Environmental guidance for your business in Northern Ireland & Scotland
Extraction voids are holes you leave in the surface of the land or underground after you have removed minerals and waste rock.
The Mining Waste Directive (MWD) brings in new requirements for managing extractive waste, including managing extraction voids at mines and quarries.
This guidance applies to all mines or quarries in the UK that put extractive waste in extraction voids.
You must check with your regulator whether you need planning permission to put your extractive waste into an extraction void.
Managing extractive waste in Northern Ireland and Scotland
If you put extractive waste into extraction voids to rehabilitate your mine or quarry or to build or maintain access for machinery, haulage ramps, bulkheads, safety barricades or berms in the void, you must make sure:
You must not put extractive waste back into a void which will be flooded, unless your regulator has given you permission to do this.
Groundwater in Northern Ireland, DAERA have produced a leaflet to raise awareness about this untapped resource
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