Hard Rock Mine Reclamation

From Prediction to Management of Acid Mine Drainage

Bruno Bussière, Marie Guittonny, Bruno Bussière, Marie Guittonny

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781138054516
• eBook ISBN: 9781351680745
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Civil Engineering
• Index: Biological Sciences

Hard rock mines have significant effects on the territories where they operate, through both infrastructure construction as well as resource use. Due to their extractive activities, these mines store large quantities of wastes at the surface, which can be both physically and chemically unstable. Reclamation aims to return a mine site to a satisfactory state, meaning that the site should not threaten human health or security, should not generate in the long term any contaminant that could significantly affect the surrounding environment, and should be aesthetically acceptable to communities. This book focuses on the reclamation of waste storage areas, which constitute the main source of pollution during and after mine operations, and especially issues with acid mine drainage and neutral contaminated drainage.

Features:

• Provides fundamental information and describes practical methods to reclaim mine-waste facilities
• Compares the different methods and illustrates their application at sites through case studies
• Identifies new reclamation issues and proposes solutions to address them
• Presents existing and new technologies to reclaim mine waste disposal areas from hard rock mines in different climatic conditions
• Integrates reclamation into mine operations and long term performance of techniques used through an interdisciplinary approach

With mine site reclamation a young and still emerging science, the training needs for professionals and students working in this field are huge. This book is written from an engineering point of view and in it the authors identify new reclamation issues and propose well-tested as well as innovative approaches to addressing them. Students in graduate programs focused on mines and the environment as well as professionals already working in departments related to mine site reclamation will find this book to be a valuable and essential resource.

1Generation of Acid Mine Drainage

Benoît Plante, Gary Schudel, and Mostafa Benzaazoua

The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of basic geochemical knowledge regarding the generation of acid mine drainage (AMD). Chapter 2 then describes the most common procedures used to predict the onset of AMD in order to comprehend the objectives and mechanisms of the different reclamation methods discussed in the subsequent chapters (Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9). This chapter focuses on the fundamentals of the acid-generating and acid-consuming geochemical reactions, the most significant factors that influence these reactions, and the associated current research and development need. To concentrate on the most common reactions and most significant factors affecting reaction rates, we have omitted some details on related subjects. Readers are directed to the most relevant studies should they want to supplement the information provided here.

1.1HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE AND OVERVIEW OF THE PROBLEM

Contamination of the environment surrounding mining activities has been long recognized. In his well-known 1556 book, De re metallica, German mineralogist and metallurgist Georgius Agricola described what is perhaps one of the first accounts of environmental preoccupation related to mining operations. Agricola (1556/1912) states that the people recognized that mining and smelting activities not only contaminated streams’ receiving process waters but also had a significant impact on nearby forests and lands, which, in turn, affected the associated fauna and flora:

But besides this, the strongest argument of the detractors is that the fields are devastated by mining operations, for which reason formerly Italians were warned by law that no one should dig the earth for metals and so injure their very fertile fields, their vineyards, and their olive groves. Also they argue that the woods and groves are cut down, for there is need of an endless amount of wood for timbers, machines, and the smelting of metals. And when the woods and groves are felled, then are exterminated the beasts and birds, very many of which furnish a pleasant and agreeable food for man. Further, when the ores are washed, the water which has been used poisons the brooks and streams, and either destroys the fish or drives them away. Therefore the inhabitants of these regions, on account of the devastation of their fields, woods, groves, brooks and rivers, find great difficulty in procuring the necessaries of life, and by reason of the destruction of the timber they are forced to greater expense in erecting buildings. Thus it is said, it is clear to all that there is greater detriment from mining than the value of the metals which the mining produces.

Despite Agricola’s assessment that mine waters seemed to be poisonous to receiving streams, the first formal resea...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Editors
• Authors
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Generation of Acid Mine Drainage
• Chapter 2: Prediction of Acid Mine Drainage
• Chapter 3: Water, Gas, and Heat Movement in Cover Materials
• Chapter 4: Low Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Covers
• Chapter 5: Store-and-Release Covers
• Chapter 6: Water Covers
• Chapter 7: Covers with Capillary Barrier Effects
• Chapter 8: Elevated Water Table with Monolayer Covers
• Chapter 9: Insulation Covers
• Chapter 10: Monitoring the Performance of Mine Site Reclamation
• Chapter 11: Passive Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage at the Reclamation Stage
• Chapter 12: Revegetation of Mine Sites
• Chapter 13: Alternative and Innovative Integrated Mine Waste Management Approaches
• Chapter 14: Long-Term Evolution of Reclamation Performance
• Index