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A Labour MP has proposed legislation to give the Coal Authority responsibility for preventing adverse environmental impacts from former metal mines.
Tom Blenkinsop (Lab, Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) said the authority needs to take control of the abandoned mines to prevent them from becoming environmental hazards.
Introducing his Former Metal Mines Bill to the Commons, he said some 9 per cent of England and Wales rivers are currently contaminated by metal ore.
However, unlike with coal mines, the authority is not responsible for the pollution they cause.
Proposing his bill under the ten-minute rule motion, he said: "At present, there is no legal responsibility for any party to maintain a disused orphaned metal mine.
"This state of affairs is largely down to historic timing, where iron ore largely stopped mining production in the 60s, like other metal mines. Yet coal mining in the main persisted into the early 90s."
He told MPs 3,700 sites have been identified in Wales, the south west and Northumbria alone.
"Nationally, abandoned mines are the second biggest diffuse water pollutant after agriculture. Of course, the impact of climate change could make the problem of abandoned mine pollution worse," Blenkinsop said.
"Increased and heavier rainfall intensity will increase the erosion of contaminated spoil heap material and sediments and deposition on agricultural land in downstream flood plains."
The Bill will have its second reading on November 4, but stands little chance of becoming law due to a lack of parliamentary time.
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