Former Metal Mines

Tom Blenkinsop Excerpts

Wednesday 9th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That leave be given to bring in a Bill to give the Coal Authority responsibility for preventing adverse environmental impacts from former metal mines; and for connected purposes.

At present, 9% of rivers in England and Wales are impacted by contaminated water discharging from orphan metal mines. These impacts represent one of the greatest obstacles in achieving water framework directive objectives, along with the problem of gaining back the loss of amenity and areas of ecological value. Metal mines are excluded from the Coal Authority’s duty to remediate similar water pollution emanating from coal mines—a position established under the memorandum of understanding with the Environment Agency in 1999. I propose that orphan metal mines should come under the same supervised expertise of the Coal Authority.

At present there is no legal responsibility for any party to maintain a disused orphan metal mine. This state of affairs is largely down to historical timing, because mining of iron ore largely stopped in the ’60s, as it did in other metal mines—yet coal mining persisted, in the main, into the early ’90s. Work in Wales, the south-west and Northumbria has identified more than 3,700 sites, although not all are causing serious pollution. No metal mines are still in use; the largest tin mine in Cornwall closed in 1998. Deep mines are still working, especially in my constituency at Boulby, where the tradition of mining is kept alive at the Cleveland Potash mine.

I came into contact with the issue of abandoned metal mines through the Saltburn Gill action group. Saltburn Gill is a narrow wooded stream valley leading directly off Saltburn’s famous surfing beach to the historic pier, hydraulic cliff lift and other tourist attractions of that popular Victorian resort town. Much of the Gill is a nature reserve and is designated as a site of special scientific interest as a relic of post-glacial native woodland. It is a popular walking area, and local wildlife attractions include kingfishers and visiting otters. It is also situated near the 82 shafts that access the historic networks of iron ore.

Mining in Teesside began in the 1850s, following the discovery by John Vaughan and John Marley of the main seam outcrop in Cleveland, thereby beginning a 150-year history of iron and steel making on Teesside. The iron ore from those hills, forged on the river Tees, was integral to the Victorian obsession with cast iron, the construction of the Tyne bridge and the building of Sydney harbour bridge.

Unfortunately, both Saltburn Gill and Skelton Beck began to see significant impacts from ochreous mine water appearing overnight on 18 May 1999. That quickly turned this otherwise high-quality watercourse bright orange, devastating the downstream ecology. Saltburn Gill and Skelton Beck are perfect examples of how a local river or stream can be severely impacted by mine water discharging from disused orphaned ironstone mines.

As a result, Saltburn Gill and Skelton Beck are classified as moderate and poor respectively under the water framework directive. Over 330 kg of iron ochre is deposited on the stream bed every day, contributing to 100 tonnes of iron hydroxide ochre delivered straight into the North sea each year. The pollution reduces oxygen in the stream, stops sunlight and smothers the bed, with a devastating effect on the ecology. A biological impact survey of the stream showed that the pollution had reduced the quality of the beck from grade B, which is good, to grade F, which is bad, in the 1.5 km stretch from the discharge to the sea.

Nationally, abandoned mines are the second biggest diffuse water pollutant, after agriculture. In 1992, one of the UK’s biggest pollution incidents took place when 45 million litres of heavily contaminated water burst from the recently closed tin mine at Wheal Jane in Cornwall. The mine water, loaded with cadmium, arsenic, zinc and iron, flooded into the Carnon river, causing a vast plume of polluting orange water in Falmouth bay. In the end, it was decided that a chemical treatment plant was needed to deal with the scale of the problem, allow treated water to flow to the river and block pollution.

That was all achieved by direct Government action at the time after a major incident—not via legislation giving powers to an agency to take preventive measures to avoid such incidents occurring in the first place. For Saltburn Gill action group, assistance was given by the Environment Agency, Teesside university, the local wildlife trust, Saltburn, Marske and New Marske parish council and others, to try to find a solution to the problem.

