Raspotočje Coal Mine
Above remediation valueMedia tested
Summary
Raspotočje is an underground brown-coal mine in Zenica, now going through mine closure as part of the just transition of coal regions. Alongside the underground workings, the surface holds a coal-separation plant, workshops and stores, and parts of the complex are surrounded by the Donje Raspotočje residential settlement. Preliminary testing revealed more serious contamination in the surface soil layer at several points: selenium and nickel reached the level indicating that cleanup is needed. The deeper soil layers and the sediment of a nearby channel were much cleaner. No water was sampled at the site. The river Bosna runs about 250 metres away.
Assessment findings
Findings of concern
- In the surface soil layer at several places across the mine complex, selenium reached the level indicating that cleanup is needed — the most serious finding at the site.
- In the surface soil layer — including the waste-rock storage areas and next to the coal- separation plant — nickel too reached that level indicating that cleanup is needed.
- Cadmium and cobalt were above the level at which land is no longer considered clean through the surface and deeper soil, and cadmium in the sediment as well.
- Copper, zinc and chromium were above that level in parts of the surface soil, and combustion- related compounds in the deeper soil layer.
Positive findings
- In the deeper soil layer and in the sediment of a nearby channel, selenium and nickel stayed within limits — the serious surface-soil contamination did not extend to depth or into the channel.
- Lead, copper, zinc and chromium were within remediation limits across the whole site.
- Oil-related pollutants and persistent industrial compounds were within limits in all the soil and sediment samples.
Photo gallery
The project results have been submitted to the competent institutions as a basis for improving regulation and for strategic planning of further activities.
Legal basis
- Rulebook on limit and remediation values of polluting, harmful and hazardous substances in soil (Official Gazette of RS No. 82/21)
Due to the absence of reference values for soil and sediment in the Federation of BiH, the Republika Srpska rulebook is applied as a reference framework to ensure methodological consistency between the entities.
