EDM – Empresa de Desenvolvimento Mineiro, SA presented, on 25 March, a project to recover the former uranium mines of Mondego Sul, in the district of Coimbra. The ceremony, which was chaired by the Secretary of State for Energy, Jorge Seguro Sanches, was attended by the Mayor of Tábua, Mário Loureiro, and the chairman of EDM – Empresa de Desenvolvimento Mineiro, SA, Rui Rodrigues.

The start-up of the project, which will last 11 months, is scheduled for this year, involving a total investment of 5.4 million euros, with 85% of eligible costs (78% of the total) to be financed by the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficiency in the Use of Resources (POSEUR).

The intervention model, which involves a large part of the district of Coimbra, includes hydrological/environmental and radiological aspects, as well as the volume of waste to be treated, the degree of sensitivity and profusion of local aquifer levels and surface water bodies, climatic factors, the location and the proximity of the local population.

The completion of these works will ensure the recovery of a total area of around 21.5 hectares, ensuring the confinement and sealing of around 580 thousand cubic metres of mining waste.

During the execution of the work, the current measures required for permanent hydrochemical control and monitoring of surface and deep water will also continue to be implemented.

The appropriate recovery and integration of the mine into the landscape will also be ensured across the entire area.

EDM – Empresa de Desenvolvimento Mineiro, SA thus emphasizes the quality of the interventions to be carried out and the resulting benefits for local populations.

The mining area to be recovered, which worked as an open pit between 1987 and 1991, is located next to the former mouth of Ribeira de São Simão, which currently forms part of the backwaters of the Aguieira reservoir.