Management of Mining Brownfields for Support of Regional Tourism

Abstract

Turbulent political and economic changes in 1989 caused the gradual decline of the mining industry in the Slovak Republic. Abandoned territorial localities were created, affected by mining activity, without any use with devastated mining objects, or even a certain form of environmental burden. These territorial locations used for mining in the past, unused currently, in varying degrees of devastation, are referred to as mining brownfields. This issue is topical, as there is constant urbanization of new territories. Mining brownfields often represent a certain form of territorial reserve to support tourism development. The present study deals with identifying the tourist potential of the Fedö shaft mining brownfield in the Červenica—Dubník area (Slovakia), which is included in the list of national cultural monuments. The study points out the need for reclamation from the point of view of supporting the development of a tourist destination based on the accessible mining brownfield—the Jozef tunnel—making it possible to use the interaction links of both mining brownfields in the investigated area of tourism. Based on the results of the conducted SWOT analysis, the study presents the quantification of the tourism development support potential of the analyzed mining brownfield. It also includes selected environmental, social, and economic aspects of the reclamation, and the definition of an effective strategy for usage of the examined mining brownfield as a tool to support tourism development. The article concludes a model of effective management of the use of mining brownfields in the field of tourism in Slovakia, which is constructed as open and modifiable in its interaction with the specification of diverse conditions of tourist destinations with integrated mining brownfields, which include old mine works.

1. Introduction

The development of tourist destinations and the ever-increasing interest of tourists create not only pressure on the expansion of accommodation, catering, and information facilities but also on the occupancy of natural areas and tourism development. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly expand the offer of destinations, which is not always possible, thus brownfields can play an important role. Brownfields can fulfill a certain territorial reserve in regional tourism [1,2,3]. Current practice in solving the problem of brownfields points to the positive impact of the use of these areas after their revitalization or reclamation for the attractiveness of tourist destinations. In the given areas, there were also positive changes in reducing unemployment, the image of the regions improved, and the incomes of the regions increased. The revitalization and reclamation of these areas are of great importance for the regions and contribute to developing other industries and reducing interregional differences [4,5,6]. Since there is currently no uniform definition of brownfields in the EU, there is also no exact definition of mining brownfields [7,8]. The basic characteristics of brownfields is, according to the National Strategy for Regional Development of the Slovak Republic, abandoned or underutilized territories, which may or may not have an environmental burden, where their previous use has ended, and the market has not been able to give an impetus for their reuse [9]. It is therefore possible to designate abandoned territories after mining activity as mining brownfields. In many cases, mining brownfields negatively impact the neighboring areas, which leads to the emergence of socio-economic and environmental interregional development disparities [10]. The end of mining activity in the territory of the Slovak Republic has also led to the end of a certain social stage of development, and these buildings remain abandoned without intervention by the owners, the state, or society. However, these abandoned buildings and objects may have historical value for future generations as a preservation of heritage and a statement about this social stage of the Slovak Republic [11].

Sustainable development and historical preservation are interconnected in the context of mining brownfield reuse. These former industrial sites, often rich in cultural and historical significance, present unique revitalization opportunities that honor the past while fostering future growth. Sustainable development in these areas ensures that environmental rehabilitation and economic transformation enable the regeneration of polluted lands into productive areas. By historical preservation, communities can maintain their cultural heritage, attract tourists, and stimulate (local) economies while adhering to sustainable principles that protect natural resources and promote long-term ecological balance [1,2,11,12,13,14].

Mining brownfields can be effectively used in supporting the development of regional tourism, where it is necessary to consider a wide range of factors in the economic, environmental, social, technical, cultural, and historical areas, and to perceive their intangible character, accepting all principles of sustainable regional development. The environmental aspects of the reuse of mining brownfields need to be given more emphasis than those of other types of brownfield because mining activities are linked to the disruption of geodiversity and biodiversity in the environment [1,2,12].

The basic aspect determining the use of mining brownfields in tourism is their location, as they are usually areas that are located further from urbanized areas and are mostly located in a natural environment. The revitalization and recultivation of these areas and their implementation with other natural, historical, and cultural monuments can contribute to a more aesthetic character of the country. Also, using these areas in tourism can rehabilitate them and increase the number of visitors interacting with the economic improvement of the region and its image [2,13,14]. The key positive factor of the use of mining brownfields as tourist destinations is the fact that by using these already urbanized areas there is no need to occupy new territories, and there is a close interaction with the increase in attractiveness of already existing tourist destinations and the image of the region [4,15]. Another dimension of the need to solve the problem of mining brownfields is also the preservation of historical, cultural, or technical monuments for future generations as many objects after mining activities can be included in the natural and cultural heritage. This can transcend time, but also allows the past to exist in the present moment and plays an important role in the formation of current and future society [16,17,18].

