Reduction of acid mine drainage by passivation of pyrite surfaces: A review

Tu, Zhi‐Hong; Wu, Qi; He, Hongping; Zhou, Shu Feng; Liu, Jie; He, Huijun; Liu, Chongmin; Dang, Zhi; Reinfelder, John R.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155116

Cited by 49 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 109 publications

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“…Role of processing chemicals: Do the high Na and S concentrations in the Grey Tailings represent the remnants of processing chemicals? Have processing chemicals affected the surface properties of the pyrite (i.e., causing passivation; [34] and so are responsible for limiting its oxidation in the environment? 3.…”

Section: Key Data Gaps and Recommendations For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of Sulfidic Legacy Mine Tailings: A Review of the Wheal Maid Site, UK

Fitch

Parbhakar-Fox²,

Crane

et al. 2022

Minerals

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Historic tailings dams and their associated mine waste can pose a significant risk to human and environmental health. The Wheal Maid mine site, Cornwall, UK, serves as an example of the temporal evolution of a tailings storage facility after mining has ceased and the acid-generating waste subjected to surficial processes. This paper discusses its designation as a contaminated land site and reviews our current understanding of the geochemistry, mineralogy, and microbiology of the Wheal Maid tailings, from both peer-reviewed journal articles and unpublished literature. We also present new data on waste characterisation and detailed mineral chemistry and data from laboratory oxidation experiments. Particularly of interest at Wheal Maid is the presence of pyrite-bearing “Grey Tailings”, which, under typical environmental conditions at the Earth’s surface, would be expected to have undergone oxidation and subsequently formed acidic and metalliferous mine drainage (AMD). The results identified a number of mechanisms that could explain the lack of pyrite oxidation in the Grey Tailings, including a lack of nutrients inhibiting microbial Fe(II) oxidation, passivation of pyrite mineral surfaces with tailings processing chemicals, and an abundance of euhedral pyrite grains. Such research areas need further scrutiny in order to inform the design of future tailings facilities and associated AMD management protocols.

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Section: Key Data Gaps and Recommendations For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of Sulfidic Legacy Mine Tailings: A Review of the Wheal Maid Site, UK

Fitch

Parbhakar-Fox²,

Crane

et al. 2022

Minerals

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“…This is because long‐term mineral extraction will lead to the direct contact of various types of sulfide minerals buried initially deep in the ground with moisture in the air. Coupled with a series of mineral dissolution, anion and cation exchange, and redox reactions, it will directly change the original characteristics of the hydrochemical components of the mine water and have a more significant impact on water quality (Tu et al, 2022). The source of Na is generally human production activities near the surface of the mine (Chen et al, 2022).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among them, Fe, Mn, F − , and so on are pollution components that will affect the water environment and threaten human health (Obiora et al, 2019; Zhang et al, 2021). Combined with the water quality evaluation results obtained from the AHP‐FA‐FCE model of this study, it can be seen that due to the long‐term suffering from AMD, pollution resulted in a significant increase in the content of polluted components such as SO 4 2− and Fe, Al, and Mn, which are typical of mine water samples in the study area, and the overall water quality is biased towards class V water, which is a severe industrial pollution wastewater (Tu et al, 2022; Zhang et al, 2021). Therefore, in order to prevent the spread of AMD pollution in the study area, it is still essential to strengthen measures such as source management and water quality monitoring of mine wastewater in these areas.…”

Section: Discussmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…In addition, the study area is in a typical karst development area, which further enhances the water–rock interaction (Yuan et al, 2017). On the other hand, mining activities in the study area will directly lead to the contact of metal minerals such as pyrite (FeS 2 ) and chalcopyrite (CuFeS 2 ) in the ore layer with air and water (Tu et al, 2022), and after a series of redox reactions, the content of Fe and other AMD‐polluted components in the mine water will be increased. The formation of AMD polluted the mine water quality will deteriorate (Chen et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to its characteristics of low pH and high concentrations of sulfates and metals, it is highly susceptible to causing significant negative influences on a mine's groundwater system (Chen et al, 2022). Mine water polluted by AMD not only erodes the mine's construction equipment but also poses a threat to the surrounding ecosystem (Tu et al, 2022). Therefore, timely control and treatment of polluted mine water are essential, and effective mine water quality evaluation is the fundamental prerequisite for these efforts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Construction and application of a composite model for acid mine drainage quality evaluation based on analytic hierarchy process, factor analysis and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation: Guizhou Province, China, as a case

Han,

Li,

Yang

et al. 2024

Water Environment Research

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The process of mining activities often causes the formation of acid mine drainage (AMD). Through rock fractures and underground rivers, AMD can easily enter the groundwater environment near mines and cause serious pollution to water quality. In order to effectively evaluate the quality of polluted mine water and to understand its threat to the ecosystem around the mine. In this study, four AMD pollution distribution areas, Guiyang City, Bijie City, Qianxinan Prefecture, and Qiandongnan Prefecture in Guizhou Province, were used as the study area. A composite model for mine water quality evaluation was constructed using factor analysis (FA), analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE). Furthermore, by introducing the weighted average method and the level characteristic value (J), the water quality type and the water body environmental quality were evaluated comprehensively, respectively. Compared with the traditional evaluation model, the AHP‐FA‐FCE model has obvious advantages in the selection of evaluation indicators, the determination of indicator weights, and the comprehensive evaluation of water quality types, and the evaluation results obtained are more reasonable and accurate. Three common factors mainly controlled by mineral oxidation factor, human activity factor, and mineral dissolution factor were extracted by dimension reduction of the original hydrochemical data by FA. The water quality of the mine water samples was evaluated using SO42−, Fe, Al, Mn, Na, and F− as evaluation indicators, and the results showed that the mine water samples in the study area as a whole were dominated by class V water, which accounted for 77.78% of the total. Based on the statistical analysis of the original data, it was found that influenced by the water–rock interactions in the study area and the AMD pollution components, the hydrochemical type of the mine water is mainly SO42−‐Ca‐Mg type. The water body environmental quality of mine water in four areas, Guiyang City, Qianxinan Prefecture, Bijie City, and Qiandongnan Prefecture, is from excellent to poor. The average level characteristic value of all the areas is more than 3, and the overall environmental quality of the water body is poor. The strong water–rock interaction and mining activities in the study area may be the main cause of AMD pollution. The results of this study may provide some theoretical reference for the water quality evaluation of AMD‐polluted areas.Practitioner Points A composite model for mine water quality evaluation was constructed. A factor analysis‐based evaluation indicator selection method is proposed. This study improved the weighting process of the traditional fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. A water quality discriminant based on the weighted average method is proposed. The water environmental quality of various types of mine water was evaluated.

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