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...

Phytostabilization is a remediation technology that uses plants for in-situ stabilization of contamination in soils and mine tailings. The objective of this study was to identify native plant species with potential for phytostabilization of the abandoned mine tailings in Nacozari, Sonora in northern Mexico. A flora of 42 species in 16 families of angiosperms was recorded on the tailings site an...

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...

The successful establishment of revegetation using native plants is crucial to help phytostabilization of mine tailings. To assess arsenic (As) and copper (Cu) pollution levels and the feasibility of using native plants in rehabilitation of mine areas, a preliminary investigation was conducted to measure As and Cu in mine wastes and native plants at Telfer Gold Mine. The top layer of soil/mine ...

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...

This study was carried out for the purpose of investigating the issue of tailings dams as a potential source of contamination by trace elements in soils at the Sidi Bou Othmane mine in the Marrakech Region, Morocco. Soil samples taken from depths of up to 15 cm and within a radius of 50 m from the tailings dams, were analyzed for Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn using atomic absorption spectrometry. Average c...

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...

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 contents of as, cd, cu and mo were determined in soil surrounding meyduk tailings dam based on 21 surface soil samples. assessment of toxic element pollution in studied soil samples needs knowledge of pre-anthropogenic metal concentration to act as a reference against which measured values could be compared. estimating the background values was executed by sampling rocks adjacent to soil sa...