impermeabilization of an area was pending. A more detailed description of these works is the following:
    • Installation of perimeter fence (or repairing the existing one) and signalling:
      • Some details of the fence are shown in photographs in figures 1.The planned security actions consisted in repairing partially the existing fence and placing new fence in order to prevent people and animals from accessing the project areas. A so called cinegetic fence will be erected; subsequently people who access the pilot area will be only those authorized to enter the project site (with the authorization of the project manager). Moreover, this fence, by preventing animals from entering the area, from drinking contaminated water or from eating contaminated grass or other materials, will itself contribute to improve the overall condition of the area and interrupt the contamination in the tropoch chain.On the other hand, in different areas, the inherent risk has been properly signalled.

Figure 1: Different aspects of the fence and signals

    • Provision of services: water, electricity, etc.
      • These services are necessary for carrying out the preparatory actions. At the beginning, it was no necessary to use electricity due to all the machines are driven by Diesel engines, but later electricity generators were used. On the other hand, the necessary amount of water was supplied by means of water tanks.
    • Conditioning and preparing the area for personnel and machinery
      • Two especial mobile containers are used to storage tools and for the workers (Figure 4). Machinery is parked in the covered area. No more facilities were necessary.

Figure 4: Area for personnel and machinery

    • Construction of a ditch above the landfill to avoid the access of rainwater from the outside
      • The aim of this ditch (figure 2) is to reduce the flow of water that accesses to the area (and runs through contaminated material and waste), since this involves not only the generation of new contaminated water (spreading effect), but more importantly, a dilution effect which would lead to erroneous effectiveness results of the proposed methods.

Figure 2: Ditch above the landfill

    • The concrete floor of area for material storage should be uniform, it should be in good conditions, and it should be impermeable
      • As it is shown in the photograph of Figure 5, there is an area covered by a roof in the site which was selected for the material storage in order to protect it from the rain. After cleaning the area, it was proved that the floor, made of thick plate of concrete, is in good conditions that assure it is impermeable.

Figure 5: Potential areas of materials storage (with and without roof)

    • Construct filter trenches with impermeable base
      • In the original project, there was defined to excavate several “filtering trenches”, several trenches in which materials would be mixed in order to study the positive effect of the subproducts for cleaning the water. After analysing the site, a new and better solution was found: to use channels instead of trenches. The channels (Figure 7) on the surface do not need excavate the concrete floor and the permemability Is not affected. On the other hand, it is easier to control and remediate a potential water leakage from filtering system.

Figure 7: Area of filtering channels

    • Ditch/pipes network to collect water and to carry it to filtering channels
      • It was built a pipe system to carry the contaminated water to the filtering area. It was necessary the excavation of auxiliary trenches and ditches to collect water. The installation of control manholes and regulation of flows in filtering channels was also carried out (Figure 3). At the entrance to the channels a deal manhole that allows the distribution of the different trench leachate becomes available. At the end of each trench a manhole to sampling and testing of decontamination treatment outcomes will be built

Figure 3: Different manhole system in filtering area

    • Surface preparation in the area of the former production plant which contaminated waste from buildings demolition: the floor and the sides have to be impermeable (with geotextile) and there will be a drain network
      • The treatments areas have been prepared by removing existing materials and reviewing the concrete floor and walls state that are in contact with waste and water. It was necessary to repair the floor with a layer of concrete (Figure 6). The application of geotextile and HDPE film to ensure the necessary waterproofing, was carried out in March 2020.

Figure 6: Area of pilot site 2 (treatment of contaminated waste from building demolition)

