THE EVALUATION OF OPEN PIT LAND RECLAMATION IN TURKEY CONSIDERING THE CURRENT LEGISLATION

4th International Scientific Conference - SGEM2004, www.sgem.org, SGEM2004 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN: 954-918181-2, June 14-18, 2004, 71- 80pp

ABSTRACT

Every action of human being causes changes in environment. Industrial activities
realizing large volume of production affect the environment more. Scientific
researches not only produce novelty but also try to find solutions in order to reduce
the negative effects of these industrial activities.
The countries that are good at utilizing their mineral sources have completed their
social development in a short time and taken a place among the developed countries.
The mining operations have been causing some changes on the environment as well
as the other industrial activities.
Minerals, which are the consumed and unrenewable resources, have to be
extracted where they are located. Mining, which doesn’t have any chance to choose
an alternative location, sometimes takes place close to an urban land, at forests or
agriculture areas, inevitably. The realization of mining activities with protecting and
caring environment in every condition will minimize the negative effects on
environment.
In Turkey, rules related with usage of area where mining activities are carried out
such as exploration, pre-operation, operation, and post-operation are controlled by
primarily Mining, Environment, Pasture Laws and some regulations. Although these
laws and regulations include many legal arrangements about mining activities and remediation of open-pit land, there seems to be complex matter about remediation of
abandoned land depending on land ownership.
Within the scope of this paper, general information about remediation of open-pit
land was reviewed; present laws and regulations related with the land reclamation
were evaluated considering the other countries’ regulations. Meanwhile, this study
was realized to compare different mines which are controlled by different authorities
in order to reach new approaches for the land management and usage after mining
activities in Turkey.