It follows from the above that the reclamation of mining brownfields in the field of tourism may result in the creation of [2,19,20,21,22,23,24,25]:

• Tourist facilities (information centers, hostels, hotels, accommodation facilities, recreational facilities, and social facilities);
• Historical, technical, or cultural monuments;
• Museums, galleries, open-air museums, multicultural halls, geoparks, open-air theaters, etc.;
• Reclaimed natural areas intended for recreation and various types of sport;
• New biotopes, lakes, and water facilities suitable for observing nature, recreation, etc.

This study aims to point out the significant potential of mining brownfields as a tool for supporting the sustainable regional development of tourism, emphasizing the principles of the further sustainable development of society. It points to the reuse of mining brownfields in a complex and synergistic process determining socio-economic, environmental, and institutional aspects of the sustainable regional development of tourism. The key contribution of the study is the proposal for the effective management of mining brownfields in sustainable regional tourism development support, with an integrated methodology for quantifying the evaluation of the tourist destination as well as of mining brownfields. This model is constructed as open, thus it can be expanded, if necessary, according to the specific characteristics of a particular tourist destination in interaction with the specifics based on clearly identified environmental, social, and economic aspects of reclamation, which are determined by a specific type of mining brownfield.

2. The Wide-Ranging Appeal of the Fedö Shaft Tourist Destination

The Fedö shaft is located in the area of Červenica—Dubník, which is one of the largest concentrations of old mine works in the Prešov region. From a geographical point of view, it is located near the two largest cities in eastern Slovakia, namely Prešov (25 km) and Košice (35 km). The Červenica—Dubník area belongs not only to the unique region where occurrence expensive opals occur in the Slovak Republic, but also to global uniqueness, not only from the point of view of the occurrence of the opals but also from the historically significant point of view of mining, as it is the oldest opal mine in the world. A specific feature of the exploitation of this deposit was the mining technique, which was physically demanding and was carried out below the earth’s surface. In the past, the Fedö shaft was part of the Libanka opal mine and the only shaft in this mining facility used for the vertical transport of tailings and water from the Jozef and Wiliam tunnel from 1900 to 1901 until the end of mining. In the past, this facility consisted of a shaft tower and a shaft building on the surface, the foundations of the entire building were built of natural stone, while two-thirds of the above-ground part were a half-timbered structure, and it is assumed that it was filled with bricks and plastered with lime plaster. The closed towing tower was a wooden construction [26,27]. Currently, the shaft is in poor technical condition and partially filled in and flooded with water. The shaft pit is secured by a wooden formwork to avoid the risk of injury. There are only the foundations of the shaft tower and a building in the succession process on the surface. The shaft is also included in the list of national cultural monuments. Nearby there is an accessible mining brownfield, the Jozef tunnel, which serves tourists and offers tours through the corridors of part of the Libanka mine and a permanent exhibition of mining tools and opals from the given tourist area. The remains of the Dubník mining settlement are not far from the Libanka mine, and include the house of the Goldschmidt mine tenants, a grindery, a school, and a monument dedicated to Emma D. Goldschmidt and the whole family for their activity in the field of opal mining and in this settlement which also has its historical, cultural, and declarative value for the given area [26,27]. From the opal mines, a marked hiking trail leads to the highest peak of the Slanské vrchy mountain range, called Šimonka, with a height of 1092 m a.s.l., while there is a beautiful panoramic view of the surroundings. The Šimonka National Nature Reserve is also located in the area, where there are remnants of a primeval beech forest [28]. There are also several other hiking trails in the vicinity, one of them is the Sigord forest educational cycling trail, another is the Zlatobanský educational trail, and directly from the area of the Slovak Opal Mines, Ltd. (Prešov, Slovakia) leads the Kutisko Dubník hiking trail [29]. In the nearby area, there are also rock formations with the remains of Bodoň Castle, which is also sought after for the possibility of rock climbing [30]. The Sigord area is not far from the Červenica—Dubník area, which is popular with tourists; there is also the Sigord reservoir with the possibility of boating, or a smaller swimming pool [31]. Various cultural events are held in this tourist destination, such as dog sled races, panning for gold, or the Slánský cycle marathon [32].

