MUSEUMS - A PALLIATIVE OR SOLUTION FOR DECLINING HISTORICAL MINES

Declining historical mining districts have obtained large profits from mineral and metal extraction. However at present, in addition to cash problems which usually lead to mass unemployment, they are suffering their own environmental problems (acid lakes, metal contamination, def orestation, dangerous pits, etc.) and the pressure of environmental la ws to minimize these disasters. It is often left to tourism to palliat e these situations. However; the creation of interesting recreational activities (in-mine trips and visits to historical mining-museums) run into problems such as the geomechanical instability of old mines and the frequent scarcity of local historical objects. The resource-exhaus ted and over-populated mining districts of Europe provide many example s. Consequently, we propose changes in the environmental mining laws f or historical mining districts to include these new points: the preser vation of an in-mine space which will be safe for visitors and the sto rage of a good collection of historical mining objects.