Waste heaps in the urban environment as negative factors of urbanization

Urbanization in Ukraine has led to the development of the Lviv-Volyn coal basin. One of the main negative factors in the operation of coal basins are mine dumps. In addition to environmental hazards, waste heaps of coal mines violate the attractiveness and aesthetics of towns. The wastewater from waste heaps is a secondary factor in reducing the environmental safety of the coal-mining region. These waters are concentrated at the foot of landfills forming the man-made reservoirs. The research presents the negative factors of mine dumps and the results of physical and chemical analysis of subtericone wastewater and its impact on environmental pollution. It is established that the most polluted is the wastewater from waste heaps of the Mezhyrichanska mine which is caused by its operating process. The man-made polluted wastewater from heaps is a secondary factor in reducing the level of ecological danger of the coal-mining region. These waters are concentrated at the foot of landfills in the form of man-made reservoirs. The aim of the research is to indicate the negative factors of urban waste heaps by studying the physical and chemical properties of underspoil waters within the cities of Chervonograd and Novovolynsk.

Gold mining’s toxic legacy: Pollutant transport and accumulation in the Klip River catchment, Johannesburg

Waste from gold mines is considered to constitute the largest single source of waste pollution in South Africa and contributes significantly to acid mine drainage, which remains one of the country’s most serious environmental and socio-economic issues. Run-off from the Central Rand Goldfield discharges into wetlands along the Klip River, which are known to be important sinks for toxic pollutants. The aim of this study was to examine the transport, migration and sequestration of metal pollutants in the upper Klip River catchment in further detail. Analyses reveal that the majority of pollutants are associated with contaminant plumes that emanate from mine dumps and enter the wetland via groundwater recharge. This water carries highly elevated concentrations of Co, Ni, Zn, U and rare earth elements, which are naturally sequestered within the wetland, largely through precipitation and adsorption. While surface run-off from mine dumps severely contaminates watercourses within the upper catchment, surface inputs are considered relatively minor contributors to the overall pollutant load entering the Klip River wetland, although aerosol fallout is an important source of Pb. The extensive accumulation of metals within the Klip River wetland reflects the contaminant legacy associated with gold mining on the Witwatersrand and highlights the vital role this natural system has played in trapping vast quantities of toxic pollutants and remediating downstream waters. Contaminant plumes associated with mine dumps will likely persist for decades; preventing further deterioration of the Klip River wetlands is thus critical for safeguarding water sources in the region.

Development of Zoning Method for Man-Made Massifs

Contemporary mining industry is a complex system that is constantly expanding both in terms of explored sources of mineral raw materials and in terms of developing new approaches to mining and processing of minerals. Such a buildup in the scope of tasks set for the industry, as well as the technical progress, lead to various issues related to the quality, quantity and rational use of mineral raw materials. Rationalization, in its turn, should be carried out in a phased manner through the use of comprehensive measures, one of which is reclamation of man-made wastes, represented by waste rocks, tailings, slags, dust, etc. In addition, this approach simultaneously resolves several other important challenges the industry is facing, e.g. increasing the environmental safety of mining regions and increasing the economic feasibility of production by extracting additional components from waste materials. The scope of application of such a solution to the challenge of rationalizing production is immense and can be implemented at many deposits located in the territory of the CIS due to the presence of huge volumes of waste generated by mining raw materials. These wastes were accumulated because of the absence of full-fledged technologies to extract useful components from the rock mass in the past as well as other requirements to ore conditioning than those acting today. For example, in the Republic of Bashkortostan, the overburden dumps and off-balance ores that have been created by mining enterprises amount to more than 1 billion tons, hydraulic-mine dumps of processing plants reach 50 million tons, manmade waters exceed 9 million m3 annually. At the same time, the amount of useful components contained in these man-made deposits can be up to 1.5 million tons for copper, 2 million tons for zinc, about 100 tons of gold as well as significant amounts of other associated components, including various non-metallic formations.

Fine-grained concrete based on technogenic raw materials for road surfaces

On the basis of technogenic raw materials – ash and slag waste and burnt rocks of mine dumps – the compositions of fine-grained concrete were selected. The developed compositions have been tested in the manufacture of pilot batches of paving slabs. The introduction of fly ash and crushing screenings of burnt rocks into the composition of concrete improves the physical and mechanical properties of products with significant savings in cement. The applicability of the investigated technogenic raw materials in fine-grained concrete, intended for the manufacture of paving slabs and road paving elements, has been proved. Products have high indicators of physical and mechanical properties and quality.

Topography and reconstruction of historical mines of the Kagarlinsk mining-metallurgical center (Bronze Age)

Kagarlinsk copper deposits have been worked out since IV millennium BC and till the end of II millennium BC in the steppes of the South Urals and a huge amount of copper have been recovered from their ores in the Bronze Age. Geophysical studies have been conducted in the south periphery of the Kagarlinsk ore field not far from Belousovka village at the mining-processing complex with the length of 900—1000 m and 30—70 m size across. Something like a hundred of small open-cut mines from 3 to 12 m in diameter are fixed in this area with near side mine dumps, sites for assortment of extracted ore adjoined at stove pits 3—5 m in diameter for burning up lump ores. Thorough topographic, gradient magnetic and geo-radar surveys have been fulfilled in areas where typical objects: open-cut mine, a pit for pilot burning up ores, slime sites and ore store are situated. As a result new data have been obtained on the structure of ancient outputs and associated technological facilities. Numerous magnetic anomalies revealed near the open-cut mine and a pit testify that copper ore encloses sufficient amount of iron and pilot assortment of the burned up ore took place near the pits. According to the results of geo-radar survey special features of pit-stove have been reconstructed and 3D model of the ancient open-cut mine built. A pit for burning up ore was cone-shaped with steps for comfort of loading and unloading ore. Its bottom diameter was 5m, the principal mine was 1—1.5 m in diameter and depth rough 3 m, the volume of the pit did not exceed 13—15 m3. Transversal size of a mine was 7—9 m and the depth was up to 4 m. The open-cut mine had steep sides from the north, east and south and in the west the relief was mildly sloping. The entrance to the open-cut mine was from the west. Initial depth of the open-cut mine differed from the present day surface by 2—3 m. According to our appraisal the amount of extracted ore in this mine was 25—30 tons. Taking into account the overall number of mines some 2—2.5 thousand tons of bulk ore were extracted during operation of Belousovka mining-metallurgical complex.