The final conference within the transboundary project “Assistance in safety improvement of tailings management facilities (TMF) in Armenia and Georgia” was held

 

Agenda Attendee list Presentations

 

On September 17-19, 2019, in the framework of the transboundary project “Assistance in safety improvement of tailings management facilities (TMF) in Armenia and Georgia” a final conference was held aiming to discuss the prepared documents on legislation and methodology along with the implemented activities during the project time period. Besides, one of the main purposes of the event was the fourth meeting of the advisory board. The mentioned project has been implemented in Georgia by the Association Rural Development for Future Georgia (RDFG) Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Center.

The advisory board consists of the representatives from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Joint Ad Hoc Expert Group on Water and Industrial Accidents and international experts. The Joint Ad Hoc Expert Group is functioning within the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes and Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents.

The event was attended by the representatives from 11 different countries (Georgia, Germany, Armenia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Kirgizstan, Kazakhstan, Poland), including the public and NGO sectors, also the representatives of the private mining companies.

Our organization, the Association Rural Development for Future Georgia (RDFG), participates in a transboundary project “Assistance in safety improvement of tailings management facilities (TMF) in Armenia and Georgia”. Project goal is to contribute to the improvement and strengthening of national capacities of authorized/component agencies and industrial enterprises in Armenia and Georgia, to improve the management of disasters caused by industrial accidents, including by those with transboundary impact, to increase the level of preparedness of industrial enterprises, selecting industrial storage basins (tailings) as target facilities.

At the first stage of the project “Analysis of existing legislation related to the management of tailings in Georgia“ was developed, based on which recommendations were given for amendments to the national legislation. In addition, recommendations were prepared as a regulatory on TMF management for the former Soviet Union countries. This document has been submitted to the members JEG (Joint Ad Hoc Expert Group on Water and Industrial Accidents) of the UNECE and other international experts. The Joint Expert Group (JEG) operates in the framework of the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes and the convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents.

Project is financed by the German Federal Environment Ministry’s Advisory Assistance Programme (AAP) for environmental protection in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia and other countries neighboring the European Union. It is supervised by the German Environment Agency (UBA) and is implemented by the Armenian non-governmental organization “Eco Peace” in partnership with the Association Rural Development for Future Georgia.

Georgian component of the project is implemented in close collaboration with the LEPL National Agency of Mines under the Ministry of Economic and Sustainable Development of Georgia, LEPL National Environmental Agency and Environmental Supervision Department under the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia State Sub-Agency of Emergency Management Service, as well as private mining companies such as RMG Gold.


Agenda

Date: 17-19 September, 2019
Venue: Hotel “Dreamland Oasis”, Chakvi, Georgia
Address: Batumi str. 16, Chakvi 6200, Georgia
Working languages: Russian, with simultaneous translation into English

Project Final Workshop with back-to-back of the project Advisory Board fourth Meeting

17.09.2019

09:30 – 10:00 Registration of participants
10:00 – 10:15 Opening and welcome speech

German Environment Agency (UBA)

“Eco Peace” NGO, Armenia

RDFG NGO, Georgia
10:15 – 10:30 Introduction of participants
10:30 – 10:50 JEG overview on TMF safety

Gerhard Winkelmann-Oei, Germany
10:50 – 11:00 Brief information about the project activities in Armenia and Georgia

Kristine Sahakyan, “Eco Peace” NGO, Armenia
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
PART 1 Technical and organizational safety of TMFs
Chairman – Gerhard Winkelmann-Oei, Federal Environment Agency, Germany
11:30 – 11:50 Conducting of the international training of trainers in Armenia; main results and challenges

Inna Avanesova, Armenia
11:50 – 12:10 Review of the TMF methodology and the Checklist based on the expert recommendations and recommendations after regional trainings in Armenia and Georgia: changes and modifications Dmytro Rudakov, Dmytro Pikarenia, Ukraine
12:25 – 12:45 Results of the regional training in Georgia, testing of the updated methodology during the TMF site visit

Rusudan Qruashvili, Ketevan Jincharadze, RMG Gold, Georgia
12:45 – 13:15 Discussion, questions, answers, exchange of views
13:15 – 14:40 Lunch
14:40 – 15:00 Summary of the two regional trainings in Armenia, testing of the updated methodology during the TMF site visits Kristine Sahakyan, Armenia
15:00 – 15:15 Discussion, questions, answers, exchange of views
PART 2 Legal aspects of TMF Safety Chairman – Galyna Kovalchuk, Ukraine
15:15 – 15:30 Legal assessment to TMF Safety in Georgia (Legislation and recommendations)

Shota Kublashvili, RDFG NGO, Georgia
15:30 – 15:45 Results of work on the development of the manual on “Safety Requirements and Exemplary Operation Rules for TMFs in the Territory of the Republic of Armenia”

Hovhannes Melkonyan, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Armenia
15:45 – 16:00 General implications for legal regulation in former USSR-countries

(Recommendations)

Shota Kublashvili, RDFG NGO, Georgia
16:00 – 16:30 Discussion, questions, answers, exchange of views
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee break
PART 3 Other Aspects of TMF-Safety

Chairman – Walther Reinhard, Germany
17:00 – 17:15 The field exercise in the Debed river basin; Key elements of the

UNECE-Checklist for Contingency Planning

Karapet Karapetyan, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Armenia
17:15 – 17:35 Problems in Georgia with water contamination (Compiling specific recommendations for Chiatura)