In 2009, in partnership with the Coal Authority and with funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Environment Agency undertook a number of investigations to establish the feasibility of building a treatment plant for the mine water at Saltburn. Three boreholes were drilled into the workings and a pumping test was run for three months to help the Environment Agency and Coal Authority to design a treatment plant.

One of the first things discovered was that the mine water level was 10 metres higher than the discharge point. This has raised concerns that there is a risk of a significant outbreak. The pumping test also demonstrated to the Environment Agency and the Coal Authority that the recharge area for the mine was much larger than expected. Laboratory and field-scale tests have shown that up to 99% of the iron could be removed in a treatment plant. Furthermore, there are also industrial economic benefits to be gained from existing coal mine water treatment plants, which could be expanded if metal mines were adopted by the Coal Authority.

About 50,000 tonnes of ochre are collected every year from existing coal mine water treatment plants. The vast majority of this ochre is transported for landfill, despite the fact that it could be used for phosphate removal in sewage treatment works, could provide a pigment in the dye and paint industry, and could be used as a bulking agent and dye in the cement industry, or as feedstock for the iron and steel industry. The UK currently imports 250,000 tonnes of ochre from Australia, while sending to landfill the vast bulk of the 50,000 tonnes that it collects via the Coal Authority. Indeed, some mine waters contain significant quantities of valuable metals, and the potential for extracting them, and other chemicals, both from the mine water and from the ochre is a subject that requires further research.

There are also heritage issues to be considered in the maintenance of abandoned metal mines. A great many mines are protected as scheduled ancient monuments, and some, such as the tin and copper mining areas of Cornwall and west Devon, have UNESCO world heritage site status. Although protection of the heritage of certain sites means some treatment methods are not suitable, it can be a driver for remediation. A good example is at Parys mountain, Anglesey, where remediation activities are led as much by the local industrial heritage trust as by the Environment Agency. Another good example is at the National Coal Mining Museum for England at Caphouse colliery near Wakefield. Rising mine water posed a threat to the underground workings that were open to visitors, as well as to the River Dearne. Through work with the Coal Authority, the mine water was controlled by pumping and treated at the surface. The treatment plant is now part of the visitor attraction, with hides for birdwatching built into wetlands.

Of course, the impact of climate change could make the problem of abandoned mine pollution worse. Increased and heavier rainfall intensity will increase the erosion of contaminated spoil heap material, and sediments and deposition on agricultural land in downstream floodplains.

Legally, the Water Resources Act 1991 is the most important piece of pollution legislation in England and Wales. It outlines the principal offence that a person contravenes the Act if he or she

“causes or knowingly permits any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter or any solid waste matter to enter any controlled waters.”

Until 31 December 1999, section 89(3) of the same Act contained a defence:

“A person shall not be guilty under Section 85 by reason only of his permitting water from an abandoned mine to enter into controlled waters.”

Consequently, there has only ever been one successful prosecution. Even for the Wheal Jane tin mine, and in other high-profile cases, prosecutions were not brought, following legal advice that “causing” could not be proven because of the long and complicated history. That defence was removed in 1999, but the removal could not be applied retrospectively. This presents difficulties, as the European mining waste directive will mean a new regulatory regime to control waste facilities at working mines and quarries. Crucially, it has implications for abandoned mines. By 2012, member states have to

“ensure that an inventory of closed waste facilities, including abandoned waste facilities...which cause serious negative environmental impacts or have the potential of becoming in the medium or short term a serious threat to human health or the environment is drawn up and periodically updated.”

For all these reasons—litigious, historical, ecological and economic—I move that the Coal Authority be given the legal go-ahead to take over such abandoned metal mines, so that rivers and streams like Saltburn Gill, Saltburn Beck and Skelton Beck are returned to their former glory.

Question put and agreed to.

Ordered,

That Tom Blenkinsop, Ian Swales, Mr Iain Wright, Alex Cunningham, Ian Lavery and Mrs Jenny Chapman present the Bill.

Tom Blenkinsop accordingly presented the Bill.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 4 November 2011, and to be printed (Bill 145).