Open-pit mining
After mining finishes, the mine area may undergo land rehabilitation. Waste dumps are contoured to flatten them out, to further stabilise them. If the ore contains sulfides it is usually covered with a layer of clay to prevent access of rain and oxygen from the air, which can oxidise the sulfides to produce sulfuric acid, a phenomenon known as acid mine drainage. This is then generally covered with soil, and vegetation is planted to help consolidate the material. Eventually this layer will erode, but it is generally hoped that the rate of leaching or acid will be slowed by the cover such that the environment can handle the load of acid and associated heavy metals. There are no long term studies on the success of these covers due to the relatively short time in which large scale open pit mining has existed. It may take hundreds to thousands of years for some waste dumps to become "acid neutral" and stop leaching to the environment. The dumps are usually fenced off to prevent livestock denuding them of vegetation. The open pit is then surrounded with a fence, to prevent access, and it generally eventually fills up with ground water. In arid areas it may not fill due to deep groundwater levels. Instead of returning the land to its former natural state, it may also be reused, converting it into recreational parks or even residential/mixed communities.
Afon Clun
Lead mines were opened in Mwyndy (between Llantrisant and Groesfaen) in the "Parke of Cloune" in May 1531 CE. By August 1531 iron ore was being mined there. Iron smelting began nearby during the summer of 1532, with one bloomery furnace site at Mwyndy, and (probably) another smaller smelting site at Rhiwsaeson, employing 4 blowers/hewars, with three blowers operating the bellows at any one time. They produced up to two blooms, of 50 kg per bloom per day, from 150 kg of ore, taking 6 to 7 hours each to produce. Charcoal to heat the furnaces was probably derived locally, from "Cloune Park" — mention is made by Rice Lewis in his 'A breviat of Glamorgan' (1595 and 1600) of the destruction of the forests of Garth Maelog and Allt Griffith because of the ironworks. The iron mines were leased by the crown in 1539, granting rights to mine and make iron and to build water powered ironworks within three miles of Cloune Park for 21 years. There is no evidence to suggest that either iron mining or smelting continued in the area after the 16th century.