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Abstract: The Interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Researches on Territorial Dynamics has completed a series of studies on the impact that the growing number of coal mines in open pit has on the natural environment. The study at hand aims at spatially projecting the lacks in the equilibrium of the natural environment, an indispensable stage in designing the strategies for territorial development. The growth of the coal mining industry brought, besides economic advantages, a major pressure on the components of the natural environment and important lacks of equilibrium which calls for specific strategies in territorial management. The open pit mining represents an act of real aggression on the environment which leads, shortly, to an intensification of the erosion processes and to a high pollution caused by suspended and deposit particles. The delay in implementing the plans for rehabilitating the damaged soil led to the amplification of the corrosion processes and, as a consequence, the growth of the fitting up costs. The studies use information drawn from Mehedinti and Gorj Agencies for Environment Protection, and from field research.

Keyword: coal mining, environment, pollution, open pit exploitation, suspended particles.