Efforts to delineate underground mine workings in the vicinity of tailings impoundments has relied on available maps and confirmatory boreholes. Often the characterization of regions between boreholes remains suspect or entirely unknown. Surface geophysical measurements can be used to supplement the borehole data and better delineate these intermediate zones. Furthermore, geophysics can be used...

Assessment of mine rehabilitation strategies including soil cover treatments rely mainly on physico-chemical properties or plant performance indices, while much less is known about the response biological properties. This field study evaluated mesofauna (Collembola and Acari) in (mainly subsoil subsoil) tailings, with without organic amendments. The experiment was conducted large (1 m3) units r...

The "Agios Philippos" mine in the Kirki region (NE Greece) has been abandoned in 1998 after half a century of ore exploration without a reclamation or remediation plan. This article aims at elucidating the potential environmental risks associated with this site by quantifying pollution in tailing basins, stream waters, stream sediments and agricultural fields. Concentrations of heavy metals in ...

The socio-ecological impacts of large scale resource extraction are frequently underreported in underdeveloped regions. The open-pit Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia, is one of the world's largest copper and gold extraction operations. Grasberg mine tailings are discharged into the lowland Ajkwa River deposition area (ADA) leading to forest inundation and degradation of water bodies critical t...

Mining activities have resulted in a large volume of tailings containing certain proportion lost minerals, making them potential reprocessing opportunity, and information on mineral is often scarce. In this study, conceptual framework was established used to produce meaningful knowledge from the Nyamatete mine at HABATU Company Limited (an ASM Rwanda). Tailings particles were investigated based...

The objective of the study was to compare the performance of exotic (Eucalyptus grandis and Acacia saligna) and indigenous (Acacia polyacantha and Bauhinia thonningii) tree species in rehabilitating active gold mine tailings dump. The seedlings were produced in a nursery and transplanted onto the tailings dumps during the rainy season in the years 2000, 2001 and 2002. The saplings were monitore...

A bacterial strain, Pseudomonas putida S4, was isolated from smelter drainage of copper mines. The strain exhibited resistance to several heavy metals, like aluminium (Al), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co) besides copper (Cu). Strain S4 could accumulate Cu from the Cu-supplemented growth medium. In the present study, we have demonstrated the Cu2+ removal capacity of this strain from various ...

Here we report the draft genome sequence of the acid-tolerant Desulfovibrio sp. DV isolated from the sediments of a Pb-Zn mine tailings dam in the Chita region, Russia. The draft genome has a size of 4.9 Mb and encodes multiple K+-transporters and proton-consuming decarboxylases. The phylogenetic analysis based on concatenated ribosomal proteins revealed that strain DV clusters together with th...

Asbestos is a commercial term that represents several different silicate minerals which separate into long thin fibers. Asbestos has been used in numerous commercial applications due to its outstanding incombustible and insulating characteristics but causes fatal diseases such as lung cancer, asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma so strict regulations and controls for asbestos bearing rocks and...

The present study represents a first insight into the Draa Lasfar min (Marrakech - Morocco) to assess the degree of polymetallic pollution caused by anthropogenic activities (like mine extraction) and consequently the possible diffusion of heavy metals and to predict the risk of their mobility in the surroundings of the mine area. The edaphologic parameters pH and electrical conductivity (EC) w...