Creating New Opportunities for an old Mining Region: the Case of Idrija (Slovenia) (original) (raw)
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The environmental conditions in the Idrija Mercury Mine and its broader surroundings were strongly affected in the first half of the 19th century by two disastrous pit fires. The fire could only be extinguished by flooding of the pit. The consequences of such flooding was extensive poisoning with mercury vapours, not only among those miners who participated in the fire extinguishing effort and later in the rehabilitation of the pit, but also among the inhabitants of Idrija. During rehabilitation works, the highly polluted water was discharged directly into the Idrijca River, killing all the fish species thriving there. After 1835 the Mine gradually intensified its production. The dumping of increasingly larger quantities of smelting wastes directly into the Idrijca River considerably aggravated the environmental conditions in the river and along its banks. The Mine had begun to pay indemnities in 1788 to affected landowners in the vicinity of the smelting plant. The Mine Administration, supported by the competent ministry and the Higher Mining Office in Klagenfurt, rejected all accusations and proved, evidently with false data, that smelting gases did not contain mercury vapours and that smoke gases were not harmful. Only in 1881 did they finally begin to pay affected landowners a regular annual support in place of indemnity. Contents Historical overview and environmental conditions at the end of the 18th Century ....
The History of Mercury Production in the Mine of Idrija, Slovenia
2nd Intern. Conf. "Archaometallurgy in Europe", Aquileia - Italy, 2009
The mercury mine of Idrija in western Slovenia was the second largest in the world after the famous mine of Almadén in Spain. Extraction of cinnabar began at Idrija in the early post-medieval period and continued until the plant was closed in 1995. This paper examines the earlier (16 th -18 th century) developments in the extraction of mercury ores in Idrija and compares this both with the different methods of distillation of mercury employed in antiquity, and with the distillation techniques described in the 16 th century by Vannoccio Biringuccio, Georg Agricola and Lazarus Ercker.
Environmental geochemistry studies in the area of Idrija mercury mine, Slovenia
Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 2012
Five centuries of mining and processing of mercury ore in the Idrija area have resulted in widespread contamination of different environmental compartments. Environmental impacts on a regional and local scale, caused by atmospheric emissions from the Idrija ore roasting plant, were established in the investigations of mercury spatial distribution in soil and attic dust in 160 km 2 area. Very high values were determined in the Idrijca River valley, and they decrease exponentially with the distance from Idrija. Mercury concentrations in attic dust are higher than in surrounding soils and the attic dust/soil ratio changes with distance. Measurements of mercury in the air confirmed widespread dispersion of mercury and showed highly elevated mercury concentrations around roasting plant and mine ventilation shaft. Beside, systematic monitoring of mercury contents in the stream sediments has demonstrated that huge amounts of mercury are stored in areas where ancient overbank sediments were deposited, and there was no decrease in mercury concentration in active sediments during the last 15 years. Recently, interesting and extremely polluted locations of historical smallscale roasting sites in the Idrija surroundings were discovered. Ongoing geochemical study aims to determine the extreme pollution and significance of these sites for wider contamination of soils and aquatic systems. Presented studies have shown that Hg mining in Idrija caused intense pollution of local and regional environment including the aquatic systems in the Gulf of Trieste, which is seen as the final sink of a major part of the Hg stored in soils and river sediments in the Idrija area.
Geoheritage, 2010
Although Idrija is most famous for its mercury mine, the whole region has a rich natural heritage with many areas of outstanding value. Especially important is its geological heritage, which includes the mercury ore deposit, exposed stratigraphic cross sections, the Wild Lake, the Idrija Fault and the Habečkovo brezno natural shaft. This diversity and sheer geographical scale offers great potential for education and developing geotourism in the region. It is crucial to conserve this natural and cultural heritage, with many previous efforts have been put into such endeavours. The most important is Zgornja Idrijca Landscape Park where some features are additionally protected such as natural monuments and a nature reserve. In general, the conservation of natural and cultural heritage in Idrija municipality is enforced by three decrees, EU directives and national laws and regulations. Because of the importance of the Idrija region, since 2007 a large amount of effort has been put into the establishment of Idrija Geopark. In the past year, as part of the Leader project "Involving geological heritage in rural tourism for the Idrijca River basin (the region of Idrija and Tolmin)", the first concrete steps towards creating this geopark have been made. This included making an inventory of natural heritage sites, educational activities for children and adults and research theses in cooperation with students. The evaluation of geoheritage has been completed and preliminary themes designed. In this way, the basis of the proposed Idrija Geopark is set out, and guidelines for conservation, education and geotourism in the municipality are determined.