  • Once the works in La Soterraña start, some neighbours showed some doubts about the project and a neighbour association made some questions to the Lena Council.
  • We always have collaborated with the Council of Lena Council in order to answer questions related to the project SUBProducts4LIFE made by the neighbour association. The answer must be a balance between the fulfilment of the regional law about “Transparency, good governance and groups of interest” and the respect to copyright or intellectual property rights of the companies and institutions forming part of the SUBproducts4LIFE consortium.
  • The regional press published some papers with the doubts of the neighbours about the project. For example, they though that the mine was to exploit mercury again. In other news the neighbour asked for the authorities to clarify if the industrial subprodutcs to be used in La Soterraña could be dangerous.
  • Nevertheless, the news also included that neighbours of nearest villages to La Soterraña were happy of the beginning of works to diminish the contamination of the former mining installations. Moreover, as the project was being developed, the doubts were disappearing, and more optimistic news showing a better knowledge about the project were published.
  • In this way, in August 2019 the regional press published a news in which La Soterraña site was presented as a “great Laboratory” showing the true aim of the works to carry out there. On the other hand, in December 2019, when preliminary works were practically finished, another paper published “La Soterraña shows its transformation” and talk about the “Learning centre“ which would start to describe the project.
  • In September 2019, the required bail was set up and in December 2019 the liability insurance policy was got.
  • At the end of 2019, almost all the preliminary works had been carried out; only the impermeabilization of the floor on which demolition waste of the former treatment plant would be put. Once this task was finished, the regional authority would carry out an inspection and give the definitive authorization.
  • As the works were being carried out in La Soterraña, the project and its activities have been presented during 2019 in different events at different level and in different ways:
    • In January 2019, a SUBproducts4LIFE poster was exhibited in the Universities G9 Commission of Research.
    • In March 2019 the project poster was exhibited in the Minerals, Gems and Fossils contest in the UNIOVI facilities.
    • In March, the coordinator UNIOVI attended the Innovation Camp on “Science for a trasnsition to a circular economy of the processes industry in a Natural Paradise (Asturias)”, carried out in Asturias (Spain) region which has been chosen as Science Meets Regions. Covadonga (Spain), 28/03/2019.
    • In April 2019 the beneficiary TECMIN participated in the “Seminar on Mining and Circular Economy”, carried out in Huelva, the most important mining region of the pyritic-belt in Spain with a relevant metal-base mining. Huelva (Spain). 05/04/2019.
    • In May 2019, the coordinator UNIOVI attended the 15th International Conference on Sustainable Use and Management of Soil, Sediments and Water Resources (AquaConSoil 2019). Belgium, 24/05/2019.
    • In June the coordinator UNIOVI attended the Seminar on “Successful cases of the University of Oviedo, LIFE Environment and Resources Efficiency” in the most representative international projects were described. Oviedo 28/06/2019.

2020

  • The year 2020 was the year of the COVID-19 Pandemic. At the beginning it seemed that the Pandemic influence would not be very negative, nevertheless the negative effects along the year were dramatic
  • At the end of 2019, the new treatment area (placed where the former production plant/furnace was) was already prepared. The concrete floor and walls that will be in contact with waste and water were reviewed and it was necessary to repair the floor with a layer of concrete.
  • During the first months of 2020, a small concrete wall has been built along the perimeter of this area, where there is not an existing wall (see the figures).

Figure: The area with the concrete floor and the concrete wall

  • Finally, the 11th of March, the waterproofing of the area was carried out by a specialized company. There was a certain delay because the bad weather and the availability of the company (they are companies that works only at a big scale).
  • At the bottom and at the sides of the action area (former production plant/furnace), a geotextile material and an impermeable sheet of PEAD material have been put as a second barrier against water leakage. The control and supervision of impermeabilization has been carried out by an external laboratory.

Figure: Geotextile material and impermeable sheet of PEAD material

  • In Figure, the initial and final appearance of the area of former treatment plant and new area for treatment of the waste of building demolition are shown.

Figure: Initial situation and new treatment area for this waste of building demolition

