Studying Mine Pit Lake Systems Across Multiple Scales

McCullough, Cherie D.; Vandenberg, Jerry

doi:10.1007/s10230-020-00678-7

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…Municipal waste has been disposed of in pit lakes as an end use, this time with an added benefit of potential remediation from the organic materials stimulating alkalinity-generating microbial processes, e.g., sewage [84]. In a scaled series of experiments, green waste and sewage were disposed of from two nearby towns in a highly acidic north Australian coal pit lake [85]. Water quality measures of pH, acidity, and solute concentrations as total dissolved solids (TDS) all improved over the following two years.…”

Section: Waste Containment and Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By understanding potential risks, early and coordinated research across relevant spatial and temporal scales can be strategically undertaken [85]. Planning and management strategies can also be implemented by mining companies and government agencies so that, post-closure, pit lakes can be used as recreational areas or for other end uses.…”

Section: Achieving End Use Successmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Realizing Beneficial End Uses from Abandoned Pit Lakes

McCullough¹,

Schultze

Vandenberg³

2020

Minerals

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Pit lakes can represent significant liabilities at mine closure. However, depending upon certain characteristics of which water quality is key, pit lakes often also present opportunities to provide significant regional benefit and address residual closure risks of both their own and overall project closure and even offset the environmental costs of mining by creating new end uses. These opportunities are widely dependent on water quality, slope stability, and safety issues. Unfortunately, many pit lakes have continued to be abandoned without repurposing for an end use. We reviewed published pit lake repurposing case studies of abandoned mine pit lakes. Beneficial end use type and outcome varied depending upon climate and commodity, but equally important were social and political dynamics that manifest as mining company commitments or regulatory requirements. Many end uses have been realized: passive and active recreation, nature conservation, fishery and aquaculture, drinking and industrial water storage, greenhouse carbon fixation, flood protection and waterway remediation, disposal of mine and other waste, mine water treatment and containment, and education and research. Common attributes and reasons that led to successful repurposing of abandoned pit lakes as beneficial end uses are discussed. Recommendations are given for all stages of mine closure planning to prevent pit lake abandonment and to achieve successful pit lake closure with beneficial end uses.

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Section: Waste Containment and Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Achieving End Use Successmentioning

confidence: 99%

Realizing Beneficial End Uses from Abandoned Pit Lakes

McCullough¹,

Schultze

Vandenberg³

2020

Minerals

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“…Mine voids have come to represent a problem for the environment [1] worldwide. The mine void cannot always be backfilled with overburdened material and will leave some openings, which then will be deliberately filled with water to form a mine void lake, which is referred to as a pit lake [2][3][4][5][6]. Pit lakes are distributed around the world and are dominant in Australia, several countries in Europe, and North America [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Balance of Pit Lake Development in the Equatorial Region

Tuheteru

Gautama

Kusuma

et al. 2021

Water

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In recent years, Indonesia has become the largest coal exporter in the world, and most of the coal is being mined by means of open-pit mining. The closure of an open-pit mine will usually leave a pit morphological landform that, in most cases, will be developed into a pit lake. One of the main issues in developing a pit lake is the understanding of the pit lake filling process. This paper discusses the hydrological model in filling the mineout void in a coal mine in Kalimantan which is located close to the equatorial line. The J-void is a mineout coal pit that is 3000 m long and 1000 m wide, with a maximum depth of 145 m. The development of the J-void pit lake after the last load of coal had been mined out experienced a dynamic process, such as backfilling activities with an overburden as well as pumping mine water from the surrounding pits. There are two components in the model, i.e., overland/subsurface and pit area. The overland zone is simulated using the Rainfall-Runoff NRECA Hydrological Model approach to determine the runoff and groundwater components, whereas the pit area is affected by direct rainfall and evaporation. The model is validated with the observation data. The main source of water in the J-void pit lake is rainwater, both from the surrounding catchment area as well as direct rainfall. As this coal mine area is characterized as a multi-pit area and, consequently, several pit lakes will be formed in the future, the result of the hydrological model is very useful in planning the future pit lakes.