3. Materials and Methods

The recultivation of the mining brownfield—the Fedö shaft and its use to support the sustainable development of regional tourism—is directly determined by the potential of the tourist destination Červenica—Dubník, the quantification of which is based on a scoring scale of exactly defined aspects of the tourist destination [33,34].

After evaluating all clearly defined aspects, their numerical sum was created, and the potential was identified according to

Table 1. The potential of sustainable regional tourism development support.

Destination Potential	Scoring Scale
High potential	21—30
Average potential	11–20
Low potential	6–10

.

A SWOT analysis was carried out for an effective strategy for the reclamation of the mining brownfield to support the sustainable regional development of tourism [35,36,37,38], though it is also widely used in environmental management, implementing quantitative methods trying to remove subjectivity in the evaluation of individual strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats [39].

The following steps outline the SWOT analysis procedure [13,40,41]:

• Identifying factors—defining the factors relevant to each element—strength, weakness, opportunity, threat—i ϵ S,W,O,T;
• Building a pairwise comparison matrix to rank the relative importance of factors within each set concerning the objective, and calculating the relative importance weight vectors for each factor (W_S, W_W, W_O, W_T);
• Building a pairwise comparison matrix to evaluate the relative importance of SWOT sets and obtain the relative importance weight vector W_G;
• Evaluating vector E by evaluating each S, W, O, T factor with linguistic variable e_i = (e_i1, e_i2, e_i3, e_i4);
• Evaluating each indicator in this way led to the creation of partial row products following Equation (1):

S_i = ΠS_ij; j = 1, 2, 3, …, f,

(1)

f—number of factors,
S_ij—single factor,

• Evaluating the indicator interactions by Equation (2):

R_i = S_i^1/f,

(2)

Based on the previous steps of this analytical method, first, the level of weights was quantified by explicitly defined criteria of the analyzed SWOT areas—strengths and weaknesses, and opportunities and threats. We accepted a generally valid condition of ∑α_i = 1. Second, the weights were quantified based on Saaty’s matrix, whose dimensions m × n, where m = 1...i and n = 1...j, were given by the number of rows and columns, while the condition m = n was observed (square matrix), which also corresponded to the fact that the method is based on an interactive comparison of all defined criteria of the same order with the evaluation listed in

Table 2. Evaluation of factors [39,42].

Value	Explanation
1	Equivalence of the factors i and j
3	Slight preference of factor i over j
5	Strong preference of factor i over j
7	High preference of factor i over j
9	Absolute preference of factor i over j

. Values of 1 were plotted on the diagonal of the matrix to accept the equivalence of the same criteria; in the case of the same criterion given in the row being preferred over the criterion given in the column, a reciprocal value was assigned [39].

The interactions of indicators were calculated based on the comparison of the indicators that quantify the total value of weights α_i. Points for criteria were allocated from the key rate <1, 5> (

Table 3. Allocation of points [39,42].

Points	Criteria Are
1	significantly below average
2	below average
3	at an average
4	above average
5	significantly above average

).

The use of mining brownfields to support the sustainable development of regional tourism is directly determined by the potential of the tourist destinations in which they are located. Based on field research and a data summarization of the specific characteristics of the tourist destination Červenica—Dubník, it was possible to clearly define the aspects determining its tourist potential according to the methodology (

Table 4. Evaluation of the potential of a tourist destination.

Aspects of the Tourist Destination	Evaluation of Aspects of the Tourist Destination					Point Assessment of Aspects
	Excellent	Very Good	Good	Poor	Very Poor
Geographical location	5	4	3	2	1	5
Natural resources	5	4	3	2	1	5
Historical and cultural wealth	5	4	3	2	1	5
Uniqueness and spectrum of attractions	5	4	3	2	1	5
Transport infrastructure	5	4	3	2	1	3
SUM						26

). From an evaluation of the characteristics and aspects of the analyzed tourist destination, it clearly has high potential to support the sustainable regional development of tourism. The high potential of a tourist destination is primarily determined by its geographical location, natural wealth, historical and cultural wealth, and the uniqueness and diversity of the attractions offered to tourists [25,33,43,44]. In terms of infrastructure, this area is average in its range of services, as there are only a few shops and guesthouses in the area. Despite these determinants, this destination belongs to an area with high potential.

