Environmental Remediation in the Rosmaneira Mining Area

Location

Sabugal (Municipality)

Investment

463,897.71 €

2012 - 2013

Environmental Remediation in the Rosmaneira Mining Area

Concluded

The former mining area of Rosmaneira is located near a small village, Quinta de Santo António, attached the civil parish of Bendada in the municipality of Sabugal and district of Guarda.

The Rosmaneira mine was the 1st concession awarded in Portugal in 1909. It was operated for the production of Radium between 1909 and 1914, through the exploration of two galleries on a hillside. Small mineralized areas were also operated as open pit mines (trenches). In 1940, the C.P.R. (Companhia Portuguesa de Rádio) opened the Master Shaft and the open pit mine. From 1950, when it was already producing uranium, 5 floors were constructed up to a maximum depth of 110 m from the mouth of the master shaft. The mining operations ended in 1956. After that date, manual grading was carried out on the entire spoil heap and the natural leaching of poor ore was concluded in 1961. The production of uranium (1950-1961) was 15,586.9 kg of U₃O₈, contained in ores with an average content of 0.15% of U₃O₈. The previous production of radium salts is unknown.

This environmental remediation work consisted of the following main activities:

Demolition and removal of debris from old buildings and structures to spoil heap B;
Removal of spoil heaps and material from cleaning areas to spoil heap B (local dump);
Drainage and containment of the local dump;
Forming and landscaping of areas subjected to removal of spoil heaps and drainage;
Capping and enclosure of mine shafts, ditches and galleries resulting from the mining or prospection activities.

This contract was awarded to MT3 – Engenharia e Obras, Lda for € 463,897.71 and had a duration of 180 days.

The investment made was co-financed by the Operational Programme for Territorial Enhancement under the NSRF, and allowed the environmental liabilities resulting from mining at this location to be resolved, bringing benefits to local populations through the improvement of current conditions and use of the areas reclaimed for other ends.