I attended the presentation yesterday on 'Post Mining Regeneration',
held at the Eden Project; mainly in a professional capacity (using
satellite imagey for monitoring mine sites) but also with a concern
about the affect of the proposed centre on mine heritage. As Roger has
said, the proposal is to develop a network of centres concerned with
regeneration of closed mines; with the Eden Project being the core hub
as a 'Global Centre for Post-mining Regeneration'.
Presently, a one year feasibility study has been funded by Rio Tinto,
Anglo-American, MIRO and English Nature. There is every likelihood that
the centre will be established this year.
At yesterday's meeting the prime aim of the Centre was given as to
encourage sustainable development in the mining sector. The aim will be
accomplished through:
Benchmarking good practice
Facilation and convening
Education and training
Public engagement
The Centre will be concerned with current/future mines and legacy mines.
For current/future mines the aim will be to incorporate regeneration in
the closure plans at mine planning stage. The Centre will also be
concerned with legacy mine sites. They estimate that there are 35,000
legacy mine sites in Europe and over 100,000 in N. America. The main
aims for legacy mine sites appears to be landscape and habitat
restoration; although they do recognise the special habitats of some old
mine sites and the socio-economic aspects of mine closure. They do not
however appear to recognise the cultural and heritage aspects of old
mine sites or alternative uses (eg tourism - although Eden itself is a
tourist related use of a china clay pit).
At the meeting and in discussions afterwards I brought the concerns of
the mining heritage community to the attention of the steering committee
of the project. However, I think that we will need to keep a close
watch on the centre as it develops. They already have extensive
contacts in the EU, European Environment Agency and World Bank. Perhaps
their is a role for NAMHO to become a 'stakeholder' and have
representation in the centre; although the centre could have impacts on
mining heritage world-wide - especially in the grey area mines which
closed in the C20th and who heritage worth is only now being realised.
Martin Critchley
Mining Heritage Trust of Ireland
______________________________
Dr. Martin Critchley, Remote Sensing Manager, ERA-Maptec Ltd, 36 Dame
Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
Tel. +353(01)6330516 Fax. +353(01)6799798
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