The XVIII International Conference on Mine Surveying

276 / 2023-10-07 20:52:08

Environmental damage because of mining activity in Albania

Mining activity,Environment,Albania

The exploitation of mines in Albania has a very early history. It starts from prehistoric times and continues even today. The mining are distributed almost in all the territory of the country. Parallel with the positive impact in the economy mining activities have a very high negative impact in the environment. As it is known mining activity consists of four main stages: Exploration; Opening and Preparation; Exploitation; and Closure. According of the method of opening, mines are underground and open cast mine. Considering the methods of opening, the biggest negative contributor in environment is open cast mining. Considering the stages of the mining activities, the biggest negative contributors in environment are: Opening and preparation and Exploitations. The mining in Albania have a very large impact in the environment. In the mean time that negative impact is increasing the public reaction is insufficient and its voice it is not been considered seriously from the government. This paper offers a general overview of the environment damages because of mining activity in Albania, analyzing impact on: Air quality, Biodiversity, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Land degradation, Water pollution, Microorganism and Acoustic pollution. The paper concludes with conclusions and recommendation on policy and technical measures with purpose to protect and rehabilitate the environment, focused in green economy objective also.