Last year OKD invested CZK 265 million to reclaim disturbed lands, and this year such costs will amount to almost CZK 300 million

OSTRAVA – Last year reclamation works were performed under the leadership of OKD in a total area of 860 hectares. OKD expended CZK 265 million for such works, and this year the company is going to increase the amount designated for remediation of damage caused to the landscape by its mining activities. A land reclamation policy overview is also provided in the brochure titled “We Return Life to Landscape”, and based on the brochure, it is worth mentioning the projects that have been completed so far.

Journey to Prehistory in Doubrava

Macurůvka is the name of the location near the old refuse dump in Doubrava situated opposite a closed mine shaft. The land reclamation, aimed at providing a spare area for further refuse dumping, started just along with the downsizing of the local mining. Ground was cleaned, re-shaped, covered with another soil layers and planted with greenery. In summer two years ago, they opened the DinoPark there, and remnants of the former, red burned dump and small wetland lakes provide the DinoPark with the hallmark of prehistory.

The Doubrava land reclamation is an example of returning the landscape, affected by coal mining, into the “human shape”. The DinoPark has become a significant attraction of the Region. We were ranked the first in Northern Moravia by visitors to the “Tips for Trips” website of the CzechTourism Centre. The CzechInvest expert panel selected our Project to be the third best project aimed at utilizing brownfields,” said Spokesman Jiří Machálek.

The world of dinosaurs near the site of the former Doubrava mine shaft, whose partner is also RPG, will experience the third visitor season this year. It will start on the first of April and will last until the end of October. “Again, there won’t be any shortage of new things. For example, the 3D cinema will present “The Gigantosaur”, a stirring story of a young dinosaur, who revenges, in his adulthood, the death of his mother, whom he glimpsed only at one moment shortly after hatching,” specified Machálek.

Some new “monsters” will also appear there, however the organizers keep details to themselves to provide a greater surprise. There will be more than eighty prehistoric creatures in the DinoPark, among whom the DinoExpress train will go. There will also be a thematic playground and other “prehistoric” attractions. On the refuse dump, where a technical reclamation was completed in 2007 and 2008, and where a biological reclamation is still in progress, there might also be an artificial volcano.

Radek Lukša