The analyzed tourist destination represents a prospective area of investment, as there is a wide range of possibilities and the popularity of opal mines is constantly growing, and the reclamation of old mining objects would increase interest and support sustainable tourism in the region. Another added value is the possibility of creating new job opportunities for the surrounding villages, as, though they are not far from the central cities of Prešov and Košice, there are not many job opportunities, and the reclamation of this shaft as a national cultural monument would possibly contribute to the increase of job opportunities in the primary, secondary, and tertiary spheres of tourism. With the increased interest in this tourist destination, it would be possible to contribute to the interest of visitors in other tourist destinations in the vicinity of Červenica—Dubník, such as the Sigord tourist area or the Zlatá Baňa area. The reclamation of the Fedö shaft, which is determined by a spectrum of environmental, social, and economic aspects, would contribute to the support of sustainable regional tourism development.

3.1. Identification of the Environmental Aspects of Reclamation

The basic platform of the environmental aspects of recultivation of the analyzed mining brownfield is formed by the geographical aspects of the territory, abiotic and biotic components of the environment, geological and hydrogeological aspects of the territory, and the environmental burdens of the territory.

3.1.1. Geographical Aspects of the Territory

Near the mining brownfield, there is a third-class road from which the village of Červenica can be reached, 3–5 km away in the direction of Košice, or in the opposite direction. This road leads to the village of Zlatá Baňa, 5–7 km away in the direction of Prešov. In its vicinity, there are several other mining brownfields, primarily shafts and a reclaimed mine facility, the Jozef tunnel, but other urbanized areas are absent.

3.1.2. Geological and Hydrogeological Aspects

Deposits of precious opals are found in Neogene andesites and their pyroclastics located in the Slanské vrchy mountains. These aspects affect the hydrogeology of the area. It is the subsoil that results in groundwater circulating in a crack-porous environment. It consists of zones formed by rock massif formed by porous volcanic soils and tectonically crushed zones. Due to the distribution of opal mineralization, it is specified by lithological–tectonic factors, which also affect the groundwater cycle, and the mining of these objects is also related to this [26,27]. The occurrence of a precious stone, namely the precious opal, which has an important position in jewelry not only in Slovakia but also abroad, is concentrated in the Červenica—Dubník area in the central part of the Slanské vrchy mountains in the Lower Sarmatian complex of amphibolic–pyroxenic andesites [45,46]. Opal is mainly composed of feldspar (~70%), augite, quartz, and kaolinite; the concentrations of elements Ca, Al, K, Na, Ba, and Sr are mainly found in the host rock, and in opals they are found in lower concentrations [47]. The most common type of gemstone opal is white opal, e.g., gray or white hydrophane. Precious, milky, and glassy opals fill the voids and pores of the parent rock and create tiny impregnations in the cracks of the parent rock. Milk opal is the most common, and is characterized by a milky white color, with shades such as white porcelanite, green chrysopal, and brown wood opal [45]. Gem opal mineralization appeared irregularly, which resulted in the creation of objects that were created by felling and do not resemble a mining object, but rather a cave.

3.1.3. Environmental Loads

In the examined area of Červenica—Dubník, there is no known probable or confirmed burden, and even the mining brownfield itself—the Fedö shaft—is not affected by any contamination, which is a positive aspect of its reclamation.

3.2. Identification of the Social Aspects of Reclamation

The social aspects of the reclamation of the analyzed mining brownfield are formed by the historical, social, and technical characteristics of the Fedö shaft.

3.2.1. Historical and Social Characteristics

The mine and the associated buildings were located at the foot of the Libanka hill, 3 to 4 km from the village of Červenica. The oldest preserved documents, in which the mining of precious opal is written exactly and explicitly about in this location, are the decrees from 1597 when the monarch Rudolf II, a Habsburg, commissioned Albert Magno to look for precious opals in this territory, and from 1603 allowed mining there. Among the most intensive and productive times of opal mining in this area was the period when the opal mines were leased by the Goldschmidt family, an Austrian jeweler’s family who leased the mines from 1845 to 1880, and two generations of this family took turns to run it [48]. The Fedö shaft was the only one belonging to the Libanka opal mine and was used to transport tailings and water from the Wiliem and Jozef tunnels. It was one of the important mining technical facilities, the historical value of which points to the simplification of human work and the reclamation of this mining facility could contribute to the educational activity and insight into the history of technical works of that period, and also in a certain way point out the hard and strenuous work of miners even before the arrival of steam engines. The Fedö shaft was declared a national cultural monument in 1984, therefore, it has socio-cultural and historical value, which is necessary to preserve for future generations [26,27].

