A SOUND MIND IN A PIT
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Published on Thursday, 06 March 2014 13:32
Aggregate pits may be perfect places for doing such sports as downhill, enduro and other two- and four-wheeled vehicle sports, whilst block pits with their excavations may be ideal for wakeboarding, jumping into water, climbing, diving, etc. They may be, but for sure they are not, at least not in Poland.
The text below may serve as an introduction to the discussion on the advantages of rehabilitation of mining sites and changing them into sports venues. Late 20th century is the time when searching for new forms of activities and … emotions has begun. This also includes promoting new forms of qualified tourism and extreme sports. Thanks to the development of various technologies, those who are looking for active contact with nature and strong emotions are breaking stereotypes. The feeling of satisfaction reaches new dimensions.
Literature on this subject and traditional discourse on the development of industrial sites, especially the ones with open-cast (rock) mining, emphasise the fact that although there are many classifications of the ways rehabilitations may go, the ecological doctrine is prevailing: excavations should be treated as something unfavourable, not aesthetic and embarrassing. The prevailing view says that every rock excavation is actually a degraded land. What is more, the rules concerning mining & geological as well as environmental protection laws recommend rehabilitation works during exploitation works or just after finishing them. They aim to bring the degraded area back to the state prior to exploitation .
It is a pity, because we are all aware of the fact that doing extreme sports and qualified tourism on post-mining sites is a very reasonable (and profitable!) direction of development. We can be sure that the demand for these services is still growing! Thousands of quads, enduro and trial motorbikes are sold every year in Poland. The number of people who are buying off-road cars is not getting smaller and there are more and more owners of off-road bikes. It is all about off-road because there are many such places in Poland. Any proofs? “Świętokrzyskie Region has perfect natural conditions for doing extreme sports and qualified tourism. Wooded, hilly areas give a possibility to do, for example, cross-country skiing, orienteering, hiking and biking. Open-cast mines and closed quarries are perfect for climbers, speleologists and people doing extreme biking sports. Big water reservoirs are great for diving. All those natural features offer enormous possibilities” .
In 2009, on the initiative of “Wena” motorcycle club in Kielce, the Regional Mining Office in Kielce was asked a number of precise questions. The originators of this idea relied on the fact that the most interesting and the biggest sport events in the EU are taking place in the areas of open-cast mines. “We are a sport club, which would like to organise sport events in mining sites. We are facing, however, some problems from the side of their owners who all the time invoke the Mining Office statements”. Precise questions are also being asked: does the Office have to give consent to host such an event and the mine owner inform the Office about possible incidents? What should be done (what permits are necessary?) to organise a sport event? Can we temporarily “close” the pit for the time of the event so that the people being at that time on the mining site would not have to follow the Mining Law?
The potential for organising sport events exists, but we are not allowed to enter most pits – adds Michał Romaniec, the co-owner of Wena Kielce.
Sad reality
What was the result of the correspondence that took place a few years ago? The Mining Office referring to the geological and mining law says that mining plant operations take place on the basis of the plan of mining plant operations confirmed by a proper mining supervision authority or based on conditions specified by the concession. The conclusion is that the rules allow for withdrawal from the plan of operations, but only in case of the threat to the safety of the plant or fire safety after obtaining the consent of a proper mining supervision authority. I quote: “a maintenance manager is in charge of proper organisation and operations of a mining plant. He is obliged to inform immediately about any incident and risk to life, health or safety in general. As a result of the abovementioned (...) there are no legal grounds to give consent to other operations than the ones regulated by the bill above. The Office also informs that it has not any competences to interfere in civil legal relationships between a given entrepreneur and other subjects, including organising sport events in pits.”
How should we understand the stance of the Office? The answer seems to be vague. We managed to get in touch with a person who works for the Higher Mining Office in Katowice who consulted the Kielce Office’s answer.
- Personally, I can’t imagine organising such events in the area of a mining plant where many machines are working and a great risk of danger exists. On the other hand, however, the Mining Office does not have to give consent to organisation of sport events. It is simply beyond our activity – says a worker who wants to stay (unfortunately) anonymous.
- There are no rules concerning a different type of activity than the mining one. An event during extraction break? It is barely real that the maintenance manager would like to shoulder this responsibility.
We asked Jacek Bujański, who works for the Main Committee for Motorcycle Sports of the Polish Automobile and Motorcycle Association (PZM), to comment on this correspondence.
- The Mining Office is interested only in sticking to the plan of operations, but their competences are limited only to this plan, so the Office shouldn’t interfere in the things related to the owner of the mining plant and in using the area that he owns for non-mining activities – says the director of the Polish Quad Association – ATV Polska.
- A sport club should be able to conclude civil law contracts when it wants to organise a sport event. This is a really important initiative because it supports making illegal off-road legal and takes motorcyclists and quad users out of forests. Only a PZM club may guarantee not taking responsibility for an accident during the competition in the area of a mining plant by the owner of the pit or the Mining Office, because this is what the regulations and contracts for lending the mine for the competition time say. This is a good thing and I’d support this kind of initiatives because then you know who is in charge of what. Clubs such as “Wena” are looking for new attractive ways of competing and a natural amphitheatre in a pit gives a chance to attract more fans because they can easily see there the participants and the whole course. We should support this instead of doing everything to block the ideas of active people.
