User guidelines for waste and byproduct materials in pavement construction asphalt concrete granular base. Astms waste management standards provide the guides, practices, and test methods pertinent to the process of handling residential, commercial, and industrial wastes. The literature shows the potential use of iron ore tailings as a replacement of natural fine aggregates. Most of these wastes are directly dumped on land or deposited in landfill sites. Tricks like recycling copper, which takes seven times less energy than processing ore, recycling steel which uses threeandahalf times less energy than ore, can go a long way in. In 20, mining companies produced 562,000 times as much waste as gold, according to the south african chamber of mines.
The potential of sulfide rock to generate acid is strongly related to the. Management of mining, quarrying and oreprocessing waste in the. Many human activities produce potential adverse environmental effects which include the construction and operation of highways, rail roads, pipelines, airports, radioactive waste disposal and more. The mining waste burden and management problems are particularly important due to the high volume of material disposed. Potentials of steel slag and copper mine tailings as. This includes the present and potential uses of these wastes as construction materials. Sustainable use of mine waste and tailings with suitable. Pdf potential for reuse of tungsten mining wasterock in. The potential new uses for these expanses of land include sites for research and. Potential use of mine tailings and fly ash in concrete 2. Mine environment neutral drainage manual, volume 3.
The potential uses of copper mine tailings and steel slag need to be explored and the negative impact of mine tailings should be reduced by exploring potential uses of these waste materials in the construction industry. Food industry wastes are an important environmental contamination source. Use of mining waste in civil engineering as fill and earthworks material should thus be considered as a potential source of longterm water contamination. D describe two potential uses for the mine waste that will be produced during the extraction of the gold from the excavated material. An overview of mining waste management issues in wisconsin background the wisconsin department of natural resources was recently petitioned by groups of concerned citizens to amend the applicable administrative codes to prohibit mining of. Utilization of mine waste rocks and tailings in concrete as aggregates will help in sustainable. The literature shows the potential use of iron ore tailings as a replacement of. Pdf potential use of mine tailings and fly ash in concrete. Larew, users manual for sulfate waste in road construction. Waste management in mining industry abdepartment of mining engineering, godavari institute of engineering and technology, rajahmundry, a. A discuss one environmental benefit and one economic. Depyritised tailings could also potentially be used as cover on mine waste storage. Sustainability and mine waste management a snapshot of.
Return of the land to conditions capable of supporting prior land use, equivalent uses, or. Some waste might even be safe to use in other applications, such as in building. Astm suggested citation style, chicago manual of style 17th. When separating waste rock, the terms potentially acid generating rock pag.
E describe two environmental problems that are likely to develop at the mine site after the gold has been extracted and the mine is abandoned. Diamond mining uses a variety of methods, some of which involve the removal of. Although copper tailings have negative effects on the environment owing to their acidic content, they also have some great. Abandoned mine site characterization and cleanup handbook. Environmental impact statements are usually required to contain specific information on the magnitude and characteristics of environmental impact. Reuse of mine wastes allows their beneficial application, whereas. Rethinking mining waste through an integrative approach. Cleanup of mine sites for redevelopment provides an opportunity to turn these sites into land that has beneficial uses. Fvws can be used to extract and isolate potential bioactive compounds that can be used in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and textile industries. Pdf environmental and social impacts of mining and their. This process involves the collection, transport, processing, and recycling or disposal whichever is applicable of waste materials for health, environmental, andor aesthetic.
For example, by overlaying various thematic layers and viewing them in combination, gis software can be used to determine the best areas to dispose of waste rock and mine tailings. The ph is usually measured with a ph meter, which translates into ph readings the difference in electromotive force electrical potential or voltage between suitable electrodes placed in the solution to be tested. Survey of uses of waste materials in construction in the. Most wastes have limited potential for reuse because of their high impurity content or remote location. Mining and quarrying activities in europe generate approximately 55% of total industrial wastes, according to a recent eurostat report. It involves materials that must be removed to gain access to the mineral resource, such as topsoil, overburden and waste rock, as well as tailings remaining after minerals have been largely extracted. Applying circular economy thinking to mining waste presents a. Solid mine waste overburden, waste rock, solidified tailings, slag, dust can be used as backfill in underground or open pit workings. During the earliest days of handbook development, mike bishop of epa region 8 lead the effort to develop a superfund mine waste reference document for epa project managers working on mine. Many mineral processing waste materials have limited potential for use as aggregates because of their fineness, high impurity content, trace metal leachability, propensity for acid generation, andor remote location i. Federal regulations for decommissioning and closure of mining operations are administered by the mine safety and health administration msha, the office of surface mining reclamation and. Mine reclamation plans should incorporate the following. Environmental and social impacts of mining and their mitigation. Mine wastes and their environmentally acceptable storage constitute the largest waste problem on the planet.