3.2.2. Technical Characteristics

The Fedö shaft was excavated from the Viliam tunnel to a depth of approximately 50 m. Three deep horizons were connected to this shaft, and there were also several inter-horizon corridors and chimneys, and falling works, which were supposed to ensure communication between them. Between 1890 and 1896, the depth of the shaft was 76 m. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the shaft was broken through to the surface and subsequently equipped on the surface. The shaft was used for the vertical transport of material from the Viliam tunnel. A shaft building was added, consisting of a machine room, a boiler room, a steam engine, two boilers, equipment for shaft transport, a steam injector, towing ropes, baskets, a pump, and pipes for a steam pipeline. This technical facility was used from 1900 until the end of mining, and connected with removing gangue and water. The foundations of the entire building were built from natural stone. Two-thirds of the above-ground part were a half-timbered structure, and it is assumed that it was filled with bricks and plastered with lime plaster. The closed towing tower was a wooden construction [26,27]. Currently, the foundations of the shaft and the shaft building remain, while the shaft is partially filled in and flooded with water. Access to the shaft is secured by wooden formwork to prevent accidents.

3.3. Identification of the Economic Aspects of Reclamation

Funding the reclamation of the Fedö shaft is possible from our own or external sources, or their combination, which is most often used in practice. Financing the reclamation of the Fedö shaft from external sources would be possible through [49]:

• Banking institutions—the European Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and individual banks of the Slovak Republic;
• State funds;
• Support programs, like the Norwegian Fund;
• EU funds;
• Public–private partnerships.

4. Results

A SWOT analysis is, in general, a starting point for the correct formulation of an effective strategy, which will arise from the combination of internal and external factors [39,50]. The basic platform of the SWOT analysis of the reuse of the Fedö shaft for supporting the sustainable development of regional tourism is the clear identification of key factors of strengths and weaknesses, as well as key factors of opportunities and threats [39,42,50].

Based on the information provided so far, and the partial results of the analyses, following the principles of Saaty’s matrix, the weights were quantified by a clearly defined factor of the strengths of the Fedö shaft reclamation project (

Table 5. Quantification of strength weights.

Factor/Interaction	f1	f2	f3	f4	f5	f6	Sj	Rj	αi
f1	1	5	5	5	7	3	2625.00	3.71	0.45
f2	1/5	1	3	1/3	3	3	1.80	1.10	0.13
f3	1/5	1/3	1	1/3	3	1/3	0.02	0.53	0.06
f4	1/5	3	3	1	5	3	27.00	1.73	0.21
f5	1/7	1/3	1/3	1/5	1	1/3	0.001	0.32	0.04
f6	1/3	1/3	3	1/3	3	1	0.33	0.83	0.10
Sum								8.23	1.00

) which include:

• Uniqueness and singleness of the project, not only in Slovakia but also abroad—f1;
• Very advantageous geographical location within eastern Slovakia—f2;
• Historical and social value of the project—f3;
• High tourist potential thanks to the natural landscape and cultural–historic dispositions—f4;
• Good accessibility and infrastructure—f5;
• Non-existence of competition in the given area—f6.

In the same way, the weight factor of the weaknesses of the Fedö shaft reclamation project was identified and quantified (

Table 6. Quantification of weakness weights.

Factor/Interaction	f1	f2	f3	f4	f5	Sj	Rj	αi
f1	1	3	3	7	7	441.00	3.38	0.47
f2	1/3	1	3	5	5	25.00	1.90	0.26
f3	1/3	1/3	1	5	5	2.78	1.23	0.17
f4	1/7	1/5	1/5	1	1/3	0.002	0.29	0.04
f5	1/7	1/5	1/5	3	1	0.02	0.44	0.06
Sum							7.24	1.00

), which included:

• High input and operating costs—f1;
• Technical problems with project implementation—f2;
• Risk of project failure and underutilized project potential—f3;
• Absence of marketing of tourist destinations—f4;
• Absence of interest and support from municipalities—f5.

