scholarly journals The Role of Microorganisms in the Formation, Dissolution, and Transformation of Secondary Minerals in Mine Rock and Drainage: A Review

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1349
Author(s):  
Jose Eric Ortiz-Castillo ◽  
Mohamad Mirazimi ◽  
Maryam Mohammadi ◽  
Eben Dy ◽  
Wenying Liu
Keyword(s):  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Mine Waste ◽  
Sulfide Oxidation ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Source Control ◽  
Metals And Metalloids ◽  
Secondary Minerals ◽  
Potentially Harmful Elements ◽  
Mine Waste Rock

Mine waste rock and drainage pose lasting environmental, social, and economic threats to the mining industry, regulatory agencies, and society as a whole. Mine drainage can be alkaline, neutral, moderately, or extremely acidic and contains significant levels of sulfate, dissolved iron, and, frequently, a variety of heavy metals and metalloids, such as cadmium, lead, arsenic, and selenium. In acid neutralization by carbonate and silicate minerals, a range of secondary minerals can form and possibly scavenge these potentially harmful elements. Apart from the extensively studied microbial-facilitated sulfide oxidation, the diverse microbial communities present in mine rock and drainage may also participate in the formation, dissolution, and transformation of secondary minerals, influencing the mobilization of these metals and metalloids. This article reviews major microbial-mediated geochemical processes occurring in mine rock piles that affect drainage chemistry, with a focus on the role of microorganisms in the formation, dissolution, and transformation of secondary minerals. Understanding this is crucial for developing biologically-based measures to deal with contaminant release at the source, i.e., source control.

Numerical Modelling of the Effectiveness of Sealants in Retarding Acid Mine Drainage from Mine Waste Rock

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 241-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anis Farah ◽  
Nuri Hmidi ◽  
Ray Moskalyk ◽  
L. M. Amaratunga ◽  
A.S. Tombalakian
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Numerical Modelling ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Mine Waste ◽  
Waste Rock ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
Mine Waste Rock

scholarly journals Hydrogeochemical Behavior of Reclaimed Highly Reactive Tailings, Part 1: Characterization of Reclamation Materials

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Kalonji-Kabambi ◽  
Bruno Bussière ◽  
Isabelle Demers
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Mine Waste ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Companion Paper ◽  
Mine Wastes ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Neutralizing Potential ◽  
Sulfide Tailings

The production of solid mine wastes is an integral part of the extraction and metallurgical processing of ores. The reclamation of highly reactive mine waste, with low neutralizing potential, is still a significant challenge for the mining industry, particularly when natural soils are not available close to the site. Some solid mine wastes present interesting hydro-geotechnical properties which can be taken advantage of, particularly for being used in reclamation covers to control acid mine drainage. The main objective of this research was to evaluate the use of mining materials (i.e., tailings and waste rock) in a cover with capillary barrier effects (CCBE) to prevent acid mine drainage (AMD) from highly reactive tailings. The first part of the project reproduced in this article involves context and laboratory validation of mining materials as suitable for a CCBE, while the companion paper reports laboratory and field results of cover systems made with mining materials. The main conclusions of the Part 1 of this study were that the materials studied (low sulfide tailings and waste rocks) had the appropriate geochemical and hydrogeological properties for use as cover materials in a CCBE. Results also showed that the cover mining materials are not acid-generating and that the LaRonde tailings are highly reactive with pH close to 2, with high concentrations of metals and sulfates.

Potential of coal mine waste rock for generating acid mine drainage

2016 ◽  
Vol 160 ◽  
pp. 44-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asif Qureshi ◽  
Christian Maurice ◽  
Björn Öhlander
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Coal Mine ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Mine Waste ◽  
Waste Rock ◽  
Coal Mine Waste ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
Mine Waste Rock

Long Term Zinc Contamination and Transport at the Abandoned Ore Chimney Mine

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen Harper ◽  
Carling Ruth Walsh ◽  
Carrie Fong ◽  
Paul Gammon ◽  
Richard T Amos
Keyword(s):  
Natural Attenuation ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Mine Waste ◽  
Geochemical Modeling ◽  
Waste Rock ◽  
Ph Buffering ◽  
Mine Waste Rock ◽  
Site Water ◽  
Waste Rock Piles ◽  
Co Precipitation

Mine waste-rock piles can release low quality drainage that is harmful to the surrounding environment. Many studies have investigated recently placed waste rock, but fewer have examined geochemical processes within, and downgradient of, old waste rock, even though these processes may be expected to persist for many decades. The Ore Chimney property was the site of gold exploration activities that produced a small waste-rock pile; it was abandoned in 1934. Elevated concentrations of Zn are restricted to within 50 m of the waste rock, and pH remains neutral across the site. Water and sediment analyses and geochemical modeling indicate that several processes are involved in pH buffering and contaminant control. Water samples taken at the edge of the waste rock were not acidic, indicating that mechanisms within the waste rock, including carbonate buffering and preferential oxidation of sphalerite over pyrite, are preventing Acid Mine Drainage (AMD). Natural attenuation mechanisms are operating within wetlands at Ore Chimney with the most likely controls for Zn transport in ground and surface water being carbonate mineral precipitation, co-precipitation with Fe and Mn oxides and oxyhydroxide minerals and Al sulphate minerals, and adsorption onto calcite and organic matter. This investigation shows that, after long time frames, natural attenuation mechanisms may act to effectively immobilize metal contaminants.

