Metinvest's Central GOK was visited by specialists from the Regional Department of State Environmental Supervision and specialists from the Department of Ecology of the Executive Committee of the Kryvyi Rih City Council. At enterprise's tailing storage facility, on the territory of the sanitary protection zone (SPZ) of Gleiuvatsky quarry in the village of Verabove, they had the opportunity to assess the work aimed at reducing dusting.
The main shops of one of the largest city-forming enterprises, Central Iron Ore Enrichment Works, are located on the territory of Kryvyi Rih. Those shops are Gleiuvatsky quarry, grinding and enrichment plants, the mine named after Kolachevskyi, and palletizing plant. In order to reduce the impact of the company's industrial activities on the environment, Central GOK has developed measures to carry out dust suppression in the adjacent territories of quarries, tailings, open warehouses of finished products and roads.
The implementation of these measures in order to monitor compliance with environmental legislation was checked by members of the Environmental Commission. Specialists of the Regional Department of State Environmental Supervision and the Department of Ecology of the Executive Committee of the Kryvyi Rih City Council visited the territory of the slurry department of the Central GOK, where they saw the implementation of various methods to prevent dusting on the dry beaches of the tailings facility. In particular, the consolidation of loose surfaces by sowing rye, which this year totalled 100 hectares, and planting them with reeds. Traditional effective methods include washing beaches with industrial water (823 hectares) and covering them with waste rock. The company also uses an environmentally friendly method of securing tailings facility with bischofite.
According to Natalya Bilozorova, Head of the Environmental Protection Department of the GOK, in order to suppress dust dumps, warehouses of finished products and roads of industrial sites at the Central GOK, they are irrigated with technical water. The faces in the quarry and the surfaces of inactive benches are treated with binding substances. The enterprise also maintains the uninterrupted operation of four automated air quality monitoring stations, located at the borders of the sanitary protection zone. Thanks to the systematic work of environmental specialists, the number of green plantings increases annually, which positively impacts air quality and reduces noise levels. In the village of Verabove, which borders the SPZ of the Gleivatsky quarry, the commission inspected the condition of the 300 shrubs and trees planted last year, including oaks, lindens, maples, ashes, pear trees, sumac, as well as lilac, forsythia, and spirea.
As part of the city's program to address environmental issues in Kryvbas, the Central Iron Ore Enrichment Works regularly moistens the roads adjacent to residential areas near the enterprise: Nebesna Sotnya street, Serhiy Kolachevsky street, Symon Petliura street, Roman Shukhevych street, the road from the Gleivatsky quarry gate No. 1 to the male monastery, and the road along Quarry No. 2 on Prikodonna street. The company's watering equipment is also used in the village of Verabove on Avtomatychna, Savrasova, and Aptechna streets.
As a result of an inspection by the environmental commission, positive conclusions were made regarding the Central Iron Ore Enrichment Works' dust suppression actions at tailings facilities, water recycling systems, and roads, as well as the planning, improvement, and greening of sanitary protection zones. Specialists of the Department of Environmental Protection were provided with recommendations for further work in the field of environmental protection.
