Copper mine tailings composition books

These changes in chemistry reflect the differences in bedrock geology and ore minerals within the deposits. Characterization and assessment of potential environmental. This work shows the results obtained on a copper mine tailing in the antofagasta region, chile. Pdf potentials of steel slag and copper mine tailings as. During the great depression, copper prices dropped, and as a result most copper mines in the copper country closed, including calumet and hecla. Water reclamation and tailings asarco mining operations in arizona mission mine, tucson text edited by rob vugteveen, director, asarco mineral discovery center.

A tailings dam is a largescale, manmade structure that is constructed worldwide to keep waste tailings away from ongoing mining activities where tailing are mixtures of crushed rocks 1. The chemical compositions of the molybdenum flotation tailings in luanchuan mine. Potentials of steel slag and copper mine tailings as construction materials article pdf available in material research innovations 18s6. Greatest copper extraction was achieved at extremely low ph, at 45 c and under oxidativereductive conditions. Lesktech limited, in alliance with the institute of materials processing imp at michigan technological university, will beneficiate the copper mine tailings known as stamp sands into a valueadded product, gsand, for use as a head lap granule in the manufacturing of roofing shingles. The chemical composition of copper tailings, as provided in gupta and thomas 20 and miller and collins 1976, shows that copper tailings have low calcium oxide cao at 0. As seen from these data, most tailings are siliceous materials. There are three tailings pools, namely tailings pool 1 210 hm2, tailings pool 2 240 hm2, and tailings pool 4 1109 hm2. Minerals recovery of copper mine tailings on lake superior. Copper tailings as a potential additive in concrete. Revisiting mine tailings can not only increase the working life of existing mines, it can also potentially breathe new life. This work was carried out on tailings from the aitik copper mine in northern sweden.

The tailings are taken to an area nearby and piled up. Tailings turns out to be an apt title, not just for the beauty but also because tailings are toxic, veritably eternal, perfect symbols for the terrible beauty writers aspire to. In this study, the effects of two amendments were tested for their ability to improve growth and survival of two native plant species growing in copper mine tailings. The specific gravity of tailings ranges from about 2. Mine tailings provided by a local mining company sodium hydroxide deionized water mine tailingsbased geopolymer bricks chemical compound % sio 2 64.

Mining activities produce a variety of waste products, including waste rock, slags, overburden, mine water, and tailings. Two smaller tailings areas totalling approximately 80 ha, are located adjacent to the mill at levack mine and at the froodstobie complex. Mining and beneficiation waste production and utilization. Geotechnical characteristics of copper mine tailings. Mine tailings geochemistry mineralogy cobalt copper reprocessing. Utilization of copper mine tailings as road base construction. Recycling and utilization of mine tailings as construction. Characterization and economic potential of historic tailings. Geotechnical properties of mine tailings journal of. Mineralogical characterization of selected south african. Tailings can be liquid, solid, or a slurry of fine particles, and are usually highly toxic and potentially radioactive. The permanent closure of approximately 5,500 acres of copper tailings at the white pine mine tailings in the upper peninsula of michigan was performed over a fouryear period. Mapping the secondary resources in the eu mine tailings, industrial waste. The sample material, taken for processing had cucontents between 0.

Solid tailings are often used as part of the structure itself. Particle size distribution of copper mine tailings from lohan. Each pond is an environmental disaster waiting to happen. The breach of a tailings pond at the mount polley copper and gold mine in b. The chemistry and toxicity of discharge waters from copper mine. Tailings are leftover mineral byproducts of ore processing. Tailings stock photos download 1,1 royalty free photos. Copper mining generates large quantities of waste, tailings, and acid. Sodium hydroxide naoh solution is used as the alkaline geopolymerization agent. The 1 m deep cover was of organic residuals biosolids obtained from a regional paper mill. Mine tailings size and composition depends on the mining method. Platinum mine has the largest surface area, recording 5. Tailings containment facilities are regarded as the worlds largest manmade objects.

