Mid-Conference Field Trips

The mid-con­fer­ence field trips are sched­uled to take place on Wed­nes­day, dur­ing the con­fer­ence. It offers attendees a wel­come oppor­tun­ity to take a break from the aca­dem­ic ses­sions and to wit­ness first-hand the prac­tic­al chal­lenges and solu­tions in the field of Por­tuguese mine water man­age­ment. The trips will com­prise a blend of tech­nic­al vis­its and cul­tur­al exper­i­ences, designed to provide insights into the prac­tic­al chal­lenges and solu­tions in the field. One of the key high­lights will be a vis­it to the world-fam­ous Port Wine winer­ies. The field trips will provide an oppor­tun­ity for par­ti­cipants to gain insights into the vit­i­cul­ture of the region and the import­ant role water man­age­ment plays in wine pro­duc­tion. In addi­tion to deep­en­ing attendees’ under­stand­ing of mine water issues, the excur­sion will allow them to appre­ci­ate the scen­ic beauty and cul­tur­al rich­ness of north­ern Por­tugal.

| Covas Mine

The Cov­as Mine, loc­ated in the Minho region of north­w­est Por­tugal, has been aban­doned since 1984. This former tung­sten mine, set in a skarn with sulf­ides, now presents numer­ous envir­on­ment­al chal­lenges. The waste dumps, char­ac­ter­ized by phys­ic­al instabil­ity and a lack of an adequate drain­age sys­tem, have been fur­ther com­prom­ised by vari­ous human activ­it­ies. The high con­cen­tra­tion of metal­lic sulf­ides in the waste poses a sub­stan­tial threat to the loc­al water envir­on­ment.

Sev­er­al water­courses tra­verse the min­ing region, dis­play­ing typ­ic­al acid mine drain­age. This extreme eco­lo­gic­al set­ting offers a unique oppor­tun­ity to observe the inter­ac­tions between acido­phil­ic algae and sec­ond­ary min­er­als, such as iron oxy­hy­drox­ides.

A cul­tur­al tour will enrich the tech­nic­al vis­it to Cov­as Mine. Vis­it­ors will enjoy the lush Minho land­scape, savor the region­al pastries, and explore the his­tor­ic­al archi­tec­ture of Ponte de Lima, one of the old­est cit­ies in Por­tugal.

| São Pedro da Cova Mine

Loc­ated near Porto, the São Pedro da Cova Mine has been deal­ing with the issue of self-burn­ing coal waste piles since 2005. These piles sub­stan­tially impair eco­sys­tems and human health. The dis­cov­ery of coal in the late 18th cen­tury trans­formed São Pedro da Cova from an agrari­an soci­ety to an indus­tri­al eco­nomy.

Today, the rem­nants of the old min­ing com­plex, par­tic­u­larly the coal pro­cessing and dis­patch build­ings, remain not­able land­marks. Vis­it­ors can explore a per­man­ent exhib­i­tion fea­tur­ing objects and his­tor­ic­al arti­facts from the coal min­ing era.

The tech­nic­al vis­it to the São Pedro da Cova Mine will be com­ple­men­ted by a tour of Porto, includ­ing a vis­it to the wine caves, where you can exper­i­ence tast­ing Port Wine, renowned for its rich his­tory and dis­tinct­ive, soph­ist­ic­ated fla­vor pro­file, which offers a unique blend of sweet­ness and com­plex­ity that reflects the tra­di­tion­al wine­mak­ing her­it­age of the Douro Val­ley.

| Pintor Mine

Loc­ated near Nogueira do Cravo in the dis­trict of Aveiro, the Pin­tor Mine is one of the 199 min­ing areas ear­marked for envir­on­ment­al rehab­il­it­a­tion by EDM – Empresa de Desen­vol­vi­mento Mineiro, S.a. The min­er­al­iz­a­tion there primar­ily con­sists of a quartz brec­cia rich in arsen­opyr­ite, with less­er amounts of wolfram­ite and occa­sion­al tin, cop­per, lead, and traces of gold and sil­ver. The remain­ing indus­tri­al facil­it­ies were his­tor­ic­ally used to recov­er arsen­ic as oxide.

The slag heaps form a steep slope lead­ing down to the Ribeira do Pin­tor, where a mine sewage gal­lery exhib­its strong acid mine drain­age. Vis­it­ors can observe mani­fest­a­tions of con­tam­in­a­tion and rem­nants of the indus­tri­al min­ing her­it­age.

The tech­nic­al vis­it to Pin­tor Mine will be com­ple­men­ted by a cul­tur­al tour of Aveiro, a city known for its unique nat­ur­al and urb­an land­scape dom­in­ated by the Ria de Aveiro. Aveiro is often called the city museum of Art Nou­veau in Por­tugal and is also renowned for its delect­able region­al sweets, par­tic­u­larly the icon­ic Ovos-Moles. These treats are a delight­ful cus­tard of egg yolk, sug­ar, and water encased in a wafer shaped like the loc­al mari­time motifs.

| Borralha Mining Complex

The Bor­ralha Min­ing Com­plex, his­tor­ic­ally com­pris­ing 52 con­ces­sions, was an import­ant pro­du­cer of wolfram­ite with minor pro­duc­tion of scheel­ite (18%) until it was closed and aban­doned in 1986. Min­ing activ­it­ies included under­ground oper­a­tions and open pit min­ing of vein and brec­cia zones, exploit­ing a stock­work struc­ture.

Today, on an area of about 50 hec­tares, there are sev­er­al waste dumps, some of them of con­sid­er­able volume, old indus­tri­al facil­it­ies, includ­ing the labor­at­ory, the two laun­dries, and vari­ous ruined build­ings, wells and gal­ler­ies. This site, loc­ated in one of the wet­test regions of the Iberi­an Pen­in­sula, is not only a his­tor­ic­al min­ing com­plex. It’s also an import­ant envir­on­ment­al site, drained by numer­ous water­courses that receive water affected by min­ing, mak­ing it an inter­est­ing case study in envir­on­ment­al pro­tec­tion.

The tech­nic­al vis­it to the Bor­ralha Min­ing Com­plex will be a truly enrich­ing exper­i­ence. Par­ti­cipants will not only explore the indus­tri­al his­tory of the com­plex, but also immerse them­selves in the nat­ur­al won­ders of the Bar­roso region and the nearby Ger­ês Nation­al Park. They will be able to observe the region’s stun­ning land­scapes, endem­ic flora and fauna, and inter­est­ing geo­lo­gic­al fea­tures that con­trib­ute to its des­ig­na­tion as a UNESCO Glob­al Geo­park. This com­ple­ment­ary exper­i­ence will provide a hol­ist­ic under­stand­ing of the area’s nat­ur­al and geo­lo­gic­al her­it­age, enhan­cing the appre­ci­ation of its indus­tri­al his­tory and envir­on­ment­al rel­ev­ance.