Analogously, the weights and factors of opportunities of the Fedö mine reclamation project (

Table 7. Quantification of opportunity weights.

Factor/Interaction	f1	f2	f3	f4	f5	Sj	Rj	αi
f1	1	1/3	3	1/5	5	1.00	1.00	0.15
f2	3	1	7	3	5	315.00	3.16	0.49
f3	1/3	1/7	1	1/3	1/5	0.003	0.32	0.05
f4	5	1/3	3	1	1/3	1.67	1.11	0.17
f5	1/5	1/5	5	3	1	0.60	0.90	0.14
Sum							6.49	1.00

) were identified and quantified, among which, based on the facts found, were included:

• Tourists’ interest in new tourism products—f1;
• Use of surrounding tourist attractions and interaction between the attractions—f2;
• Use of various financial support programs by municipalities—f3;
• Increasing popularization of geotourism and “mining” tourism—f4;
• Use of the advantageous geographical location between the cities of Prešov and Košice—f5.

In the same way, the threats of the Fedö mine reclamation project (

Table 8. Quantification of threat weights.

Factor/Interaction	f1	f2	f3	f4	Sj	Rj	αi
f1	1	7	1/3	5	11.67	1.85	0.29
f2	1/7	1	1/7	3	0.06	0.50	0.08
f3	3	7	1	5	105.00	3.20	0.51
f4	5	1/3	1/5	1	0.33	0.76	0.12
Sum						6.31	1.00

) were identified and quantified, which included:

• Problematic legislation and bureaucracy in the field of operating old mining works in tourism—f1;
• Non-existence of social facilities in the immediate vicinity—f2;
• Unfavorable conditions in tourism and the impact of the pandemic on tourism—f3;
• Change in preference of tourist destinations and emergence of new trends in tourism—f4.

In terms of the methodological procedure for the implementation of the SWOT analysis, point evaluations were assigned to the factors of the partial areas of the SWOT analysis identified above. The value of their vectors was quantified, given by the sum of the products of the weights α_i and the assigned point evaluations, as shown in

Table 9. SWOT analysis of Fedö shaft reclamation.

Strengths	αi	Points	Sum	Weaknesses	αi	Points	Sum
Uniqueness and singleness of the project, not only in Slovakia but also abroad	0.45	5	2.256	High input and operating costs	0.47	5	2.334
Very advantageous geographical location within eastern Slovakia	0.13	4	0.536	Technical problems with project implementation	0.26	3	0.789
Historical and social value of the project	0.06	4	0.258	Risk of project failure and underutilized project potential	0.17	4	0.678
High tourist potential thanks to the natural landscape and cultural–historic dispositions	0.21	4	0.842	Absence of marketing of tourist destinations	0.04	3	0.118
Good accessibility and infrastructure	0.04	3	0.116	Absence of interest and support from municipalities	0.06	3	0.184
Non-existence of competition in the given area	0.10	5	0.506
Sum	1.00		4.51	Sum	1.00		4.10
Opportunities	αi	Points	Sum	Threats	αi	Points	Sum
Tourists’ interest in new tourism products	0.15	3	0.46	Problematic legislation and bureaucracy in the field of operating old mining works in tourism	0.29	5	1.47
Use of surrounding tourist attractions and interaction between the attractions	0.49	5	2.44	Non-existence of social facilities in the immediate vicinity	0.08	3	0.24
Use of various financial support programs by municipalities	0.05	3	0.15	Unfavorable conditions in tourism and the impact of the pandemic on tourism	0.51	4	2.03
Increasing popularization of geotourism and “mining” tourism	0.17	4	0.68	Change in preference of tourist destinations and emergence of new trends in tourism	0.12	3	0.36
Use of the advantageous geographical location between the cities of Prešov and Košice	0.14	4	0.56
Sum	1.00		4.28	Sum	1.00		4.09

.

From the graphical representation of the SWOT analysis of the Fedö shaft reclamation (Figure 1), the use of this mining brownfield should be guided by the principles of the offensive strategy. It fully focuses on the use of strengths and opportunities with the minimization of weaknesses and threats, which also confirms the predicted potential of using reclaimed mining brownfields in supporting the sustainable development of regional tourism.

