Minerals and Mine Drainage

Abstract

reviews literature published in 2004 pertaining to environmental processes that affect mineral dissolution reactions and the generation of acid mine drainage (AMD), the fate and transport of metal contaminants within the environment, the toxic influences of metals and mine drainage on aquatic organisms and plant species, characterization of abandoned mines and their potential for contamination, and technologies for remediation of mining-impacted systems or removing metals from acid drainage wastewater streams. Since there are a great number of studies focusing on minerals in subsurface environments, this review will be limited in scope to mineral systems influenced by mining activity or anthropogenic disturbances related to mining. SITE CHARACTERIZATION AND ASSESSMENTThis section of the review highlights published works relating to the quantitative description of mining sites or mineral systems. Included in this description are several new techniques for predicting whether a particular site will be prone to producing pollution. In a study aimed at assessing whether flooded underground mines were homogeneous throughout their depth profile, Nuttall and Younger (2004) reported that 1859 hydrochemical stratification did in fact occur in a flooded mine in Frances Colliery, Scotland. The authors reported that for this particular system, less polluted water tended to collect at the top of the water column with much of the more polluted water remaining at the bottom. Upon disturbing the stratification, it was found that the mixed concentrations of iron and zinc were about 100 times higher than the concentrations measured in the undisturbed surface water.Several studies have used spectroscopic techniques to assess metal contamination in sediments. A study of arsenic speciation in several mining waste piles and contaminated soils in the Czech Republic was performed by Filippi et al. (2004) using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive microanalysis (EDAX). The study found that although the native arsenic mineralogy amongst the three mining areas researched was very similar in nature and origin, the arsenic was associated with different products in the sediment and waste piles, suggesting that site-specific conditions were the primary factors in controlling the fate of arsenic. Osan et al. (2004) characterized the anthropogenic particles in river sediment in the Romanian part of the Tisza catchment area following failure of a tailings dam. The authors utilized single-particle electron probe X-ray microanalysis (EPMA) and synchrotron radiation-based microbeam X-ray emission and absorption methods to identify trace element content, heterogeneity, and heavy metal speciation. Overall, it was found that the majority of the heavy metals released from the tailings area remained in a stable sulfide form, thereby limiting the metal mobility to the river. Characterization of the heavy metal pollution and acid drainage from an abandoned lead-and zinc-sulfide mine in Turkey by Aykol et al. (20...