Feasibility study and front end engineering design to remediate Pietrafitta mining area for Enel Power Generation.
Pietrafitta in Perugia has been home to lignite coal mines since the 1950s, which provided feedstock for the nearby Enel power plant. Mining continued until the 1990s, when the coal seam was exhausted and the power plant converted to gas. The entire mining area has been affected by the dumping of excavated mining material and waste. Over time these materials may have introduced metals and sulphates into the groundwater.
CESI was commissioned by Enel to analyse these chemical compounds. The data obtained, under the scientific supervision of the University of Bologna, show that the chemicals are characteristic of the region’s geological formations and there is no connection between mining areas and the quality of the groundwater. The environment is not actually contaminated; the compounds present are naturally occurring and unrelated to historical mining activities.