The critical concern of global societies with Environment issues motivates the growing interest of the scientific community in its different areas of knowledge and research in an attempt to solve environmental problems that contribute to increase the quality of life on Earth.
This is the case of “Envigeo”, a project that has been developed by a research team of the Centre for Petrology and Geochemistry of IST, coordinated by Professor Maria José Matias,. The Project aims at determining with scientific rigour the environmental impacts caused by the exploration and abandonment of mining infrastructure in the region of Penedono, district of Viseu.
The methodology adopted was to map possible anomalies attributed to exploration and abandonment of the mining activity, identifying its causes and the degree of dispersion of possible pollutants. For the purpose, water samples were collected and analysed and the heap materials, soils, sediments and plants were studied in detail.
As the main results indicated that the heaps also carry moderate quantities of hazardous chemicals, the research team proposed, as a remedy action, contention of water and wind erosion of the waste heaps and their vegetalisation.
Recommendations also included well sealing, gallery opening, demolition of abandoned constructions and recovery of mining infrastructure that are likely to be reconverted into a mining museum.