Thirty-one members and guests gathered at the Somerset Earth Science Centre to hear David Jameson of GWP Consultants give a talk entitled 'The Mining Waste Directive - Implications to UK Quarrying Practice'.

David first explained how the European directive came into being. It was intended to unify the handling of mining waste within the EC. This was largely as a consequence of two major tailings dam failures in Spain and Romania, both of which had a major impact on the environment. The directive is based almost exclusively on metal mining incidents. David contrasted this with how legislation was introduced in the UK as a result of the Aberfan disaster in 1966.

The objective of the Mines Waste Directive (MWD) is to protect the environment and human health. This is to be achieved by the management of waste facilities throughout its life cycle. David defined what is meant by 'waste'. In the quarrying industry this would include topsoil, overburden etc but not blacktop or concrete waste. He then described how the various types of waste could be categorised as hazardous, inert and so on.

Under the regulations all mining waste operations are classed as regulated facilities and will require a permit, even if all waste is being placed back into the quarry void, as is the case in opencast coal operations. A mining waste facility (MWF) will be required as an area designated for the accumulation or depositing of extractive waste for a specified time period. A 'category A' waste facility is one where a failure or incorrect operation at the MWF has the potential to cause a major incident.

With regards to the permitting requirements, this will be policed by the Environment Agency (EA). There must be a waste management plan (WMP) in place, which will describe the techniques for dealing with waste. It is envisaged that all MWF's on the same site would be covered under a single permit. The permit will depend on the risk and be either a standard one or a bespoke permit. Sites with existing discharge consents will already have been classified.

David explained the current UK programme for implementation with the relevant dates and then went through a checklist to determine whether a site actually needed a permit. This is known as Screening - Stage 1. Guidance on Stage 2 has not yet been issued by the EA.

The wide ranging questions at the end reflected ongoing uncertainties in the interpretation of the regulations particularly with reference to lagoons, landscape embankments etc.

This ended a very comprehensive and in-depth talk on such a vital topic, with Steve Cole giving the vote of thanks.