  • Just after finishing the preparatory works, the COVID-19 Pandemic was declared. At the beginning it seemed that the COVID19 crisis is only would cause minor problems. For example, at that moment the Pandemic caused a delay in all the decisions of the regional Authorities; the general prohibition of accessing to the University buildings became a problem because the remote working of all the personal produced sometimes problems in systems; due to commuting restrictions (no permissions for travelling) we had to avoid a meeting with the Monitoring Expert planned for March (it was carried out in September), etc
  • Obviously, during the first months of 2020, the main news in the newspapers were those related to COVID-19 Pandemic. Nevertheless, on 08/04/2020 the following new was published in the regional newspaper La Nueva España: “La Soterraña, already to be decontaminated when the normality returns. The technics in charge of the project, with a global budget of € 1.7 million, have finished the preparatory works before the state of alarm was decreed”. And in 07/07/2020 the same newspaper published another new with the following headline: “La Soterraña is already prepared for receiving the industrial waste which will decontaminate the soil. The works manager waits for the last permits to carry to the site the materials that fix the mercury preventing the spread of contamination”.
  • Once the worst effects of the “first wave” of the Pandemic had passed, it seemed that the project would develop normally. In this way, following the stablished procedures, in September 2020 the External Monitoring Teem carried out their monitoring visit. On the other hand, in October 2020 the European Commission approved the Amendment to the project requested in July.
  • Unfortunately, after summer 2020, the negative effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic are felt. As in the rest of the world, the stop of a relevant part of the activity of the industries during 6 months in Spain makes the economic activity to bring down. Many companies stop their projects the economy does not flow. It is a generalized fact that small companies started to suffer economic and financial stress. They were not commissioned any work, or they did not collet on time the amounts corresponding to work carried out. It became worse when in October/November it is verified that the Pandemic has not finished yet and new “waves” of contagion are being produced.
  • All these facts caused the project to slow down. Another relevant problem detected is that, during this period, a small company like GSERVICE had to support more than 60% of their budget when they only had received 30%. This unbalanced distribution generated difficulties to GSERVICE although fortunately all the preparatory works could be finished. Nevertheless, at that moment, to follow the works without new financing was difficult.
  • At that moment, the progress of the project had meant an expense for all beneficiaries of 30%, corresponding to the first prefinancing received. Therefore, according to the rules of the LIFE program, the Mid-Term Report was sent to the European Commission in September 2020 requesting the second prefinancing (40% of the total budget). This second prefinancing, which allowed to carry out the most important part of the project, was received in December 2020.
  • It has been pointed out that small and medium-size enterprises play an essential role in this kind of projects. They generate jobs, they are rooted in the region in which the projects are carried out and they are dynamic, being sometimes able to solve the problems faster than big companies or institutions. On the contrary, in general terms, they are more sensitive to economic crisis. Up to 2020, the small enterprises beneficiaries of the project had supported a biggest part of the costs of the project without significant problems. The crisis generated by the Pandemic made that the situation became more critical.
  • Although the work in La Soterraña site had to be slow down until the second prefinancing receipt, it could be possible to develop some work related to environmental impact mitigation and occupational diseases/health and safety prevention.
  • In this way, during the summer and autumn 2020, some campaigns of measuring dust and mercury concentration in the air were carried out. From environmental point of view, it demonstrated that the site has not a relevant impact on its environment through the air. The result of the measuring was thar the concentration both dust and pollutants are far below the limits stablished by the standards. It was demonstrated that while no works are being done there is no risk of inhalation of harmful substances near the Pilot areas.