Geologija, 2009
Pšenk is one out of 21 localities of ancient roasting sites in the woods surrounding Idrija and one of the largest localities of roasting vessels fragments. The most abundant pottery remains are found in the central western part of the area, which is about 60 m long and up to 50 m wide and is supposed to be the location of the roasting process itself. Detailed soil sampling was performed on 210 x 180 m big area. 156 soil (0-15 cm and 15-30 cm) and humus samples were collected from 73 sampling points. 3 soil profiles were sampled to determine vertical distribution of Hg in soil. The prevailing soil types are Cambisols with the typical A-B-C layers sequence. In general soils are rich in organic matter to the depth of 30-40 cm; deeper the clayey loam prevails. The determined Hg contents in soil and humus samples of the investigated area are in the range 1.6-8,600 mg/kg with the median of 62.5 mg/kg. At the area of supposed roasting site the Hg contents range between 20 and 8,600 mg/kg with the median of 580 mg/kg. Spatial distribution of mercury in humus and soils of the investigated area show the highest Hg concentrations at the supposed roasting site area where the largest quantity of pottery fragments were found and to the east of this area, at the narrow tract between the footpath on the north and the bed of Lačna voda brook on the south. Extremely high Hg contents were found in profile P4 where it riches 37,020 mg/kg at the depth of 20-30 cm; in general Hg concentrations in ali three studied profiles show a gradual decrease with depth. The soils of the investigated area are enriched with mercury to a high degree. Further investigations on Hg speciation are needed to determine the mobility and bioavailability of Hg in soil. Izvleček Pšenk je ena izmed 21 lokacij nekdanjih žgalniških mest v gozdovih okrog Idrije in eno večjih nahajališč drobirja žgalniških posod. Največje količine lončenine najdemo na približno 60 m dolgem in do 50 m širokem predelu v centralnem zahodnem delu obravnavanega območja, ki domnevno predstavlja ožje območje žgalnice. Na raziskovanem ozemlju v velikosti 210 x 180 m je bilo na 73 vzorčnih lokacijah odvzetih 156 vzorcev tal (0-15 cm and 15-30 cm) in humusa. Za določitev vertikalne razporeditve Hg v tleh so bili vzorčeni 3 talni profili. Prevladujoči talni tip so kambična tla s tipičnim profilom A-B-C. Tla so v splošnem bogata z organsko snovjo do globine 30-40 cm, globlje pa prevladuje glinasta ilovica. Vsebnost živega srebra v obravnavanih vzorčnih medijih znaša v povprečju 62,5 mg/kg in niha v razponu od 1,6 do 8.600 mg/kg. Na ožjem območju žgalnice se vrednosti gibljejo med 20 in 8.600 mg/kg, mediana znaša 580 mg/kg. Prostorska razporeditev živega srebra v humusu in tleh kaže najvišje vrednosti na domnevnem ožjem območju žgalnice in vzhodno od tega območja, na predelu med gozdno potjo na severu in strugo potoka Lačna voda na vzhodu. Ekstremno visoke vsebnosti Hg so bile določene v profilu P4, kjer dosežejo na globini 20-30 cm vrednost 37.020 mg/kg; v splošnem vsebnosti Hg v vseh treh obravnavanih profilih postopoma upadajo z globino. Tla na obravnavanem območju so močno obogatena z živim srebrom, zato so potrebne nadaljnje raziskave zvrsti živega srebra, ki bodo omogočile določitev mobilnosti in bio-dostopnosti živega srebra v tleh.
Geologija
The presented work provides a comprehensive inventory of data on closed (or in closing phase) and abandoned underground and surface mines and mining waste sites in Slovenia, collected within the framework of the Geological Survey of Slovenia (GeoZS) over the last two decades. Furthermore, a detailed overview of information on closed and abandoned mining waste sites in Slovenia is given. In order to establish the inventory, a definition of the work methodology, a comprehensive research of the archived and published literature, and the harmonisation and management of the collected data was carried out. Based on a selected methodology, the inventory contains information on 33 metal mines, 43 coal mines, 51 non-metallic mineral resource mines, 156 waste sites from metal mines and 18 waste sites from coal mines. The inventory is in the open access Google Earth file. It provides a basis for further research into the environmental impact of mining waste, which has been carried out since th...
Land Degradation & Development, 2018
This paper provides an overview of the physical and chemical landscape changes that have occurred at four reference sites due to historical mining and smelting activities within Slovenia, and their comparison with similar sites around the World. Literature review has been made with the intention to identify major pollutant sources, its dispersion control factors, and effects. The four reference sites are Idrija, with more than 500‐year Hg mining and ore smelting history, the Meža Valley, also with a 500‐year PbZn mining and smelting history, the Celje area where Zn was smelted for 100 years and the Drava River alluvial plain, which is contaminated because of historical PbZn mining upstream. Based on the comparison between the four abovementioned reference sites and similar sites around the world that are situated in different landscapes and climates, we identified major sources of contamination, which are the erosion of mine and ore processing wastes, and atmospheric emissions of ...