Extractive industry, regardless of how it is performed, always leads to long-term negative effects on the environment. The environmental component that suffers the most as a result of mining activities is land, and with it the entire ecosystem in the area. The most significant destructive effects of open pit mining are produced, both by the quarry and the associated waste deposits and tailings ponds. Removing the overburden and extracting minerals from an ore deposit constitutes a destructive action, with possible repercussions on local or regional habitats and fauna. These effects can be extremely serious if they interact with natural environments of high value. The environmental implications are obvious when mining operations are per-formed using explosives and mechanical equipments through noise, large amounts of dust released in the atmosphere, causing major damage to vegetation and prob-lems related to irreversible alterations of habitats, with consequences in both the project and adjacent areas. Storage of tailings from processing activities (where the mineral material is often associated with dangerous toxic substances) in ponds, may cause functional alterations or destruction of the territory in which they are located. Given the above, based on preexisting data and field observations, the paper aims at making an inventory of the mining and processing operations and the assessment of the possible consequences on the environment that may be generated by the implementation of a large-scale mining project, being taken as a case study the Certej Mining Project (exploitation and recovery of the sulphide epithermal gold-silver ore deposit quartered in the Metaliferi Mountains).

Purpose. This study aims to identify the main factors that influence the flooding process of the remaining gaps of open-pits comprising essentially the velocity and duration of flooding, but also the stability of in situ and dump slopes during and after the flooding and the water quality in order to ensure the takeover of the future function of the land as soon as possible and the safety of objects and local communities. Methods. Establishing the three categories of factors that influence from a quantitative and qualitative point of view the flooding of the remaining gaps of the open pits. Analysis of the key factors in the flooding process of the remaining gaps, in terms of their contribution to reducing or increasing the flood duration and to reducing or increasing the stability reserve of different types of slopes. Findings. The interdependence and cumulative action of factors that influence the flooding process of remaining gaps and the stability of in situ and dump slopes materializes in worsening the strength characteristics of rocks and changing the state of stress and deformations in the rock mass. Originality. The paper provides a detailed description of the key factors and the interactions between these and their in-fluence on the flooding process, stability, and the factor of safety. Their influence and interactions are highlighted through a case study conducted at the Peșteana mining perimeter level. Practical implications. The flooding of the remaining gaps can cause loss of slope stability during and after the flooding process. Unexpected geotechnical phenomena such as landslides, liquefaction, suffosis, rock falls and/or the water quality of the pit lake can be hazardous to natural and/or anthropic objects and local communities. Safety is essential. Therefore, this study suggests taking into account the most important factors that influence the flooding process when evaluating the floo-ding possibility of remaining gaps. Engineers, researchers, mine planers, local authorities, and students will have essential information and will know when and where special attention will be needed in the case of flooding of former open-pits.

As a result of open-pit mining exploitations, impressive size gaps occur in the landscape. Their flooding leads to the occurrence of so-called open-pit lakes and represents an interesting way to reclaim and use sustainably the degraded land. In the literature, there are numerous plans, strategies, and guidelines for mine closure and open-pit recovery, but these are usually developed at the regional or national level and offer general suggestions, which must be evaluated and approached case-by-case. Because there is still no way to evaluate the opportunity of flooding the open-pits, a methodology for assessing this opportunity was developed to identify the open-pits that are suitable for flooding, this being the main objective of the paper. The paper is novel because of the multicriteria evaluation of open-pits and their remaining gaps, the logical succession of the criteria, and the proposed concept, methods, models, and equations that allow a complex assessment of the flooding opportunity. The methodology also aims to ensure maximum safety conditions in the former mining perimeter, the socio-economic and cultural requirements of local communities, the harmonization of the land in accordance with adjacent ecosystems, and the sustainable development of the region.

The problem of the slope stability of open pit mines is one of constant interest and great importance, both during the period of operation, but also post-closure. The research focused on the Oltețu open pit (located in Berbesti Mining Basin, Romania) and was directed in such a way as to allow consideration in the stability analyses of natural (predisposing the investigated area to landslides) and anthropogenic (specific to open pit mining) factors and causes as well as their combined effect. The field investigations (observations on the technical condition of the slopes, discussions with the technical personnel from Oltețu open pit, and sampling) were completed with analyses and laboratory tests (physical–mechanical properties of rocks in the composition of the slopes). The stability analyses took into account different hypotheses related to the actual geometry of the working slopes, and a predictive analysis was also carried out for the forecasted evolution of the working fronts and lateral slopes. Following stability analyses, it was found that for most slopes, the stability reserve is insufficient to allow continuing lignite exploitation under safe conditions. The last part of the paper presents the solutions identified by the authors (adoption of new geometries of the working front and lateral slopes) in order to increase the stability reserve to a minimum acceptable level, which would allow the safe continuation of lignite extraction, and, in the end, some practical recommendations are briefly presented.

Some valuable minerals, such as lignite, are extracted through open-pit mining works. After the cessation of mining activity, large-scale gaps result in the landscape. These gaps, also called “remaining gaps”, represent some of the roughest types of environmental impacts. After the cessation of mining activity, recovery and ecological restoration works are required. However, it is first necessary to carry out risk assessment studies considering the possible future influences on the final slopes. For this study, flooding of the remaining lignite open-pits gaps was considered as the ecological restoration option. The study was based on extensive research, including sampling, laboratory tests, statistical-mathematical processing, hypothesis formulation, evaluations, interpretations, and field observations, regarding the rock behavior and occurrence of negative geotechnical phenomena (geotechnical phenomena that have a negative impact and a risk on the integrity of the environment and local communities, such as landslides, rockfalls, liquefaction, suffosis) during the flooding process. This paper’s originality consists of combining the methods and methodologies developed with the help of classic methods (Fellenius, Janbu, and Bishop methods) and probabilistic ones (Rosenblueth method) existing in the specialized literature for solving the proposed problem and structuring the information similar to a guide.