Consolidation of clay particles in aqueous tailings suspensions is a major obstacle to effective management of oil sands tailings ponds in northern Alberta, Canada. We have observed that microorganisms indigenous to the tailings ponds accelerate consolidation of mature fine tailings (MFT) during active metabolism by using two biogeochemical pathways. In Pathway I, microbes alter porewater chemi...

To provide the basic information about the release of heavy metals from the pyrite tailings of Huangjiagou pyrite mine, the pyrite tailings were investigated through a series of batch experiments under different initial pH of extractant, temperature, liquid-solid (LS) ratio, and soaking time conditions. Moreover, calcium carbonate was added in the pyrite tailings to determine the reduction effe...

Secondary jarosite and water-soluble iron-sulfate minerals control the composition of acid mine waters formed by the oxidation of sulfide in tailings impoundments at the (Zn-Pb-Ag) Pan de Azúcar mine located in the Pozuelos Lagoon Basin (semi-arid climate) in Northwest (NW) Argentina. In the primary zone of the tailings (9.5 wt % pyrite-marcasite) precipitation of anglesite (PbSO4), wupatkite (...

A detailed search and re-evaluation of the known historical cases of tailings dam failure was carried out. A corpus of 147 cases of worldwide tailings dam disasters, from which 26 located in Europe, was compiled in a database. This contains six sections, including dam location, its physical and constructive characteristics, actual and putative failure cause, sludge hydrodynamics, socio-economic...

Naphthenic acids (NAs) are natural constituents in many petroleum sources, including bitumen in the oil sands of Northern Alberta, Canada. Bitumen extraction processes produce tailings waters that cannot be discharged to the environment because NAs are acutely toxic to aquatic species. However, aerobic biodegradation reduces the toxic character of NAs. In this study, four commercial NAs and the...

Article history: Received: 11.11.2014. Received in revised form: 4.2.2015. Accepted: 6.2.2015. The disposal of mine tailings is identified as one source of an environmental impact finally resulting in a typically degraded ecosystem. It can easily cause air and water pollution and is a source of man-made mudslides with high-potential socioeconomic-energy impacts. Pollution control and ecological...

The geochemical behavior of zinc, lead and copper from sulfidic tailings in a mine site with potential to generate acidic drainage (pyrite (55%) and sphalerite (2%)) is reported in this paper. The mining area is divided in two zones, considering the topographic location of sampling points with respect to the tailings pile: (a) outer zone, out of the probable influence of acid mine drainage (AMD...

Dispersion and runoff of mine tailings have serious implications for human and ecosystem health in the surroundings of mines. Water, soils and plants were sampled in transects perpendicular to the Santiago stream in Zimapan, Hidalgo, which receives runoff sediments from two acidic and one alkaline mine tailing. Concentrations of potentially toxic elements (PTE) were measured in water, soils (rh...

How Mining Releases Toxic Metals Large amounts of waste rock and tailings contaminated with toxic metals can be produced by mine sites. In the case of the Donlin Creek mine, there are only 0.072 ounces of gold for every ton of ore, a figure that does not take into account the waste rock. Toxic substances contained within the rock and tailings are more easily released once these substances are p...

Bioaccessible U, Th, Pb and the 238U decay products 214Pb and 210Pb have been determined, using a modified Unified BARGE Method (UBM), in waste solids and soils from an abandoned uranium mine in South West England, UK. Maximum aqua regia extractable concentrations for U, Th and Pb were 16,200, 3.8 and 4750 μg g-1, respectively. 238U had highest activity concentrations near the mine shaft, where...