Tools and Criteria for Regional Environmental and Geological Monitoring of Open-Pit Mines (Case Of Volyn Polissya, Nw Ukraine)

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the potential environmental impact of open-pit mining of certain deposits of construction raw materials (on the example of the plain region of Volyn Polissya). Official project data on locations, areas and volumes of extraction are taken into account. The availability of tools and services for independent verification of mining development based on the analysis of remote sensing data is described separately. Examples of such analysis are given. A number of criteria for assessing the environmental impact of such developments on the geological environment are proposed, including the area and depth of development, production volumes, the presence or absence of groundwater disclosure and factors of their pollution, distances to the nearest vulnerable objects, etc. Based on this, a scoring scale was developed and applied to assess the relative risk of negative impact of mines on the environment in this region.