The “Mines and Quarries Restoration Network Chair” is born - LIFE Tecmine

In the Honoris Hall of the Rectorate of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), the official presentation of the “Chair Network of Mine and Quarry Restoration”, a pioneering initiative with the aim of promoting good practices in the restoration of mining and quarrying operations in the Valencian and national territory, favouring the transfer of knowledge between the administration, the university and the business sector, took place on 20 May.

The Mines and Quarries Restoration Network is the result of the LIFE TECMINE project (Ademuz, Valencia), coordinated by the Forest Management and Planning Service of the Directorate General for the Natural and Animal Environment, whose objective was to improve the restoration of open-cast mines in Mediterranean forest environments.

The chair was created with the aim of becoming a meeting and collaboration space between the academic and professional spheres, to promote research, training and dissemination of environmental restoration techniques in areas degraded by mining activity.

The Vera campus of the Universitat Politécnica de Valencia hosted the event, which brought together representatives of public administrations, the scientific community, the extractive sector and environmental organizations. Among the attendees invited by the Rector of the UPV, José E. Capilla Romá, were those responsible for the Generalitat Valenciana who led the LIFE TECMINE project and laid the foundations for the Mines and Quarries Restoration Network, such as Eduardo Pérez-Laorga Arias, Head of the Forest Planning and Management Service of the Directorate General for the Natural and Animal Environment of the Regional Ministry for the Environment, Infrastructure and Territory, and Matías Mas Gisbert, Head of the Mines Service of the Directorate General for Energy and Mines of the Regional Ministry for Innovation, Industry, Trade and Tourism. Also in attendance were the president of the Mines and Quarries Restoration Network, UPV professor Antonio Torregrosa Mira, who is taking over the direction of the new Chair, and Constanza Rubio Michavilla, director of the UPV's School of Agricultural Engineering and the Natural Environment, the center to which the Chair is attached.

From now on, with the creation of the Chair, the collaboration between the public administration, universities and companies is strengthened, training is linked to professional practice, alliances are fostered and progress is made towards a more sustainable mining industry that is committed to the territory.