  • This is important because one of the objectives of the project is for the site to be visitable and the results reached can be seen in situ. But it is also important from occupational health and safety point of view. In effect, among the other recommendations to include in the Good Practices Guide to be elaborated, to define the necessary studies to carry out to stablish the level of risk before starting the works.
  • On the other hand, once the works start in the pilot areas, new measuring campaigns will be carried out to analize the working conditions.
  • Events: The project and its activities have been presented during 2020 in different events although obviously it was conditioned by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
    • For example, the coordinating beneficiary presented a very interesting paper in an international congress in January 2020:
      • Baragaño, N. Álvarez, J.R. Gallego, A. González. 2020. Hybrid technologies for mine reclamation by means of nanomaterials, fertilization and phytoremediation. Second International Conference on Nanomaterials Applied to Life Sciences. Madrid January 2020.
    • The beneficiary EDP had planned to attend the “XV International Congress on Energy and Mineral Resources” which would be held in León in October 2020. Nevertheless, the congress was delayed and finally suspended due to COVID-19 Pandemic.
    • Conference of the beneficiary R&R about the SUBproducts4LIFE for the Professional Association of Mining Engineers. “LIFE Soterraña: Concepto innovador de economía circular (Innovative circular economy concepts by reusing industrial subproducts and waste)”. 17/12/2020.
    • On the other hand, it is remarkable the research carried out by UNIOVI within the framework of the project which results have been published in two of the most prestigious journals in the world demonstrating the relevancy of the project at an international level:
      • The new results of UNIOVI laboratory analysis had been reached and they had been published in the prestigious Journal of Hazardous Materials:
        • Ayala J. Fernández B. 2020. Industrial waste materials as adsorbents for the removal of As and other toxic elements from an abandoned mine spoil heap leachate: a case study in Asturias. Journal of Hazardous Materials Volume 384 (2020) 121446.
      • On the other hand, a complete study of the initial situation of La Soterraña Pilot sites has been published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
        • Fernández B., et al. 2020. A multi-faceted, environmental forensic characterization of a paradigmatic brownfield polluted by hazardous waste containing Hg, As, PAHs and dioxins. Science of the Total Environment 726 (2020) 138546.
  • In October, the regional press publishes a news with the headline “green light, after 3 years of paperwork, for the project to clean the mine La Soterraña”. The news explains that the Principality of Asturias has granted the permissions to carry out the project SUBproducts4LIFE “a European plan to start with the decontamination of the closed mercury mine La Soterraña”.
  • On 04/12/2020, the Spanish Ministry for the Ecologic Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) publishes a press release pointing out that about € 59 would be invested in 2021 to improve the Environment in Asturias. At the end the news remarks “it remarkable the project for the reclamation of the two mining sites La Soterraña and El Terronal with a budget of approximately € 10 million. The next day the regional press reproduced the news.
  • Although it cannot be said that these new projects are a direct consequence of the project SUBproducts4LIFE, there is without any doubt a relationship between the new projects and the SUBproducts4LIFE project. The origin of the SUBproducts4LIFE was to investigate a solution for these “orphan” waste disposals with high contaminant concentrations produced by the old, abandoned mines. On the other hand, the fact that SUBproducts4LIFE started after overpassing all the legal aspects contributed to select these sites for its reclamation with the public financing.
  • At the end of December, two news talk about the projects again. One of them talks about the imminent beginning of the works related to SUBproducts4LIFE “the decontamination of the old mine La Soterraña, in Lena, will start at the beginning of the next year”. The other talks about the national financing for La Soterraña and El Terronal and it is pointed out that this financing is complementary to the European financing of the SUBproducts4LIFE.