Mineral composition of sylvinite and hard salt tailings. This chemical reaction produces acid mine drainage amd, a pollutant that is present at many abandoned mine sites. For hardrock metal mines, tailings are usually a very fine mud or powder, which is left over after ore is crushed and valuable minerals are extracted from it. Management of tailings and wasterock in mining activities. Mar 23, 2019 and in comparison to other areas, the concentration of cu in the mine wastelands is slightly higher than values reported from the monarch south tailings in botswana with copper concentration ranging from 865 to 2125 mg kg. Reclamation and remediation of the stored tailings will be an ongoing process throughout the mining cycle in order to mitigate environmental impacts. Pdf physicochemical and mineralogical characterization.

Resolution copper will use cuttingedge technology for a state of the art modern mine that will be operated responsibly according to our commitment to sustainable development and environmental stewardship. Recovery of values from a porphory copper tailings stream michael j. Jan 25, 2016 the copper mine tailings used for this study have been accumulating for several decades at the tailings dump of hindustan copper ltd. Hence, alternative uses of mt need to be thought while keeping in mind that the utilization should also take care of the mobility of the elements present in the tailings. Mine tailings may contain base transition metals, such as iron, copper, nickel and zinc, in relatively high concentrations, and also occasionally precious metals such as gold and silver, in minerals and native metals that have been not been separated by froth flotation e. These copper tailings contain toxic heavy metals which pollute the environment.

Mine tailings disposal sites from either inactive or abandoned mine sites are prevalent in arid and semiarid regions throughout the world. Abundance of the minerals was analyzed by mla and composition of. Many mines reopened during world war ii, when wartime demand raised the price of copper. Tailings are produced by most mining operations, and the environmental risk they pose varies from mine to mine, primarily due to local geology, mining methods. The results for the fabricated mine tailings from the copper mineralisations ulveryggen and nussir show concentration variations between the two mineralisations fig. The composition of this manmade material and its influence on the insitu state of tailings is of particular importance. Geochemical and mineralogical characterization of tailings. The tailing was classified as salinesodic with high concentrations of metals, especially cu and fe, with ph 8. The gold mining operations in johannesburg, south africa has resulted in the production. This work was conducted in copper mine tailings located in the. Copper was abundant in various primary mostly chalcopyrite and secondary cuprite, atacamite, b. Copper mine tailings are difficult to revegetate using native plants unless amendments are added to reduce acidity, decrease metal solubility, and improve nutrient availability.

As far as i was able to ascertain, the disaster was never reported in the media of my region of northern minnesota. Table 93 provides chemical composition data for selected samples of copper, gold, iron, leadzinc, molybdenum, and taconite tailings. Approximately 81 percent was generated by the copper, iron, uranium, and phosphate industries combined, including 84 percent of the overburden and waste rock from surface mining, 42 percent of the waste rock from underground mining, and 76 percent of the tailings. Lessons from the most toxic open pit copper mine in the world. Economic potential for reprocessing copper mine tailings.

Our objectives were to 1 compare the physicochemical properties of the tailing with surrounding soils of the mine under study, and 2 evaluate the effect of two amendments caco3 and. However, the tailings contain traces of metal sulphides, e. Four copper mine tailings in chile were investigated for their elemental and mineral composition, in order to evaluate the potential for economic reprocessing. This book, therefore, gives an overview of the waste generation, recycle and. Once the ore has been stripped of its valuable minerals, sometimes through the addition of chemicals, it is piled up into tailings. Cu in tailings from us copper mining before 1900, i. Establishment of vegetation on the aitik mine tailings deposit is planned to take place at closure of the mine, using sewage sludge as fertiliser. The impact of unconfined mine tailings in residential areas. This paper presents the initial evaluation of the copper and gold mine tailings in limpopo, south africa with a view to assessing the suitability of conversion into beneficial geopolymeric materials. Besides iron ore and taconite tailings, gold and leadzinc tailings samples also contain fairly substantial percentages of iron. Aug 10, 2018 tailings are a type of rock waste from the mining industry. Determining the rheological properties of mine tailings. Each year the mining industry generates tremendous quantities of solid wastes as a byproduct of the mining and concentration or preparation of valuable ores, minerals and coal. Mine tailings are watery sludge composed of mediumtofinegrained material, resulting from grinding and mineral processing e.

