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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON GRAVEL GOLD MINING IN THE AMUR RIVER BASIN

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Gold deposits in the Amur basin

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CHINA

MONGOLIA

RUSSIA

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GOLD MINING

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Decoding characteristics were developed

Large massifs of “bare spots” of river beds

Presence of cascade dikes (dams)

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Landsat Image

QuickBird Image

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The first stage of work:

Analysis and preparation of space images for decoding

“Google Earth” - the first stage of identifying destroyed river valleys.

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Landsat Images

Spatial resolution 30м

Aster Images

Spatial resolution 15м

Research center EROS of Geological service of US (USGS) in cooperation with NASA in 2007 uploaded a library of space images of Landsat и Aster satellites on its server and opened access to them.

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http://glovis.usgs.gov

Library of satellite images

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Result – revealing about 6573 km of totally destroyed valley plots

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Total damaged river valley

2111 sq.km

(in Amur river basin)

The largest in the basin of the Zeya reservoir

2400 sq.km

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Total area of ​​all settlements in the Russian part of the basin

2131 sq.km. (according Vmap)

The total transformed areas from the gold mining

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Direction grid

Creation of thalwegs (model of river network) from digital elevation model (DEM)

Digital Elevation Model - SRTM 4 (Shuttle radar topographic mission)

Watersheds

River system model

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Basing on DEM (SRTM) model of river system was created, which includes morphometric information about all water flows. Then information about destroyed water flows was transferred to this background.

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Estimation results by basins – sub-basins

River basin

Number of impacted water flows

Length of impacted water flows (km)

Percent of length of water flows destroyed in basin

Length of all water flows in basin by the river network model

Amgun

213

396

3.5

11404

Argun

278

644

1.1

60074

Bureya

76

178

1.3

14044

Low Amur

198

348

0.8

43978

Midl Amur

651

1484

4.0

37464

Selemdzha

401

730

5.3

13813

Shilka

570

975

2.4

41076

Songhua

137

397

0.4

110644

Uldz

15

60

0.4

13938

Ussuri

64

109

0.3

37055

Zeya

679

1250

3.6

34596

Total of Amur

3282

6573

1.6

418085

RUSSIA

2735

4916

2.4

202500

CHINA

501

1514

0.9

174688

MONGOLIA

41

138

0.4

37647

Share of destroyed line of river network

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Impact in downstream

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Absolute index

In fractions from the river system length

Impact of gold mining in downstream

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Publication «Golden Rivers»���

Золотые реки: Выпуск 1/Амурский бассейн // Под редакциейЕ. А. Симонова. Владивосток: Всемирный фонд дикой природы (WWF),издательство «Апельсин», 2012 г. 120 с. �(PDF) Golden Rivers. Issue I. The Amur River Basin (по-русски: Золотые Реки. Амурский Бассейн).

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Available from: https://www.rЗолотые реки: Выпуск 1/Амурский бассейн // Под редакциейЕ. А. СимоноваВладивосток: Всемирный фонд дикой природы (WWF),издательство «Апельсин», 2012 г. 120 с. (PDF) Golden Rivers. Issue I. The Amur River Basin (по-русски: Золотые Реки. Амурский Бассейн). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318502922_Golden_Rivers_Issue_I_The_Amur_River_Basin_po-russki_Zolotye_Reki_Amurskij_Bassejn [accessed Feb 23 2025].

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Atlas on golden mining impacts in the Russian part of the Amur River basin

Topographic part of the Atlas is represented in scale 1:500000 and contains of 61 pages in А3 format.

Atlas contains information on NPAs and describes all impacts from golden mining enterprises which were detected by the library of space images.

Sample of Atlas page (В10)

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http://www.mnr.gov.ru

Licenses for gold mine development in Zabaikalsky Province in 2014.

State website

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http://nedra.kosmosnimki.ru

Public monitoring of mining in the Amur River basin

Public website

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Мониторинг золотодобычи

За период июль 2018 - июнь 2019, было выявлено около 150 фактов загрязнения водных объектов. Более 30 компаний были привлечены к административной ответственности, из них у 5 компаний была отозвана лицензия, а также выплачены штрафы на общую сумму более 12,000 евро.

Забайкалье

LANSAT-8 (04.09.2018)

Загрязнённая вода

Чистая вода

LANDSAT-8 (2017)

ESRI, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye

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Экологическая оценка последствий добычи россыпного золота в бассейне реки Амур 19XX-2017

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Monitoring and Impact Assessment of Placer Gold Mining Activities in the Amur River basin, 19XX-2019

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Воздействие добычи россыпного золота на экосистему и оценка эффективности экологической деятельности предприятий

На россыпных месторождениях в Амурской области добывается более 8 т золота ежегодно, при этом

- нарушается более 1500 га земель;

- перерабатывается более 170 млн м3 горной массы, в том числе 50 млн м3 перемывается с использованием 1500 млн м3 речной воды;

- нарушено 150 малых рек длиной до 200 км с общим водосбором 12 тыс. км2;

- подвергается негативному воздействию 54 месторождения торфа на площади 13 тыс. га с запасами торфа 168 млн т;

- 36 тыс. га в окрестностях отработанных месторождений золота превращены в пустыри.

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Results and conclusions

Basing on remote sensing data, all visual transformations of river beds were delineated and scale of destruction was estimated in the Amur basin.

Estimated impacts gold mining on the ecosystem of the Amur River. Together with the non-profit organization, we have created a portal for public monitoring of extraction of gold deposits.

Using the experience of neighboring countries, recommendations were provided for mitigating environmental damage in course of gold mining.

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Thank you for your attention!

Egidarev, E.G., Simonov, E.A. Assessment of the environmental effect of placer gold mining in the Amur river basin. Water Resour 42, 897–908 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0097807815070039

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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291013750_Assessment_of_the_environmental_effect_of_placer_gold_mining_in_the_Amur_river_basin