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Containment of Metalliferous Wastes |
1 Steffen, Robertson & Kirsten (UK) Limited, Summit House, Cardiff CF1 3BX, UK
2 Department of Materials and Minerals, School of Engineering, University College of Wales, Cardiff, CF2 3TA, UK
3 JDIA, 20 The Pinfold, Newton Burgoland, Coalville, Leicestershire LE67 2SP, UK
The safe disposal of material considered hazardous is a natural part of good housekeeping for any industrial development. This is particularly so for the mining industry which has historically not always been so well managed in this aspect and as such has a high political profile today. Typical problems associated with mineral processing and mine waste are:
When the impact has been allowed to occur, control can be difficult and remediation costly. Consequently great efforts have been made over the last ten to fifteen years in understanding the nature of the potential pollutants, their pathways, environmental tolerances and solutions to their impact either by ‘dilute and disperse’ methods, recovery or containment.
In discussing the chemical containment of mining waste three broad categories can be defined: source control, migration control and dispersion control. Source control refers to measures employed to prevent the release of contaminants from solid phases. Migration controls restrict the interaction between environmental agents (principally water and humid air) and the deleterious element solid hosts. Dispersion control involves the collection and treatment of contaminated material such that they can be dispersed into the environment without significant impact. This last option, although the most common practice is also the most expensive and also may be required long term.
