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Mining in Cyprus resulted in a significant number of abandoned sulphide mines without any rehabilitation measures. The present study aims to describe and compare the environmental parameters in three such mines with respect to water chemistry, waste dumps geochemistry, slope-topography and plant growth. The mines under study are that of Kokkinopezoula, North and South Mathiatis located at the northeast of the Troodos massif. A synopsis of the previous studies conducted for the above-mentioned mines is presented, which includes water and soil samples analyses. Although, in these areas environmental degradation is reported, there are some plants which grow naturally. Therefore, a preliminary attempt to report these plants is conducted, while remediation options presented in the literature including technosols, revegetation, phytoremediation and phytostabilization are proposed. Potential use of native plants such as Phragmites australis, Tamarix smyrnensis, Poaceae, Pinus brutia and Schoenus nigricans Poaceace could be applied for phytoremediation of the sulphide mines in Cyprus. These plants seem to have great strength at low pH values and high metal content in contaminated soils and water. The three mines under study are also compared with three other old mines located in the broader area of Cyprus; that of Xeros, Limni and Skouriotissa, which operated under similar climatic conditions. By improving abandoned mines environment with technosols, the action of native plants will be enhanced and thus work towards a successful phytoremediation treatment, resulting in the minimization of future pollutants generated by the solid waste dumps.

An investigation at an abandoned, open-pit mine (Kokkinopezoula, Cyprus) concluded that environmental contamination has been transported by both mechanical and chemical mechanisms. The conclusion is based on several data sets, which were analysed using hierarchical clustering. Water samples were collected from the open pit during two different seasons of the year and from a creek located to the southeast of the pit and were analysed for pH and metal content. The results showed low pH and high metal content for the water samples collected from the open pit. Soil samples were collected from 32 locations (two depths each) chosen in relation to the geology and topography of the area, as well as to the mineralogy and alteration intensity of the waste dumps. The soil samples were analysed for their pH and element content with an analytical method that combines inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy, after complete digestion of the samples. Similarities in composition were used to conclude that the dominant contaminant transport mechanism is fluvial in nature, as well as a degree of chemical weathering/precipitation, but not Aeolian. This conclusion is important in the future design of a remediation strategy for the site.

Within the European Union, guidance in the form of a uniform Soil Directive does not exist and member states are left to enact their own legislation governing historic soil contamination. Several historic or "legacy" sites exist in Cyprus - an EU member state with a long history of mining and a significant number of abandoned mining sites. The gold-silver enrichment plant of Mitsero village was abandoned 70 years ago, yet soil samples inside and outside the plant were extremely low in pH, exhibited high leachability of heavy metals and high cyanide levels. Water samples collected from an ephemeral stream located down-gradient of the site contained high levels of heavy metals. Two abandoned open-pit mines (Kokkinopezoula and Mathiatis) were investigated, where elevated metal content in soil samples from the surrounding streams and spoil heaps, and extremely low pH and high metal content in water samples from the mine crater were measured.