2021

  • As it has been pointed out in other parts, the COVID-19 Pandemic originated a complex economic situation during 2020 and the consequences lasted through 2021. But the COVID-19 Pandemic was also the cause that led to the abandonment of the SUBproducts4LIFE project by the IAPRL at the beginning of 2021.
  • Although there were causes internal to the project, as for example the great delay or the lack of coordination at some point, the main cause was external to the project. The situation occurred because of the COVID-19 pandemic demanded enormous work and the use of all the human resources from the IAPRL, which made it impossible to attend to the tasks involved to the project SUBproducts4LIFFE.
  • During the first part of the year 2021 the second pr-financing was received, and it allowed to continue with the project; nevertheless, it could not be at a maximum speed due to problems related with the stop of the works and other internal reasons.
  • Fortunately, the problems were solved, and the companies were able to lunch the project in June. The main work in pilot areas 1, 2 and 3 is carried out by the end of 2021.
  • At the end of June 2021, has been taken place the visit of the external monitoring team for the project.
  • During this period, they were developed other tasks necessary to carry out the works in the pilot areas. An important task for SUBproducts4LIFE is the elaboration of a Good Practice Guide to work in areas with a high contamination by Arsenic and Mercury. In this line, and according to the Spanish law, the company GService developed the Safety and Health Plan to carry out the woks in the pilot areas based on a previous Safety and Health Study, On the other side, the companies involved in the project, Biosfera, EDP, EDERSA and the University of Oviedo, presented their Studies of Occupational Hazards and they declared they adherence to the Plan elaborated by GService.
  • Also in this line, some field measures were carried out, as for example the dust concentration in the air, which will be complemented later with other  kinds of control campaigns (fauna, dust, mercury vapour…etc.).
  • Finally, during the first half of 2021, the University of Oviedo (Uniovi) continued with the research in two different directions. On one side, some test of a scaled prototype of the filtering channels have been carried out. The subproducts (slag and ash) are introduced in the channels and later the contaminated water passes through this mix. It was made in an intermediate scale between laboratory test and real filtering channels, although the prototype is nearer than the latter.
  • On the other hand, the use of phytoremediation is being investigated continuously trying experiments lead to how to use it in the reality. The more suitable vegetation has been selected, some quantity of contaminated soil has been collected from the site and different mixes soil+subproducts have been designed. A complete experiment is being done in order to obtain the definitive design for the phytoremediation actions in the site. All of them would produce a better implementation of the works in La Soterraña.
  • Related to tasks of diffusion/dissemination, the years 2020 and 2021 have been conditioned by the COVID-19 Pandemic, and beneficiaries could not attend any event. Only in special cases tasks related with diffusion and dissemination could be carried out.
  • An example of this is a paper entitled “Analysis of airborne mercury and arsenic levels close to an abandoned waste dump and buildings of a mercury mine and the potential risk of atmospheric pollution” which has been sent for its publication to an international journal demonstrating that the relevancy of the project at an international level. On the paper the results of a researching about the Arsenic and Mercury in air carried out in the framework of the SUBproducts4LIFE are presented; it has pointed out that under normal conditions there is no risk of intoxication by inhalation, which is very important both for people evolved to the SUBproducts4LIFE and for the inhabitants of the nearest villages.
  • Another example, in June 2021, within the framework of the project “Improving the standards of employment conditions/relations as well as health and safety at work in Georgia of the European Union, the main researcher of the SUBproducts4LIFE gave a lecture about the occupational hazards and occupational diseases in mining describing the project SUBproducts4LIFE and the topic of the occupational hazards in the case of works in high contaminated waste disposals.
  • It must be pointed out is that the publication of news in the regional press has been produced continuously. And this fact happens even without finishing the most important part of the project. This shows the interest of the population in SUBproducts4LIFE project.
  • In January 2021 one news is published in which neighbour of the villages close to the abandoned mercury mine of Vildeo ask for it the same type of actions that will be carried out in La Soterraña. Due to an important objective of the project SUBproducts4LIFE is to demonstrate the replicability and transferability of the results, these mines can be good sites to test in the future the measured adopted now in La Soterraña and El Terronal.
  • In March 2021, it is published that the Spanish Ministry for Ecologic Transition will be in charge of the tasks related to decontamination of La Soterraña being included € 1 million in the current budget for the year 2021. Besides this the news explain that “this initiative is independent of the plan promoted by the University in the framework of European program LIFE with a budget of € 1.5 million which is focused in the reuse of industrial subproducts and waste to reclamation of contaminated soils and degraded industrial sites. The main objective is to promote the complementarity between active and abandoned industries (productive and no productive areas), extending the value chain by means of decontamination methodologies. The work will be carried out in two directions; on one side the treatment of the mining and metallurgical waste and, on the other side, the treatment of the water preventing the rainwater from being loaded with contaminated elements”.
  • In June 2021 a news item with the headline “The expensive bill of the copper and the mercury. The decontamination of the land of the three abandoned mines in Riosa, Mieres and Lena will cost € 13 million” explains the huge investment necessary for the decontamination of abandoned copper and mercury mines in Asturias citing besidades of mercury mines of La Soterraña (Lena) and El Terronal (Mieres) the copper mine of Teseo (Riosa).
  • Finally, in October 2021, the newspapers published the re-starting of the works in a new entitled “Works for the decontamination of the old mercury mine of La Soterraña start”, although in the text qualified the expression decontamination: “[the aim] is to fix the materials to avoid its incorporation to the raining water and its expansion through the valley”.

