Thesis topic is of great interest : What is the future of former mining settlements, small and medium, from Romania and Europe? What role can have the industrial mining heritage - in this context ? The motivations of the study are multiple: the weak knowledge of the scale and effects of the abandonment of mining areas, the poor knowledge of Romanian industrial- mining heritage, etc.For analyzing the evolution of the Romanian mining industry, it is required its inclusion in the European context, using as references Great Britain and France. The methodology is different depending on the country.The thesis is structured in three parts and conclusions. The first part contains a research of the historical evolution of the mining industry. In the...