The Usability of Wastes in the Backfill Management

The issue of mining wastes got into considerable attention in Slovakia. It is mainly related to the adoption of Act No. 514/2008 Coll. on treatment of waste from extractive industry and on amendment of some acts, which is an implementation of Directive 2006/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the management of waste from extractive industries. This Act regulates all the essentials related to this issue and has introduced several new measures. Their main role is to prevent negative influences of waste landfill from extraction and mineral processing on the surrounding environment. This paper is points out the possibilities of waste utilization with the aim to prevent formation of surface landfills. These landfills always represent at least aesthetically unpleasant interference in the environment. The paper is focused mainly on addressing these possibilities in magnesite mining which is one of the noted environmental burdens in Slovakia. The usability of wastes from the extraction and processing of magnesite is analyzedas well as the possibility of application of other industrial wastes for backfilling.