2022

  • In 2022, the actions in pilot areas 1, 2 and 3, necessary for the development of the SUBproducts4LIFE project, were completed. The work that should have been completed in 2021, it was extended along 2022 for several reasons inherent to the complexity of the project. One of the reasons was the concentration of mercury on the slag from the metallurgical plant, which turned out to be much higher than expected. The available data suggested that the concentration of mercury in the environment would be similar to other areas, but this was not the case. At high temperatures, the mercury concentration on the slag reached very high values which made it advisable to proceed with caution and to slow down the work.
  • Work was completed in pilot area 2 at the end of February, treatment of demolition debris from the metallurgical plant. The containers built for this purpose were filled with debris, which was then covered with the by-products of slag and ash. The aim was to avoid, as far as possible, rainwater coming into contact with the contaminated debris and, subsequently, it was loaded with pollutants. As can be seen from the laboratory experiments, the ash and slag, due to their basic character, facilitate the removal of heavy metals from the water by precipitation. In addition, these by-products can bind heavy metals by adsorption, so that the pollutants are retained in the mixture. Finally, the lower permeability of the upper by-product layer makes it easier for the water to flow on and not filter, avoiding interaction with the contaminated material.
  • The work had to be carried out under heavy safety precautions due to the high concentration of mercury vapour in the facility area. The strict control of gaseous mercury emissions was carried out, allowing the work to be carried out within high safety standards. It should be noted that high concentrations of gaseous mercury occur in very specific areas, within the mining facilities and outside the mining facilities. The concentration of gaseous mercury is not at all harmful to walkers or cyclists from the surrounding areas.
  • The comparison between the debris before and after can be seen in the photographs. A very positive effect is the elimination of emissions from the covered debris. The coating with slag and ash also provides a waterproofing property that prevents rainwater from being contaminated.
  • Work began in pilot zone 1 in March 2022, treating the rubble deposited in the upper dump. The work consisted of covering part of the dump with slag and ash.
  • In this case, the goal is the same as with the demolition debris, avoid rainwater coming into contact with the contaminated debris and being loaded with pollutants. As mentioned, slag and ash prevent partial contamination of the water due to their basic character, capacity to adsorb heavy metals and lower permeability.
  • It should be noted that different events occurred throughout 2022, slowing down the progress of the project. Just as work was beginning, a strike was declared in the transport sector mainly due to price increases caused by the war in Ukraine. This meant that the supply of slag and ash was delayed and not continuous, which implied that work was prolonged throughout April and May.
  • Photographs show a moment of the work carried out and the final appearance of the by-product treatment area.
  • From that moment, and once the dismantled pipes were connected to facilitate the work of the machines and the passage of trucks, everything was ready to begin the work related to the water control. Thus, it is possible to quantify the result of the treatment, with by-products to avoid contamination of the run-off water, by sampling the water at different points and analysing the concentration of pollutants
  • However, a period of drought came when everything was ready, not having water at any point on the site: neither in pilot zone 1 (upper dump), nor in pilot zone 2 (demolition debris from the metallurgical plant). Unfortunately, 2022 was one of the hottest and lowest rainfall years in history, so this project action had to be delayed.
  • Besides, several vandalism actions produced very important damage to the pipeline network (see pictures). These actions are possibly associated with attempted thefts and the search for elements of value to be stolen (which in reality do not exist). All these factors contributed to an increase the delay in the actions planned.
  • Once the treatment of part of the upper dump with the by-products had been carried out, a plot was prepared for the treatment of soils by phytoremediation (see photographs).
  • These tasks are linked to the SUBproducts4LIFE project, but, at the same time, they are the application of results previously achieved in the LIFE I+DARTS project, a LIFE project related to the treatment of contaminated soils also developed in Asturias.
  • The aim is to plant selected species that can develop in such an aggressive environment for plants as La Soterraña. In general, plants can act in two ways: either by fixing heavy metals to their roots, preventing their mobility, or by absorbing these heavy metals and extracting them from the soil.
  • The accumulated delays meant that the plot was completed too late for the species to be planted. However, there was also a severe drought in the following month, which would have spoilt the development of the plants.
  • One of the selected species is birch. Birch trees have been planted and grown in greenhouses for planting in early spring 2023.
  • In the summer of 2022, the studies to evaluate the environmental impacts of the SubProducts4Life Project in the area. These environmental studies have focused on aspects related to water quality and the impact on fauna species.
  • Water quality has been assessed through the study of biological indicators (benthic invertebrates, aquatic plants, and fish), physicochemical indicators (oxygen concentration and conductivity) and the analysis of metal concentration in fish tissues.
