The total cost of restoring the Amiantos mine has amounted to €13 million to date. Since systematic reforestation work began in 1996, the Department of Forests has reforested 1,447 acres of land, representing approximately 50% of the area affected by mining and dumping. The remaining space for landscaping and reforestation amounts to 1,500 acres. The overall configuration of the ropes will cost 3 million 750 thousand euros and the reforestation 12 million euros. The whole project, including the removal of debris and reforestation is expected to reach €15,75 million.
Although a precise timetable for the completion of the restoration has not been set, Agriculture and Environment Minister Costas Kadis, estimated that reforestation will last at least until 2035.
Despite occasional announcements for the full utilization of the abandoned mine and 13 years after environmental restoration began in the area, historic mill buildings and the old hospital are in danger of collapsing, as no viable plan has yet been found. Thoughts of integrating the mill restoration - which is estimated to cost more than two million euros - into European funding programs did not go ahead, as this required defining sustainable uses. Proposals to lease them to individuals for tourist purposes likewise failed to materialize, as the surrounding area has not been fully formed.
On the contrary, good examples of reuse of the mine area by the Forests Department are the building of the Cyprus Asbestos Mine Corporation, the school and the offices that have been restored for the purposes of the Troodos Geopark, such as the Geopark Information Center, with expenditure covered by Interreg GEOTOPIA program. The open wounds left by the asbestos mine in the heart of Troodos are being healed by planting thousands of trees and shrubs in what is arguably the largest environmental restoration project in our country. May 2010 marked the inauguration of the Botanical Garden “A.G. Leventis' Botanical Garden, created by the Forests Department. By planting trees, shrubs and flowers in the clean soil above the gray dust, what once resembled a lunar landscape is now gradually assimilated to the natural environment.