There were 45,000 people during one of Erzbergrodeo (Austria) editions. It is hard to believe that the first event of this kind started from climbing to the peak of the mountain-mine which is 1,400 m above sea level. In 1996 the actions of the enthusiasts got civilised and since then as many as 1,400 participants from the whole world are taking part in enduro motorcycle events. This is possibly the most spectacular enduro race and a perfect example of rehabilitation of mining sites. And what can we say about Poland?
Unfortunately, few people are talking about the thing which is obvious in other countries, I mean designating areas and trails for off-road sports. What is the problem to make mining and post-mining sites become a sport venue? There are numerous arguments for this idea, for instance landscape features or the fact that it is easy to delineate limits between the event site and the audience. Unfortunately, situations when originators’ ideas are approved are not frequent.
Łazy commune with two quarries – in Niegowonice and Wysoka – is probably the most largest area of this type in Poland. You can come here by your off-road car or by quad and legally check your off-road skills. The areas in Niegowonice and in Wysoka are, together, over 50 hectare large. The routes were prepared in the quarries where, for example, national off-road championships are organised.
- Using quarries is free so there is no problem with degradation of the national park buffer zone. Quarries provide unlimited possibilities, more and more events are organised, which serves the promotion of the commune – says Adrian Kała from the Town Hall in Łazy. This is an isolated example of innovative rehabilitation of mining sites. In most cases such initiatives fail when the originator’s patience gets exhausted.
Unfortunately, originators of some interesting concepts are sent away empty-handed.
-In Poland there are fewer and fewer places which could be potential training sites or sport venues. Pit areas, uncultivated lands, dumps – perfect places for developing skills in motor sports – says Andrzej Szkuta, the vice-president of sport in the Regional Office of PZM.
– A good EU programme, satisfying needs of young people, finally equipment for off-road sports – we need to lobby a lot, because the unwillingness to such initiatives did not depend only on an officer’s bad will and his interpretation of the rules. We need to look for allies, because ecologists whose aim is to avoid the discussion at all costs are more successful.
We can generally assume that if a man has no idea, then nature is allowed to take power over a closed quarry. What about exploitation costs? Do they have to be frozen in the decommissioning fund and why can’t we use them for rehabilitation and make quarries sport venues? Who decides about this?
A pressing problem
The ecological doctrine usually prevails: excavations should be treated as something unfavourable, not aesthetic and embarrassing.
- The area is fenced, signs such as “no climbing here”, “no swimming here”, etc. are installed. Wall framing, which is done in block pits, can be a substitute of a perfect place for rock climbing or diving fans. In our pit, wall deviations reach 10 degrees and 100-metre high walls could be perfect as a training place for climbers – says Czesław Szydlak, a maintenance manager at Barcz I pit in Strzegom.
- Aggregate pits are even more interesting, because their sites are vast, slopes are smaller and there are access roads for vehicles. This is a perfect track for enduro races, etc. I could even say that even with the rules as we have them today, we could separate an area for sport purposes even in case of a pit which is working. We need to use common sense here, of course. Unfortunately, so far no one has done anything about this in Poland.
There are more people interested in a serious discussion. So far they have been discouraged by officers. We should not worry about lost battles. If many circles decided to work together, they would have a bigger influence and many of our interviewees are hoping that stone and mining branches will create a united front. The problem is pressing. Not satisfying the needs of young people causes frustration. We can just hope that mentioning this issue may turn into a real discussion, because many issues have been just signalled by us. Our thesis, apparently a daring one, makes sense. If it is not possible to race in woods, on roads, then a pit could be a good place!
Rafał Dobrowolski
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Literature on this subject and traditional discourse on the development of industrial sites, especially the ones with open-cast (rock) mining, emphasise the fact that although there are many classifications of the ways rehabilitations may go, the ecological doctrine is prevailing: excavations should be treated as something unfavourable, not aesthetic and embarrassing. The prevailing view says that every rock excavation is actually a degraded land. What is more, the rules concerning mining & geological as well as environmental protection laws recommend rehabilitation works during exploitation works or just after finishing them. They aim to bring the degraded area back to the state prior to exploitation . 
What was the result of the correspondence that took place a few years ago? The Mining Office referring to the geological and mining law says that mining plant operations take place on the basis of the plan of mining plant operations confirmed by a proper mining supervision authority or based on conditions specified by the concession. The conclusion is that the rules allow for withdrawal from the plan of operations, but only in case of the threat to the safety of the plant or fire safety after obtaining the consent of a proper mining supervision authority. I quote: “a maintenance manager is in charge of proper organisation and operations of a mining plant. He is obliged to inform immediately about any incident and risk to life, health or safety in general. As a result of the abovementioned (...) there are no legal grounds to give consent to other operations than the ones regulated by the bill above. The Office also informs that it has not any competences to interfere in civil legal relationships between a given entrepreneur and other subjects, including organising sport events in pits.”
-In Poland there are fewer and fewer places which could be potential training sites or sport venues. Pit areas, uncultivated lands, dumps – perfect places for developing skills in motor sports – says Andrzej Szkuta, the vice-president of sport in the Regional Office of PZM.
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