  • While the assessment of the impact on the fauna species has been carried out by studying the presence of birds and mammals in the surroundings of the Soterraña facilities, directly (roe deer watching) or indirectly (footprint of a badger).
  •  As mentioned, the summer of 2022 was one of the driest and hottest in history, with two major heat waves, one between 9 and 26 July (the longest and most intense and the second longest according to AEMET) and the other from 30 July to 14 August. Temperatures in the working area reached up to 40ºC, totally exceptional in Asturias. This caused a severe drought that prevented the work related to water treatment.
  • However, the opportunity was taken to carry out an in-depth study of mercury emissions from the different debris at La Soterraña. Between the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, work was carried out on the demolition debris from the metallurgical plant, which was found to be the most contaminated and the one that produces the most mercury emissions. Until then, work had been carried out in other areas of the facility where there was no significant risk from mercury in the air.
  • During the work, carried out at low temperatures, mercury emissions were moderate. However, during the summer without working on the debris) it was possible to study mercury emissions under the most unfavourable conditions possible in Asturias (temperatures of up to 30ºC). Emission models and working protocols could then be developed. All this made it possible to obtain very important data for the development of a guide of good working practices in contaminated areas.
  • Laboratory tests continued, which, apart from being simple to carry out, provide valuable information on the behaviour of the by-products. For example, it was found that the low permeability of the ashes means that part of the water does not percolate and it is, therefore, not contaminated (photograph on the left). It is also shown that by covering the contaminated debris with a layer of by-products, the emission of gaseous mercury decreases until it is practically eliminated (right picture).
  • In June 2022, a representation of neighbours visited the works together with the General Director of Industry, Mining and Reactivation of the Principality of Asturias, who commented on the possibility of attracting new funds to be able to undertake the comprehensive restoration of all the facilities, as SUBproducts4LIFE only works on three very specific areas.
  • In October 2022, the Council of Ministers of the Spanish Government approved a grant of almost 8 million euros for the complete restoration of La Soterraña. It is a very relevant milestone since the SUBproducts4LIFE project was born with the vocation of continuity, presented in Europe this way. It was not a single project in itself, but it was a project to test innovative solutions with a view to the complete restoration of the affected area of La Soterraña, something seen as necessary in Europe. Thus, the SUBproducts4LIFE project marked the beginning of all actions, as reported in the regional press, "A year ago, decontamination work began in this area, after several years of unsuccessful attempts to implement the long-awaited environmental recovery project. This action had a European allocation of 1.2 million euros through the "SUBProducts4life" project, a pioneering plan that involved the mobilisation of 20,000 tonnes of slag and ash for the containment of pollutants".
  • Dissemination tasks continued during 2022. During this year, very relevant results related to the SBproducts4LIFE project were achieved and resulted in the publication of several articles in international journals. An example of this is the article "Analysis of As and Hg levels in the air in the vicinity of the waste dump and buildings of a former mercury mine and the potential risk of atmospheric pollution", research developed in 2021 and finally published in a prestigious international journal. The research focused mainly on the risk of atmospheric pollution. It should be noted that there is no risk far from the most contaminated sites, which is very important for both, the staff involved in SUBproducts4LIFE and the neighbours of the nearby villages.
  • Throughout 2021 and 2022, work was carried out on the analysis of mercury in the air, concerning the prevention of occupational risks. It was shown that, in general, there was no risk except when working with demolition debris from the metallurgical plant. In this case, strict safety measures had to be followed to be able to work. Mercury emissions from the debris were measured, finding that they increase exponentially with temperature. An empirical model was developed to predict the concentration of mercury in the air and to plan the work according to this concentration in strict compliance with the law. Results were published in 2022 under the title "Empirical model of gaseous mercury emission for the analysis of working conditions at heavily polluted outdoor sites". Subsequently, work was carried out on a chemical-physical prediction model, which is based on the laws of chemistry and physics, more general, and it can be used in other cases of mercury emissions. The work is "Chemical-physical model of gaseous mercury emissions from demolition debris from an abandoned metallurgical plant", published in 2023. Ongoing research about mercury emissions into the air and the concentrations that could be reached on contaminated debris was gathered in a new "health and safety protocol for management of structure demolition waste with high gaseous mercury contamination" (also published in 2023). The four published papers are complementary and form a package from which a Good Practice Guide for working on sites with gaseous mercury contamination could be developed. This concept is one of the milestones to be achieved in the SUBproducts4LIFE project.