5. Discussion

The mining brownfields that affect the natural aesthetic character of the landscape are objects related to mining activity that meet the basic characteristics of brownfields, namely [50,51,52,53,54,55,56]

• They are abandoned;
• They may be contaminated with pollutants;
• They were used in the past;
• They currently require intervention for their reuse from outside.

5.1. Environmental, Social, and Economic Aspects of Reclamation

Considering the facts obtained, the basal platform of mining brownfields consists of quarries, heaps, dumps, tailings ponds, deep mines, tunnels, shafts, pits, waterworks, buildings connected with mining activities, administrative buildings, plants for processing mineral raw materials, warehouses, mining machines, equipment, and technology for mining and processing mineral raw materials [2,14,17,19,20,21,23,24,57,58,59,60,61,62]. From the results of analyses focused on the Fedö shaft, including the proposed methodological procedure for evaluating the potential of the tourist destination and the SWOT analysis of the reclamation, even including regional features [63], it emerged that mining brownfields represents an effective tool for supporting the sustainable development of regional tourism, also confirmed by other studies [64,65,66]. This requires a model of effective management of the use of such unused mining facilities in the area of tourism with a clearly defined methodology for identification and subsequent independent management of mining brownfields, which often represent old mining works, based on territory analysis and expert opinion defining a continuous process of partial implementation steps in the tourism industry [67,68,69].

The initial partial step should be based on the definition of criteria determining the identification of mining brownfields, which include [2,14,17,19,20,21,23,24,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69]:

• The object/location must have been used for mining purposes in the past;
• It was created by anthropogenic activity;
• It currently does not perform any function and is abandoned;
• Its reuse on the market is not possible without external intervention;
• It must have potential for touristic use.

In the next step, analyses of two basic areas are necessary, namely:

• An analysis of the tourist destination where the mining brownfield is located, according to the methodological procedure;
• An analysis of aspects of mining brownfield reclamation, the basic platform of which is the identification of environmental, social, and economic characteristics, with the acceptance of the principles of sustainable development.

Based on the evaluation of the above aspects, it is possible to identify positive and negative indicators of reclamation, which are compared. Their weights α_i are numerically quantified by the Saaty matrix, finding out whether positive indicators prevail over negative ones, and identifying the potential for supporting sustainable regional tourism development.

The positive determinants or indicators of reclamation of the Fedö shaft include:

• Uniqueness of the project—I1;
• Geological conditions—I2;
• Historical and cultural characteristics– I3;
• Transport infrastructure—I4;
• Offer of tourist attractions—I5;
• Natural wealth—I6;
• Geographical location of the mining brownfield—I7.

The negative determinants or indicators of the Fedö mine reclamation include:

• Technical aspects of the project—I1;
• Changing preferences of tourists in the tourist destination—I2;
• Risk of increasing costs during reclamation—I3;
• Lack of social facilities in the vicinity—I4;
• Complex legislation in making available old mine works—I5;
• High entry costs—I6;
• The risk of an unfavorable situation in tourism, e.g., the impact of the pandemic—I7.

In terms of the principles of the Saaty matrix, the level of weights α_i, which determine the prioritization of positive indicators (

Table 10. Prioritization of positive indicators of reclamation.

Indicator/Interaction	I1	I2	I3	I4	I5	I6	I7	Sj	Rj	αi
I1	1	3	5	3	3	3	3	1215.00	2.76	0.31
I2	1/3	1	1/3	3	5	1/3	1/3	0.19	0.79	0.09
I3	1/5	3	1	7	3	5	3	189.00	2.11	0.24
I4	1/3	1/3	1/7	1	1	1/3	1/3	0.00	0.40	0.05
I5	1/3	1/5	1/3	1	1	1/3	1/3	0.00	0.42	0.05
I6	1/3	3	1/5	3	3	1	3	5.40	1.27	0.15
I7	1/3	3	1/3	3	3	1/3	1	1.00	1.00	0.11
Sum									8.76	1.00

) and negative indicators (

Table 11. Prioritization of negative indicators of reclamation.

Indicator/Interaction	I1	I2	I3	I4	I5	I6	I7	Sj	Rj	αi
I1	1	3	5	3	3	3	3	1215.00	2.76	0.31
I2	1/3	1	1/3	3	5	1/3	1/3	0.19	0.79	0.09
I3	1/5	3	1	7	3	5	3	189.00	2.11	0.24
I4	1/3	1/3	1/7	1	1	1/3	1/3	0.00	0.40	0.05
I5	1/3	1/5	1/3	1	1	1/3	1/3	0.00	0.42	0.05
I6	1/3	3	1/5	3	3	1	3	5.40	1.27	0.15
I7	1/3	3	1/3	3	3	1/3	1	1.00	1.00	0.11
Sum									8.76	1.00

), were quantified (

Table 12. Category of mining brownfield potential to support regional tourism development.