Acid mine drainage prediction acid mine drainage prediction tests are increasingly relied upon to assess the longterm potential of acid generation. A technical report is also required that evaluates the potential of the discharge of the mining waste to. User guidelines for waste and byproduct materials in. The wsde report revealed that reduction of waste increases profit, reduces liability, lowers water use and waste, and also creates good public relations. This concern has developed because of the lag time at existing mines between waste emplacement and observation of an acid drainage problem univ. Mine closure and restoration plan the plan should include reclamation of open pits, waste piles, beneficiation tailings, sedimentation basins, and abandoned mine, mill, and camp sites. The decision to mine can depend on commodity prices of the material, the. A waste rock management strategy ensure that disposal of such material is inert or at least stable and contained, and minimizes the surface footprint of the wastes, and explores options for alternate uses. Coal mining and processing the national academies press.
Pdf sustainable use of mine waste and tailings with suitable. Fundamentally, a ph meter consists of a voltmeter attached to a phresponsive electrode and a reference unvarying electrode. These criteria often form the basis for npdes wqbels. Mining waste is the highvolume material that originates from the processes of excavation, dressing and further physical and chemical processing of wide range of metalliferous and nonmetalliferous minerals by opencast and deep shaft methods. By noticing the small details of the products used and generated in a mine site, the mining industry can make strides towards being a more sustainable industry. Mine site cleanup for brownfields redevelopment mine site cleanup for brownfields redevelopment foreword it is estimated that more than 500,000 abandoned mine sites are located throughout the united states. Potential effects of reduced stream flow caused by withdrawals could include. The abandoned mine site characterization and cleanup handbook handbook is the result of the collective efforts and contributions of a number of individuals. If mineral development occurs, the potential for generation of acidic mine waste drainage is the primary water quality concern. It is the tailings that are of particular concern as they are full of small, fine particles that can be absorbed into the water and ground surrounding a particular mine. The goal of this document is to evaluate current methods and identify strategies for environmental mine waste management that show potential for application in minnesota.
Current and potential uses for mining and mineral processing. Generally, waste is categorized into two d ifferent types. The realisation of a geographic information system gis specific to mining waste quantities and their pollution potential in different environmental contexts would thus constitute a tool in the. Whats left in the wake of south africas abandoned gold mines. If we want to ensure a sustainable future for the human race, we must learn to prevent, minimize, reuse and recycle waste. Anon, 2006, dirty metal, mining communities and environment, earthworks, oxfam america, washington, pp 4 chapter 4. It is regarded as standard practice in the north american mining industry to utilize mine waste materials in the construction of dikes, impoundments, and haul roads on the mining property, and in mine rehabilitation such as. The stateoftheart proposes new methods such as the use of. Chapter 6 water qualitybased effluent limits numeric criteria numeric water quality criteria are values expressed as levels, constituent concentrations, toxicity units see discussion of whole effluent toxicity below, or numbers deemed necessary to protect designated uses.
Smith billings symposium asmr annual meeting assessing the toxicity potential of minewaste piles workshop june 1, 2003 u. Information and data on the physical characteristics of solid wastes are important for the selection and operation of equipment and for the analysis and design of disposal facilities. Mine waste characterization california state water. A quarrys lifespan can range from under a decade to over 50 years worth of resource supplying. Pdf if we want to ensure a sustainable future for the human race, we must. Apart from being potential resources, ht repositories also pose. No longer just a hole in the ground the adaptive reuse of.
Reuse of mine wastes allows their beneficial application, whereas recycling extracts resource ingredients or converts wastes into valuable products. The major physical characteristics measured in waste are. Increased research to develop productive uses of mine waste offers considerable potential to reduce waste disposal issues. The potential environmental threat of waste generated by mining, along with an increasing. In the meantime, millions of south africans live around waste facilities and many deal with respiratory, skin and other health effects that they blame on the mine waste piled in and around their communities. Mine planning with gis the siting of ore passes, draw points, ramps, and other components of the mining operation can also be successfully managed with gis. Pdf recycling, reuse and rehabilitation of mine wastes. Alternatives for waste management guide g314 fahzy abdulrahman1 cooperative extension service college of agricultural, consumer and environmental sciences introduction this publication provides an overview of the reasons and ways to better manage garbage or other household waste. This waste is composed of broken rock from open pits and underground mines, coarse mill rejects from screening and heavy media separation processes, and fine mill tailings from screening, magnetic separation, and flotation processes. Reuse of mine wastes allows their beneficial application, whereas recycling. Top 10 ways to make mines more environmentally friendly. Geological survey field leach test for assessing water reactivity and leaching potential of mine wastes, soils, and.
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