Thursday 21st November at the RCA, Conwy, Professor Mark Macklin will present a talk on river systems.

Professor Mark Macklin will present ‘From the Industrial Revolution to the ‘green’ energy transition: impacts of metal mining on global river systems’, a talk which will consider legacy mining issues both in Wales and worldwide. The RCA will be open from 18:00 for refreshments and the talk will commence at 18:30.
Professor Macklin is Distinguished Professor of River Systems and Global Change, Director of the Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health, Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Lincoln.
Talk abstract:
The global transition to renewable energy and pursuit of net zero carbon dioxide emissions is driving substantial demand for a wide range of energy transition metals and minerals. This in turn is projected to increase mine waste generation, for metals used in batteries (Cu, Li, Mn, and Ni), which could generate up to 2 trillion tonnes of tailings and waste rock between 2020 and 2050. This places greater pressure on land and other natural resources, notably water at the source of extraction, as well as significantly increasing the risk of river pollution and its impact on ecosystem and human health. In this talk, these issues are discussed from both a local (Welsh) and global perspective, including the continued and growing impacts of the remobilization of mining waste stored in river channels and floodplain downstream from disused mines, which is happening more frequently as the result of increased flooding caused by climate change. A new process-based mapping and modelling tool is outlined that will enable the mining industry, government, regulators, and local authority to assess the environmental and health risk posed by past and present mining activities in river systems, as well as providing management options.