Category		Scoring
I.	Very high	Above 1.2
II.	High	1.01–1.2
III.	Average	0.71–1.0
IV.	Low	0.51–0.7
V.	Very low	0.26–0.5

). An emphasis was put on profiling the potential of a specific category of regional tourism development support based on the value of the scoring ratio, which reached a level of 1.19 (

Table 13. Scoring ratio quantification.

Indicators of Mining Brownfield Reclamation	Type of Indicator	Partial Score	Total Score	Scoring Ratio
Uniqueness of the project	+	17.117	54.35681	1.191
Geological conditions	+	4.877
Historical and cultural characteristics	+	13.121
Transport infrastructure	+	2.508
Offer of tourist attractions	+	2.632
Natural wealth	+	7.896
Geographical location of the mining brownfield	+	6.205
Technical aspects of the project	−	3.563	45.64319
Changing preferences of tourists in the tourist destination	−	3.563
Risk of increasing costs during reclamation	−	2.862
Lack of social facilities in the vicinity	−	4.534
Complex legislation in making available old mine works	−	4.215
High entry costs	−	8.494
The risk of an unfavorable situation in tourism, e.g., the impact of the pandemic	−	18.413

). The value of the scoring ratio pointed to the high potential of using the Fedö shaft to support the sustainable regional development of tourism.

5.2. Model of Effective Mining Brownfield Management

Based on the above-described categories of the potential of supporting the sustainable regional development of tourism, a project must be made to reuse the mining brownfield in tourism. If the category ranges from IV–VI, it is necessary to identify the barriers to the project, and, subsequently, it is necessary to propose the removal of these barriers. If the category is in the range I.–III., it is necessary to choose the most suitable project for the reclamation of the mining brownfield in tourism, while it is necessary to accept the landscape–ecological significance and evaluation of the mining brownfield from the view of its past use, current state, and future use. The next step is the implementation of the reclamation project and subsequent monitoring of the benefits of the reclaimed mining brownfield in tourism development (Figure 2). All the indicators of mining brownfield reclamation, explicitly listed in Table 12, were encompassed in the suggested model of effective mining brownfield management for the sustainable development of regional tourism.

6. Conclusions

The history of Slovakia relates to the mining and processing of raw mineral materials. As a result of the turbulent political–economic changes in 1989, which determined the transition from the primary and secondary economy to the tertiary economy—service economy—there was a continuous decline in the mining industry. These aspects led to the creation of mining brownfields which in many regions of the Slovak Republic represent an effective tool for supporting the sustainable regional development of tourism, primarily due to their social and cultural value. These include various cultural or technical monuments that point to the method of extracting mineral resources, but also to a certain social stage of development and the culture of the given region. These represent the key determinants of their use as an effective means of supporting the development of tourism, especially geotourism.

The mentioned facts point to the necessity of solving the problem of mining brownfields, not only in sustainable regional tourism development but also in other national economic sectors. However, the nature and fact that the reuse of mining brownfields, which often include old mining works threatening public interests, contributes to the improvement of environmental quality and socio-economic aspects profiling the functional model of sustainable development of anthropogenic society. This points to the necessity of solving this problem with the integration of the proposed model of effective management of mining brownfields to support the regional development of tourism, which is conceived as open and therefore fully applicable in other national economic sectors.

This analysis has some limitations. The SWOT analysis, based on 20 factors—six strengths, five weaknesses, five opportunities, and four threats—provided a useful overview. Seven positive and seven negative factors of reclamation were identified to inform a sustainable strategy for the reclamation and the potential of supporting the sustainable regional development of tourism. While these findings are specific to the local situation, they have broader implications for sustainable tourism development and could be applied elsewhere. Future research could explore alternative evaluation methods, incorporate additional SWOT positive/negative factors, and consider other relevant resources. The financial and economic feasibility of the suggested measures can be studied in detail. This would enhance the understanding of sustainable mining brownfield management and its potential for promoting regional tourism globally.