The exploitation of abandoned underground flooded mines as low enthalpy geothermal energysource is present in more than 20 projects around the world. The heat energy stored in the mine wateris extracted and used for heating and cooling of buildings. Nonrenewable energy (particularly fossilresources) consume and greenhouse effect emission are reduced. This type of sustainable use ofunderground mining spaces requires a good conceptualization of the underground voids as acomplex system of water circulation and heat transport. Up to now, there is no standard protocol forthese studies. Here, the methodology developed to study the particular case of the Barredo Mine, inAsturias, North Spain, is described. The mine hosts the pilot Spanish Project for geothermal minewater use. The methodology implies the definition of a conceptual model for which the search,storage and classification of information is required as first step. In a second step, the data areanalyzed and different simulation scenarios/critical situations might be suggested that mightinfluence the sustainable exploitation of the resource. The numerical modelling strategy is definedusing FEFLOW. The Flow and transport models are implemented both in 2D and 3D. The focus ofthis work is to show now numerical models may help to integrate and understand in a coherent waythe heterogeneous data including hydrodynamic, mining and geological information. It also showsthe impact in the measurements and performance of different plausible situations that may happento the mine and the huge importance of mine monitoring after closure.
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