Despite the long tradition of mining activities in Kosovo, there is still the a lack of policies for post-mining. Specifically, focusing on coal mining, this research analyzes the sustainable transition and post-mining management in the Ruhr Region, exploring the potential for knowledge transfer to enhance mining practices in Kosovo. The research aims to identify transferable strategies for sustainable mining transitions by examining environmental, social, and economic dimensions. Through comparative analysis, the study assesses the applicability of Ruhr’s experiences in fostering environmentally responsible mining practices in Kosovo and beyond. Similarities and possible challenges are discussed based on the environmental and socio-economic points of view. The findings contribute insights into effective post-mining strategies, facilitating knowledge transfer to regions undergoing similar transitions and thereby fostering sustainable mining practices globally.

Heritage and culture tourism involve features that commemorate a valued past. Mining heritage tourism allows visitors to experience the past, guided by former mining landscapes and engaging interactively with material artifacts. This paper introduces the CoalHeritage European project, focusing on the promotion of coal mining heritage through the production and design of the European Visual Map Journal (EVMJ). The EVMJ is a user-friendly, web-based, interactive storytelling platform that supports the transfer of industrial and geoheritage from former coal mining areas. It aims to collect and disseminate heritage assets from post-mining coal areas, informing stakeholders and promoting these sites as tourist destinations. To further enhance public awareness, several ESRI StoryMaps web apps are being created to highlight specific features of each case study across Europe. The aim of this work is to introduce coal mining heritage as a new term, present the coal heritage platform and its importance for disseminating coal heritage aspects to the public, describe the methodology used for its design, and provide a brief overview of its evolving content.

The extraction of minerals and metals from the earth's crust is as old as human mankind. The management of mine closure as well as post-closure is getting more and more attention, because in Europe as well as worldwide former mining regions are affected by environmental residues such as tailings, waste dumps, subsidence, and contaminated water, which are the results of unsatisfactory environmental performance of the mining industry in the past. All European countries face these problems and many of them lack the funds as well as capacity to manage these former mining sites. This network of proposers with 74 scientists and practitioners from more than 50 organisations from 32 EU countries focus on legislation, governance and management of these legacies, financing, and rehabilitation and monitoring techniques to improve implementation to minimize post-closure mining legacies. The project is organised into five work packages: government and management practices; socio-economic aspects and financing; environmental monitoring and risk management and use of abandoned mines; training and capacity building; dissemination, communication, and project management. The project will establish an European mining legacy database, compare present legal framework, governance structures and management approaches, provide input to mine authorities, regulators and financial institutions on socially balanced and environmentally friendly management of mine legacies, harmonise best practices, standards and lessons learnt for comprehensive and sustainable management of raw materials extraction legacies and disseminate the results to the public through an open access visualization platform. The network pools experts from currently separated fields (e.g. geologists, engineers, environmental and social scientists, metallurgists, economists, legal representatives, etc.) and aims to consolidate knowledge and foster mutual knowledge exchange between researchers.

The end of hard coal mining in Germany and other European countries has been leading to new challenges in post-mining and utilisation of abandoned mines while opening up new perspectives concerning the remains of former min -ing as well as new fields of work for specialised personnel at the same time. Coping with the resulting perpetual tasks places new demands on already trained experts and offers the opportunity to familiarise the next generation of students with post-mining issues and solution approaches from the beginning. This article presents two closely interrelated projects - the USAMIN Project and the PepperMINT Project - which aim to successfully recruit and train future professionals. For this purpose, the USAMIN (USe of Abandoned MINes) Project creates a new form of distance learning as multilateral coopera-tion, which strengthens the training of specialised experts and the scientific exchange across European borders. Furthermore, the main goal of this project is the establishment of networks between scientists and other experts, thus strengthening inter-national cooperation. The PepperMINT Project's STEM online courses aim to motivate high school students to pursue STEM studies by introducing them to the field of engineering, while simultaneously strengthening students, especially in their first semesters. By linking the two projects, various actors can be connected according to their education and a large part of the education chain can be viewed in a holistic approach.