Research Progress of Acid Mine Drainage Treatment Technology in China

2013 ◽  
Vol 409-410 ◽  
pp. 214-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting Ting Wei ◽  
Yang Yu ◽  
Zhen Qi Hu ◽  
Yuan Bo Cao ◽  
Yang Gao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Source Control ◽  
Treatment Technology ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
Control Technologies ◽  
Development Tendency ◽  
Acid Mine Drainage Treatment

Acid mine drainages treatment technology is a hot issue in the mining industry. It summarizes the causes, the reaction mechanism and impact on the environment of acid mine drainage, and introduces the monitoring indicators of acid mine drainage. Further it focuses on the acid mine drainages terminal treatment technologies that including neutralization, sulfide precipitation, microbiological method, constructed wetlands, membrane method and the iron-carbon micro electrolysis, with the analysis of its theories, advantages, disadvantages and practical application. Meanwhile it introduces the major source control technologies, and further proposes the development tendency that is from terminal treatment technology to the combination of source control and terminal treatment technology. And its a focus and hotspot in the research of the acid mine drainage in China's future.

Leachate chemistry and precipitates mineralogy of rudolfsgruvan mine waste rock dump in central Sweden

1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 163-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Zhixun
Keyword(s):  
Mine Waste ◽  
Sulfide Oxidation ◽  
Waste Rock ◽  
Natural Analogue ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Future Evolution ◽  
Sulfide Ore ◽  
Mine Waste Rock ◽  
Waste Rock Dump ◽  
Cu And Zn

The chemical and mineralogical properties of leachates and precipitates formed in a sulfide ore mine waste rock dump were studied by atomic adsorption spectrometry, optical petrography, X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy. The dump is divided into a leached horizon and an accumulation horizon. The intensity of sulfide oxidation decreases with depth. Leachates are characterized by acid and enriching Fe, SO4 and other metals. Secondary minerals consist mainly of goethite, with some jarosite, schwertmannite ferrihydrite elemental sulphur and Cu and Zn compounds including copper iron oxides, Cu and Zn oxides (hydroxides) and Zn-sulfates. Dissolved Al, Cu, Zn, Si and S are partialy retained by goethite, precipitating in a microbanded texture. The banded formation indicates temporal variability in pore water chemistry influenced by episodic/seasonal hydraulic flushing. The dump is rather old and could provide an important information, or “natural analogue” to the future evolution of the rock dumps that are being generated at currently operating mines.

scholarly journals Temporal Changes of Pyrite Oxidation Rate in Bolivian Sulphidic Mining Wastes

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 194-202
Author(s):  
Ferenc Móricz ◽  
Ferenc Mádai
Keyword(s):  
Oxidation Rate ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Mine Waste ◽  
Pyrite Oxidation ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Metal Mobility ◽  
Seepage Water ◽  
Column Test ◽  
Humidity Cell ◽  
Cell Test

Since the 70's, when huge sulphidic open pits were developed, the acidic rock drainage (ARD) become the leader problem of the sulphidic mining industry. Although the recycling is an essential technology, it cannot cover the demand alone, thus mining activity needs to continue. Acidity in mine drainage commonly requires most of the attention, but the main problem is the caused elevated level of metal mobility and leaching, which are generated by the increased rates of sulphide weathering under acidic conditions. The Itos mine is a polymetallic vein deposit in Bolivia, had been mined for silver and tin until 1990, leaving behind much and huge tailings and mine waste heaps, where quite often the pyrite content exceeds 10 %. Serious ARD effects take place in the mine waste heaps. These processes can be well characterized with the pH 1 or 2 of the seepage water, which forms serious alteration in the waste itself and the neighbouring rocks. In three consecutive years, the pyrite oxidation rate was investigated on the same 7 samples by humidity cell test. 5-6 months pauses were left between the humidity cell test periods, which mimics the alternation of wet and dry periods, typical for the place. The results give much more information, than the oxidation rate in the individual test periods, showing the changes by time. This applied method gave good result to characterize the behaviour of the waste in long-term. The column test was complemented with mineralogical analyses, such as electron probe micro analysis. The mineralogical and column test analyses show, that the changes of the pyrite oxidation rate split the samples into three different groups, one where the oxidation rate decreases, second where it increases with time and the third where oxidation rate is maximal and stays stable for several years.

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