  • Finally, it is also worth highlighting the publication of news in the press related, directly or indirectly, to the SUBproducts4LIFE project. In January 2022, a news item was published which, at first sight, seemed very worrying: "The appearance of a "white mud" in La Soterraña alarms the neighbours". In the photograph accompanying the text, a neighbour points to an area at the foot of the main dump and expresses his concern that the work related to SUBproducts4LIFE is the cause of this contamination: "maybe it's nothing, but they have been working in the area and now the substance is going down to an area where there is a stream". Although the appearance of these precipitates was not new, because they have occurred on other occasions, the response of the SUBproducts4LIFE Consortium was very quick and calmed the neighbours. Samples of the water and the white precipitate were taken and analysed. They were then compared with other samples from previous years and their composition was found to be similar.
  • A few days later, also in January 2022, additional news appeared in which the University of Oviedo, as coordinator of the project, gave explanations about the precipitate that had appeared: "The rains caused the white stains in the La Soterraña mine and they will "disappear". It was a limestone containing arsenic that was washed away by the recent heavy rains in the area. These rains were followed by a few days of abnormally hot weather in the middle of December, so it dried out and was exposed. The precipitated material was not a consequence of the works but of the weather.
  • The photograph shows that the water is a leachate that come from the spoil heap, not from the platform.
  • In April 2022, a new news item appeared, highlighting the progress of the project: "The plan to 'trap' the contamination of La Soterraña "works", says the University". The project to inertise the mercury and arsenic in the old mine will continue with the work. The article comments that some of the results, although not definitive, already show a certain optimism: "There are still more tests to be carried out and analyses to be made, but the responsible researchers from the University of Oviedo, the project being developed in the old mercury mine of La Soterraña, in Lena, have already released the first results of the plan for the containment of toxic waste. "We have found that it works, that the materials we have spread in the area are capable of containing and slowing the spread of toxic elements in the ground".
  • In June 2022, the General Director of Energy, Mining and Reactivation of the Principality of Asturias visited La Soterraña and the press echoed the news: "The Principality seeks new funds to finish decontaminating La Soterraña". Belarmina Díaz visited, yesterday, the environmental sanitation works and assumed, in front of the neighbours, the need to address additional projects". The General Director was optimistic about the possibility of obtaining new funds to carry out new actions in the area, given that the current funds (SUBproductsLIFE) are only enough for a small part. The director was interested in the decontamination process and commented on the possibility of attracting funds for recovery and resilience.
  • Finally, in October 2022, the expected news, "Eight million to restore the old mercury mine of La Soterraña, in Lena", appeared, announcing that the Council of Ministers had approved this aid to the Principality after analysing the problems of stability and contamination of the mine. The Principality would have eight million euros to complete the work of decommissioning and restoring the old mercury mine of La Soterraña (Lena), which had begun with the work of SUBproducts4LIFE: "A year ago, decontamination work began in this area, after several years of unsuccessful attempts to implement the expected environmental recovery project. This action had a European allocation of 1.2 million euros through the "SUBProducts4life" project, a pioneering plan that involved the mobilisation of 20,000 tonnes of slag and ash for the containment of pollutants".
  • The news highlighted that this was an old demand of the neighbours:  "The mine closed its doors in the sixties, when the value of mercury plummeted without remedy, since then, the neighbours of the valley of Muñón demanded the decontamination of this area. A clamour that has dragged on for half a century and which has finally materialised with an environmental clean-up project for this former mine".
  • A review of the project site has also appeared on a YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/PE0gvoT_QJc
  • The video was recorded from a drone and shows all the installations and how the work has almost been completed. It already has more than 1600 views.
  • It is very interesting since the explanatory commentary that accompanies the video echoes the SUBproduts4LIFE project:
    We know, from a drone view, the mine of La Soterraña, a former mercury mine located in the valley of Muñón (council of Lena). After more than four decades of inactivity, a decontamination and rehabilitation project is currently being carried out in the area (which contains significant levels of mercury and arsenic in the subsoil). This project is part of the Subproducts4LIFE programme, led by the University of Oviedo and financed by the European Union, with the collaboration of the Principality of Asturias and the Lena Town Council, among others

The meeting with the neighbours in La Soterraña site

One of the news published in a regional newspaper

El Comercio news

El Programa LIFE

El proyecto SUBproducts4LIFE está financiado por el Programa LIFE de la Comisión Europea. Dicho programa es el único instrumento financiero de la Unión Europea dedicado, de forma exclusiva, al medio ambiente. Su objetivo general para el período 2004-2020 es contribuir al desarrollo sostenible y al logro de los objetivos y metas de la Estrategia Europa 2020 y de las estrategias y planes pertinentes de la Unión en materia de medio ambiente y clima.

Programa LIFE
El Programa LIFE
life