Problems of restoration of lands disturbed during the development of mineral deposits
Authors:   Ural State Mining University, IVANOV Andrey Nikolaevich , IGNAT’EVA Margarita Nikolaevna ,   Ural State Mining University, YURAK Vera Vasil’evna ,   Ural State Mining University, PUSTOKHINA Natal’ya Georgievna ,   Ural State Mining University
Published: December 2020

Relevance of the study. One of the criteria for sustainable development, focused on the preservation of renewable natural resources, requires equal volumes of use of renewable resources and their renewal, or even an excess of renewable resources over use. In the context of mining enterprises, this criterion is directly related to land resources that are disturbed during the operation of mineral deposits and are restored at the end of the development of deposits. The effectiveness of reclamation works requires an analysis of their implementation and identification of reasons for non-compliance with the required ratio in the use and restoration of disturbed lands. The purpose of the study is to assess the state of reclamation work at the level of countries and regions and to identify “bottlenecks”, the elimination of which allows fulfilling the criterion condition for sustainable development. Methods of research. In the course of the study, the methods of generalization, grouping, statistical analysis, comparison and analogies were used. Results. In the process of research, the relevance of restoration of land resources in the development of subsoil resources was confirmed. The identified trends related to the production of reclamation in the 1980s and now are manifested in a constant lag in the rate of reclamation from the rate of violation of land resources. In general, about 50% of disturbed land is reclaimed annually in the Russian Federation. The share of reclamation does not remain constant; for 2018, for example, it increases to 64.11%. Comparison by federal districts made it possible to identify leaders in terms of disturbance and reclamation of land resources. The largest volume of land disturbance is typical for the Ural, Siberian, and Far Eastern districts; these regions also account for large areas of reclamation (more than 65% of the total amount of reclaimed areas). At the same time, in percentage terms, the situation is not so favorable. From the comparison of the current volumes of disturbance and reclamation performed for the period 2015–2018, it follows that in the Ural and Siberian districts these indicators are the lowest, in particular in the Ural district (20.97–55.86%). A similar region-wise analysis performed for the Ural Federal District showed that the lowest rates are typical for the Tyumen region, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. The Kurgan region is in the best position; the average indicators are in the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions. In general, a negative trend is observed in the Ural Federal District: in 2015 – 55.86%, in 2018 – 34.61%, and in 2016-2017 – 20.97-24.66%. Conclusions. Reclamation works are primarily associated with the development of mineral deposits, which requires improving the organizational and economic mechanism of this process in the conditions of subsoil use: solving the problem of financing these works, tightening control over their implementation, increasing the responsibility of performers, improving the regulatory framework.