The contract for the environmental remediation of the Prado Velho mine, which also included Forte Velho mine and the former Barracão Radium Factory, consisted of the following main activities:
- Preparation of the pit for filling;
- Total filling of the pit with materials from the surrounding spoil heaps;
- Creation of a confined disposal site for materials from other mines and materials resulting from the decontamination of the area around the Former Barracão Factory (total of 255,000 m³);
- Maintenance of the water surface inside the pit, with a total capacity of 18,000 m³;
- Recovery of the landscape.
Around 209,904 m³ of local soils were transported to the confined disposal site created in the pit, plus around 2,200 m³ of masonry, brick and concrete demolition material from the structures/ruins of Prado Velho, Forte Velho and Barracão Factory, which were crushed at Prado Velho in a mobile crushing unit. An additional 50,000 m³ of material from other mines and around 21,500 m³ from surface capping (clay + crushed stone + soil + topsoil) were also added to this total. Around 255,000 m3 were packed into the pit.
The total area occupied by the disposal of material is 14,200 m². The height above ground, after capping, varies between 3 and 5 m, with the highest point being located at the north end.
This contract was awarded to Oliveiras Empreiteiros, SA for € 3,159,628.58 (including Forte Velho and the Former Barracão Radium Factory) and had a duration of 238 days.
The investment in this intervention was co-financed by the Cohesion Fund and enabled the objectives proposed for these former mining areas to be achieved, including a reduction in risks to safety, environmental and radiological risks, while simultaneously improving the surrounding landscape, as well as recovering areas that had been rendered unusable by the disposal of tailings associated with the mining operations, and which may now be used for other purposes.
