Oxidation of reactive mine tailings and subsequent generation of acid mine drainage (AMD) have been long recognized as the largest environmental concern for the mining industry.
A site-specific study is carried out to assess the suitability of froth flotation for desulphurization of reactive mine tailings at the Musselwhite Mine, Northern Ontario, Canada, to prevent acid mine drainage (AMD).
Laboratory studies on utilization of coal fly ash in management of reactive mine tailings have shown reducing water and oxygen infiltration into tailings matrix, thus preventing oxidation of sulphide minerals and acid generation.
A sample preparation method for percentage recovery of total sulphur (%S) in reactive mine tailings based on ultrasound-assisted digestion (USAD) and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) was developed.
In the investigation of soil cover design options for final decommissioning of reactive mine waste, it is often necessary to analyze or predict the anticipated cover performance as a function of the cost of implementation, which is governed by the type, number and thickness of the layers in the cover system.
It is known that in vitro Mn can promote autooxidation of dopamine, which leads to the creation of reactive dopa mine quinones (Miller et al. 1990; Shen and Dryhurst 1998).
Some of these mines, with reactive tailings and waste rocks, are problematic.
Stockpiles of reactive, finely pulverised ultramafic mine tailings are ideal natural laboratories for the observation and promotion of the carbonation of Mg-silicate and Mg-hydroxide waste minerals via reaction with atmospheric or industrial CO2.
First of all, coal refuse materials generally contain much more finely divided reactive sulfides than coal mine spoils and are much finer textured (Stewart et al. 2001; Daniels et al. 2009), and therefore produce much higher levels of both initial and long-term EC/TDS.
But if such walls thaw, allowing air and water to interact with the highly reactive tailings, widespread "acid mine drainage" (AMD) could occur.
