State of art of geomorphic mining reclamation in the United States using GeoFluv-Natural Regrade

Abstract

The aim of this work is to make a complete analysis of the mining reclamation projects that have used GeoFluv-Natural Regrade as a design method in the United States. The reason is that there is not a good knowledge of its development and implementation in the United States, due to several circumstances: (a) this method can be considered, still, new, since it started in the year 2000 in New Mexico; (b) because the projects that are being analyzed are mostly designed and built by private companies, there is no statistic or compilation previous to this Master’s thesis. Therefore, the main objective is to make an inventory of the GeoFluv geomorphic reclamation projects carried out in the United States, and from this inventory, make a basic analysis of: the states that use more this method for their reclamation projects, the environments of these mines, the reclaimed area of the different mines, what is approximately the cost of these method, and the companies, consultants and administrations that take part in these projects, among others.