Topic
Tailings
About: Tailings is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 12858 publications have been published within this topic receiving 162193 citations. The topic is also known as: Tailings dam & mine tailings.
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TL;DR: Phytostabilization of mine tailing is a promising remedial technology but requires further research to identify factors affecting its long-term success by expanding knowledge of suitable plant species and mine tailings chemistry in ongoing field trials.
Abstract: Mine tailings disposal sites from either inactive or abandoned mine sites are prevalent in arid and semiarid regions throughout the world. Major areas include northern Mexico and the Western United States, the Pacific coast of South America (Chile and Peru), southwestern Spain, western India, South Africa, and Australia (Munshower 1994; Tordoff et al. 2000). The global impact of such mine tailings disposal sites is enormous, as unreclaimed mining sites generally remain unvegetated for tens to hundreds of years, and exposed tailings can spread over tens of hectares via eolian dispersion and water erosion [Gonzalez and Gonzalez-Chavez 2006; Morris et al. 2003; Munshower 1994; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) 2004; Warhurst 2000].
Mine tailings, or mill tailings, are the materials remaining after extraction and beneficiation of ores. What prevents the natural revegetation of mine tailings? It is generally a combination of factors beginning with metal toxicity. Tailings are characterized by elevated concentrations of metals such as arsenic, cadmium, copper, manganese, lead, and zinc (1–50 g/kg) (Boulet and Larocque 1998; Bradshaw et al. 1978; Walder and Chavez 1995). Further, tailings contain no organic matter or macronutrients, and usually exhibit acidic pH, although some tailings may be alkaline (Johnson and Bradshaw 1977; Krzaklewski and Pietrzykowski 2002). For these reasons, tailings remain without normal soil structure and support a severely stressed heterotrophic microbial community (Mendez et al. 2007; Southam and Beveridge 1992). Hence, the microbial community is extremely low in species richness and carbon utilization diversity compared with uncontaminated soil (Moynahan et al. 2002). Furthermore, autotrophic iron- and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria dominate the microbial community in mine tailings and are associated with plant death in acidic tailings (Schippers et al. 2000).
In arid and semiarid regions, plant establishment on mine tailings is further impeded by a number of physicochemical factors including extreme temperatures especially at the tailings surface, low precipitation, and high winds. These factors contribute to the development of extremely high salt concentrations ranging up to 22 dS/m due to high evaporation and low water infiltration (Munshower 1994).
859 citations
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01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: In this paper, a thorough, up-to-date overview of wastes accumulating at mine sites is provided, dealing comprehensively with sulfidic mine wastes, mine water, tailings, cyanidation wastes of gold-silver ores, radioactive wastes of uranium ores and wastes of phosphate and potash ores.
Abstract: This book provides a thorough, up-to-date overview of wastes accumulating at mine sites. It deals comprehensively with sulfidic mine wastes, mine water, tailings, cyanidation wastes of gold-silver ores, radioactive wastes of uranium ores, and wastes of phosphate and potash ores. The book emphasizes the characterization, prediction, monitoring, disposal and treatment as well as environmental impacts of problematic mine wastes. The strong pedagogical framework is supported by case studies from around the world, end-of-chapter summaries as well as lists of resource materials and www sites for each waste type.
709 citations
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TL;DR: The impact of mining and smelting of metal ores on environmental quality is described in this article, where the authors investigate the environmental health effects of metal mining and mining ores.
Abstract: The impact of mining and smelting of metal ores on environmental quality is described Mines produce large amounts of waste because the ore is only a small fraction of the total volume of the mined material In the metal industry, production of Cu, Pb, and Zn causes the greatest degradation of the environment Copper mining produces extensive mine wastes and tailings and Cu smelting emits approximately 011 Mg of S per Mg of Cu produced in the USA Zinc and Pb smelters release large quantities of Cd and Pb into the environment Metal smelting and refining produce gaseous (CO 2 , SO 2 , NO x , etc) and particulate matter emissions, sewage waters, and solid wastes Soil contamination with trace metals is considered a serious problem related to smelting; however, mining and smelting are not main sources of global metal input into soils Other sources like discarded manufactured products, coal ash, agriculture, and transportation take a lead Smelters are the main sources of atmospheric emissions of As, Cu, Cd, Sb, and Zn on a global scale and they contribute substantially to the overall emissions of Cr, Pb, Se, and Ni A quantitative evaluation of the environmental health effects of mining and smelting is difficult because of the complexity of factors involved and lack of consistent methodology Nevertheless, the case studies described indicate that negative health effects could arise from Pb mining and smelting Risk assessment revealed that food chain contamination by Cd from soils contaminated by smelting is very unlikely under the western diet
690 citations
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TL;DR: Comparison of the results with several criteria reported in the literature for risk assessment in soils polluted by heavy metals showed the need to treat the mine tailings dumped in the mine area.
632 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, a geochemical model was used to predict copper concentrations in a river system affected by acid mine drainage and tailings inputs, showed good agreement between measured and predicted values.
570 citations