The European Parliament has given the final go-ahead to a directive that creates minimum requirements for the management of mining tailings ponds and tailings, with the aim of preventing accidents such as the one that occurred in Aznalcóllar (Seville) in 1998. The new directive, which must be implemented in the Member States within a maximum period of two years, sets conditions for the granting of operating licences, and creates rules for waste management and the safety of installations.

It also obliges operating entities to have plans to close them and to have an adequate financial guarantee to cover costs arising from possible accidents and prevent them from becoming insolvent if necessary.

The plenary session approved by a large majority the joint text previously agreed by the representatives of the European Parliament and the Council, which provides that companies must have funds not only to repair possible damage to their waste facilities but also ‘the rehabilitation of the land affected’ by a spill.

On the other hand, the text obliges companies to guarantee the surveillance of extraction waste and the excavation hole in which it is stored, as well as to prevent contamination of soil, surface water and groundwater.

When refurbishing a facility or constructing a new one, the company will be responsible for ensuring that its location complies with the regulations relating to protected areas and is adapted to the geological, hydrological, hydrogeological, seismic and geotechnical factors of the terrain.

The new regulation obliges Member States to have an up-to-date inventory of closed or abandoned waste facilities, which pose a potential danger to the environment and human health, and to define ‘programmes of measures’ to mitigate this risk.

Currently, the treatment of waste from the extractive industries is covered by the 1975 Waste Framework Directive and the 1999 Landfill Directive. But accidents such as the one in Baia Mare (Romania) or the one in Aznalcóllar, where in 1998 the containment dam of a waste bag belonging to the Swedish company Boliden broke near the Doñana natural park, prompted the European Commission to propose a specific regulation on the protection of this type of facility.