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“…However, without increasing the complexity of the experimental design, standard laboratory‐based toxicity testing is limited in the number and type (e.g., absence of flow‐dependent aquatic insects) of species that can be assessed, and in the inability to mimic adequately natural and variable environmental conditions (Cormier et al 2008; European Commission 2011). Semifield approaches at the scale of the mesocosm (typically thousands to tens of thousands of liters) and microcosm (from a few tens to hundreds of liters; McCullough 2009) provide improved environmental realism and greater predictive abilities while permitting laboratory‐like manipulations to be performed (Perceval et al 2009; Buchwalter et al 2017; McCullough and Vandenberg 2020). However, these gains may also be accompanied by increased data variability relative to laboratory experiments (Perceval et al 2009; Australia and New Zealand Governments 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mesocosms can provide accurate ecological observations through the control of some confounding covariates, clearer contamination gradients, and incorporation of some forms of ecological complexity such as competition and predation (Cañedo‐Argüelles et al 2012; Buchwalter et al 2017; McCullough and Vandenberg 2020). Mesocosms also enable the collection of large amounts of data from multiple phylogenetic groups (including but not limited to phytoplankton [Dueri et al 2009], diatoms, zooplankton [Fernando 1994; Dickman et al 2008], and macroinvertebrates [Bonada et al 2006]) over a relatively short time period, providing the opportunity to detect responses that may be overlooked in studies of a single phylogenetic group.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevated Magnesium Concentrations Altered Freshwater Assemblage Structures in a Mesocosm Experiment

Mooney

McCullough²,

Jansen

et al. 2020

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Magnesium (Mg) is a mining-related contaminant in the Alligators Rivers Region of tropical northern Australia. A mesocosm experiment was used to assess Mg toxicity to aquatic freshwater assemblages. Twenty-five 2700-L tubs were arranged, stratified randomly, on the bed of Magela Creek, a seasonally flowing, sandy stream channel in the Alligator Rivers Region of northern Australia. The experiment comprised 5 replicates of 4 nominal Mg treatments, 2.5, 7.5, 23, and 68 mg L −1 , and a control. Phytoplankton biomass, and diatom, zooplankton, and macroinvertebrate assemblages present in the treatment tubs were sampled before and after Mg addition. A significant negative relationship between phytoplankton biomass and Mg was observed 4 wk after Mg addition as measured by chlorophyll a concentrations (r 2 = 0.97, p = 0.01). This result was supported by reductions in some major phytoplankton groups in response to increasing Mg concentrations, in the same experiment and from independent field studies. There was a significant negative relationship between zooplankton assemblage similarity (to control) and Mg concentrations (r 2 = 0.96, p = 0.002). Seven weeks after Mg addition, macroinvertebrate assemblages were dominated by 3 microcrustacean groups (Ostracoda, Cladocera, and Copepoda), each reaching maximum abundance at intermediate Mg concentrations (i.e., unimodal responses). The responses of phytoplankton and zooplankton were used to derive assemblage effect concentrations (Mg concentrations resulting in x% of the assemblage change [ECx]). Magnesium concentrations resulting in assemblage EC01 values were <3 mg L −1. Together with candidate guideline values from other laboratory-and field-based lines of evidence, the mesocosm EC01 values were incorporated into a weight-of-evidence framework for a robust regulatory approach to environmental protection.

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Studying Mine Pit Lake Systems Across Multiple Scales

Cited by 12 publications

References 107 publications

Realizing Beneficial End Uses from Abandoned Pit Lakes

Realizing Beneficial End Uses from Abandoned Pit Lakes

Water Balance of Pit Lake Development in the Equatorial Region

Elevated Magnesium Concentrations Altered Freshwater Assemblage Structures in a Mesocosm Experiment

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