Environmental Monitoring Study in Romania

Vexcel Corporation (CO, USA) has been chosen by Romania's National Agency for Mineral Resources to lead a feasibility study for a countrywide environmental monitoring system for Romania's mining industry. The study, funded by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), will assist Romania in its efforts to curb future environmental degradation resulting from mining. The proposed environmental monitoring system will involve a variety of data collection systems, which may include satellites, aircraft and ground-based sensors, and the derived data will be collected and integrated at a centralised data management and decision support centre.

To become a member of the European Union, Romania must address an obsolete industrial base and a legacy of related environmental problems. The country's mining sector is under scrutiny because of a number of recent environmental accidents. The Romanian Ministry associated with mining has identified over 140 mines as posing critical safety and environmental concerns. These sites include underground salt caverns, waste rock and tailings piles, containment ponds, dams and open pit mines. The highest priority environmental issues concern geotechnical stability-such as ground subsidence, slope stability, dam integrity-and water quality.