Ecology

Environmental protection is one of the priority tasks of Mini Maritsa Iztok EAD, aiming at sustainable development, restoration and improvement of environmental conditions resulting from the Company's activities.

I. TECHNICAL RECLAMATION AND HUMUS COLLECTION

One of the major problems in open-pit coal mining worldwide is the disturbance of huge areas of fertile lands and the related restoration measures in order to bring those lands back to their previous condition, as well as the creation of new landscape terrain shapes.

The special piece of legislation used for this activity in the Republic of Bulgaria, is Regulation No. 26 on the Reclamation of Disturbed Areas, Improvement of Low Lands, Removal and Utilization of the Humus Layer.

Pursuant to Article 4 of the above-mentioned Regulation, reclamation shall be carried out in two stages:

technical reclamation – involving clearance, levelling and preparation of the terrain;

loading, transportation and spreading of the humus layer, levelling and shaping the terrain to its final form; building temporary and permanent roads; constructing anti-erosion and hydromeliorative facilities;

Technical reclamation in Mini Maritsa Iztok is carried out annually under projects coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Environment and Water and the respective municipality. The humus layer of the lands that are used for the implementation of mining activities is collected and transported to temporary depots. After the terrains intended for agricultural use have been levelled, the collected humus is spread over them. The thickness of the spread humus layer is 30-35 cm. when it subsides.

biological reclamation – applied to terrains intended for agricultural use that have been reclaimed without a humus cover for a five-year period, and a for three-year period - to areas for forestry use – afforestation.

Since the beginning of the reclamation activity (1974) in Mini Maritsa Iztok EAD until the end of 2023, some 47,000 decares were reclaimed, including 31,000 decares for agricultural use (AU) and 16,000 decares for forestry use (FU). They have been transferred to the relevant fund with restored fertility, quality and characteristics. For their most part, their indicators are better than those preceding extraction activities.

The financing of the design and implementation of the technical reclamation is carried out with resources provided by Mini Maritsa Iztok EAD.

Collection and disposal of the humus soil layer - The collection and utilization of the humus soil layer is an accompanying measure, preceding mining activities. It is applied in front of pit face and stacking operations face so that the layer could be used for future reclamation. This process is funded by Mini Maritsa Iztok EAD.

II. WASTE

In accordance with the Waste Management Act, the waste generated by the Company's activities is classified as follows:

- household waste – non-hazardous. It is collected from the production and working premises in containers and is periodically transported by Public Works and Municipal Economy companies in Radnevo and Galabovo to the respective city solid waste depots (landfills), subsequently it is transported to the regional depot in Stara Zagora;

- iron waste from ferrous and non-ferrous metals - non-hazardous. It is stored in open areas on the territory of the mines, it is sorted and sold as scrap to licensed companies in accordance with the requirements laid down in Bulgarian legal basis;

- construction waste - non-hazardous. It is collected from construction grounds and sites where current maintenance and repair are carried out, and is then transported to the dumps. It is used for the construction of temporary mine roads.

- worn-out car tyres - non-hazardous. They are transported to special grounds from which sites they are delivered to processing and recycling companies;

- hazardous waste:

waste oils – they are collected in cisterns or tanks. Some of them are used, but the major part of them is stored and delivered for recycling to companies holding the relevant permits;
End-of-life accumulators and batteries. They are collected, stored in the Secondary Raw Materials Unit and periodically sold to licensed companies, pursuant to the requirements of the Bulgarian legal basis;
Fluorescent lamps – delivered for recycling to licensed companies;
End-of-life electrical and electronic equipment – delivered for utilization and/or disposal, again to licensed companies.

III. INDUSTRIAL WASTE

In implementation of Directive 2008/1/EC on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control, transposed into Chapter 7 of the Environmental Protection Act, two integrated permits /IP/, respectively No. 398-H0/2010, updated by Decision No. 398-NO-IO-A1-TG1/2022, and No. 403-H0/2010, for the operation of United Northern Dumps and Mednikarovo Dump have been granted to Mini Maritsa Iztok EAD. Those dumps have the status of non-hazardous waste landfills due to the fact that they are used for the mixed disposal of overburden from mining activities and industrial non-hazardous waste from TPP Maritsa East 2 EAD and Contour Global Maritsa East 3 JSC. These integrated permits stipulate a number of conditions that the Company fulfills.

IV. WATER

Pursuant to the requirements laid down in the Water Act, Mini Maritsa Iztok EAD has been granted permits for the use of a water body - surface water for the discharge of mine waste water by the East Aegean Region Basin Directorate in Plovdiv.

Under the terms of the permits, in order to limit the development of oxidation processes that lead to high water mineralization, especially from the central catchpits, internal instructions and regulations have been prepared, in which various measures have been identified and are carried out.

V. OTHER

The reduction in dust emissions is achieved by applying spraying at the places of mining equipment operation and spraying the mine roads by means of road tankers.

In the course of its activities, the Company:

- reports on the quantities of waste generated and delivered to the National Waste Information System (NWIS) every month;

- prepares and submits Annual Environmental Reports on the Non-Hazardous Waste Landfills, respectively on United Northern Dumps and Mednikarovo Dump, for which it has been granted integrated permits, to the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water (RIEW) in Stara Zagora and to the Executive Environment Agency (EEA) under the Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW) every year;

- submits a report to the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (EPRTR) in accordance with Regulation 166;

- performs reporting on the underground and surface monitoring of water carried out during the reporting year, as well as on the noise from sources located at the landfills for non-hazardous waste;

- reports the above information also to the National Statistical Institute /NSI/ every year;

- reports on the implementation of the Concession Contract to the Ministry of Energy /the Concession-granting Authority/ every year;

- reports on fluorinated greenhouse gases to the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water in Stara Zagora and to the Executive Environment Agency in Stara Zagora under the Ministry of Environment and Water.

The most significant activity is the subsequent reclamation of disturbed areas in the long term.