Konstantine Burjanadze, Georgia
17:35 – 18:00 First day meeting summary and closing

 

18.09.2019

PART4 Other activities in the field of TMF-Safety

Chairman – Gerhard Winkelmann-Oei, Federal Environment Agency, Germany
10:00 – 10:20 TMF Inventory and TMFs hazard assessment results for Armenia, Georgia,

Romania, Serbia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan using the Tailings

Hazard Index

Dmytro Rudakov, Ukraine
10:20 – 11:40 Mapping of TMF inventories in all participating countries with comparing analysis

Oleksandra Lohunova, Ukraine
10:40 – 11:00 Climate Smart Mining and overall World Bank mining sector projects currently implemented in Armenia and Georgia

Narine Tadevosyan, World Bank, Armenia
11:00 – 11:20 Questions, answers
11:20 – 11:50 Coffee break
11:50 – 12:10 Activities within the framework of the TMF project in Romania; Activities and results

Zoltan Torok, Romania
12:10 – 12:30 Activities within the framework of the TMF project in Kazakhstan; Activities and results

Yerkin Duisenbaev, Kazakhstan
12:30 – 12:45 Planned follow-up activities on tailings safety in Serbia

Dusan Kostic, Serbia
12:45 – 13:00

13:00 – 13:15

 Planned follow-up activities on tailings safety in Kyrgyzstan

Medetbek Omurbekov, Kyrgyzstan

Discussions, brainstorming, exchange of views
13:15 – 13:30 Workshop summary and closing
13:30 Lunch
19:00 Official dinner (outside the hotel)

 

19.09.2019
Advisory Board fourth Meeting

PART 1 The main results and challenges of TMF methodology testing in the Caucasus

Chairmen – Gerhard Winkelmann-Oei, Federal Environment Agency, Germany
10:30 – 10:45 Opening speech
10:45 – 11:10 Adoption of the agenda

Brief summary on past, current activities and the new work plan (Gerhard Winkelmann-Oei)
11:10 – 11:40 Review of the testing/using of TMF methodology in the Caucasus
– Detailed results of the international training of trainers conducted at TMF site of Akhtala ore-dressing combine with combination of regional training results in Armenia conducted at the same TMF-site (Dmytro Rudakov, Dmytro Pikarenia)
– Discussions, brainstorming, exchange of views
11:40 – 12:10 Coffee break
12:10 – 13:10 – Summary of the testing of TMF methodology at the abandoned TMF site; respective results and proposed amendments i.e. for the checklist in detail (Kristine Sahakyan);
– Summary of the testing of TMF methodology in Georgia; the proposed amendments i.e. for the checklist in detail (Vano Grigolashvili);
– Discussions of problems and future steps; brainstorming, exchange of views
13:10 -14:40 Lunch
14:40 – 16:10 Risk assessment, TMF safety and Land Use Planning
– Key-note lecture on General TMF safety and Land Use Planning (Andrzej Krzysik, Pawel Stefanek)
– Risk assessment and Land Use Planning (Oleksandra Lohunova)
16:10 – 16:40 Coffee break
16:40 – 17:20 Other on-going and planned projects on TMF safety in the UNECE region
– Further information regarding an on-going, current and planned followup project on tailings safety;
– Possible synergies between the on-going and planned projects and coordination in supporting the project implementation.Any other business
– Result on the conference of the parties;
– Discussion of further issues.
17:20 – 17:30 Closing of the meeting
19:30 Farewell dinner (at the hotel restaurant)


Attendee list

  • Federal Environment Agency, Germany
  • World Bank Armenian Country office
  • Former director of Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt, Germany
  • International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), Austria
  • University of Miskolc, Hungary
  • Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering; Romania
  • Jaroslav Cerni Institute for Development of Water Resources, Serbia
  • Particip GmBH
  • The State Inspection on the Environmental and Technical Safety under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic
  • The State Committee on Industry, Energy and Subsoil Management of Kyrgyz Republic
  • “Kyrgyz chemical & metallurgical plant” OJSC
  • Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan
  • KGHM Polska Miedz S.A. Tailings Management Division
  • National Technical University ”Dnipro Polytechnic”, Ukraine
  • Dniprovsky State Technical University, Ukraine
  • NGO “SDP”, Ukraine
  • “Eco Peace” NGO
  • RA Ministry of Emergency Situations
  • RA Ministry of Emergency Situations, Crisis Management National Center
  • RA Ministry of Emergency Situations, National Center of Technical Security
  • RA Ministry of Nature Protection, Department of underground resources and land protection policy
  • RA Ministry of Nature Protection, Waste and Atmosphere Emissions Management Agency
  • RA Urban Development Committee, Department of construction and scientific, technical standardization
  • RA Ministry of Territorial administration and Infrastructure, Mining department
  • “RA Mining & Metallurgical Institute” CJSC
  • National Polytechnic University of Armenia
  • Vallex group
  • “Akhtala Ore-dressing plant” CJSC
  • Association Rural Development for Future Georgia (RDFG)
  • Rich Metals Group (RMG)
  • Georgian Manganese
  • National Agency of Mines
  • The State Sub-Agency Department of Environmental Supervision
  • National Environmental Agency
  • Emergency Management Service, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia
  • Department of Environmental Assessment of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia


Presentations


17.09.2019
 

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19.09.2019