The company said the tailings are not acidgenerating and the water is alkaline with a ph of roughly 8. Mining and water pollution safe drinking water foundation. In some cases, tailings have been retreated to recover lost value as the technology for recovering copper has improved. Copper mine, operating from 17481941 folldal centre. Chambishi, which represents an older mine tailings age about 40 y and mindolo, which represents a relatively young mine tailings age less than 10 y. Enhancement experiment on cementitious activity of copper. Many researchers have used copper mine tailings for the preparation of geopolymers. A tailings dam at plakalnitsa copper mine near the city of vratsa failed.

This study describes conditions at two mine tailings sites fig. A typical example of a copper mine megaflood happened on august 4, 2014 at mount polleys tailings pond in british columbia. The chemical composition of tailings depends on the minerals mined. The materials used in this investigation include copper mine tailings mt, reagent grade 98% sodium hydroxide naoh, and deionized water. Reclamation of copper mine tailings using sewage sludge. Evaluation of metal mobility from copper mine tailings in. New approaches for extracting and recovering metals from mine. This paper studies the enhancement of the cementitious activity of copper mine tailings in geopolymer systems.

It should be borne in mind that mining has developed throughout the history of the country, so that there are very old tailings, not subject to state norms whose location and composition are not. The average grade of copper ores in the 21st century is below 0. For perspective, this amount would be up to times the mass of the great pyramid of egypt. The word tailings is sometimes applied to include coarse mine waste. Composition and structure of soil fauna community in the.

More recent studies report reuse of hematite mine tailings chen et al. For hardrock metal mines, tailings are usually a very fine mud or powder. Spain has a long mining tradition dating from prehistoric times up to the present day. The ph of the nacozari mine tailings ranges from 3.

Major areas include northern mexico and the western united states, the pacific coast of south america chile and peru, southwestern spain, western india, south africa, and australia munshower 1994. The vivid details of this story, which takes place years before publication of the book, reminded me of the classic memoir speak, memory by vladimir this slender. The copper, iron, uranium, and phosphate industries not only account for the bulk of the metal and nonmetal mineral wastes. Mount polley mine tailings water very close to drinking. The thickened tailings flow by gravity in large pipes to tailings ponds, where the solid material settles out and additional water is recovered and pumped back to the mill.

The official death toll is 107, but the unofficial estimate was more than 480. The cessation of mining activity has generated a large amount of mine wastes, most of which represent geochemical hazards. A mine closure program was initiated to permanently close 5500 acres of copper tailings at the white pine mine wpm tailings in the upper peninsula of michigan. Copper uptake by adesmia atacamensis in a mine tailing in an arid. The most important component of the closure plan in terms of cost and meeting water quality criteria was to design and implement a revegetation plan which would control wind and. It expects to recover 58 kg of gold per month, and has enough slimes to last until 2025. The concentrated ore, now called copper concentrate, is dewatered and dried to about 10% moisture content. About 80% of the water used at the mine is recycled and reused. In neutralized mine tailings, typical hardpan minerals are goethite, feooh, and gypsum, caso 42h 2o.

Specifically, mt was mixed with different amounts of sodium hydroxide naoh solution at various concentrations from 0 to 11 m, compacted, and then cured at 35c. In addition, the quantities of these wastes generated on a yearly basis is increasing due to. Appendix f1 tailings storage facility design report. Mintails, a mine tailings processor, has developed new technology to process 350,000 tons of slimes from its extensive tailings resources. The engineering characteristics of tailings are in most instances influenced by the degree of thickening and the method of deposition. The most important component of the closure plan in terms of cost and meeting water quality criteria was the design and implementation of a revegetation plan.

According to the chinese draft of emission standards of pollutants from rare earths industry, the amount of tailings totals to 150 million tons, including both the iron and rare earth concentration. Tailings pool 1 has been reclaimed through phytostabilization from the 1990s and successfully revegetated for nearly 20 years xie. Pdf selected mine tailings in northerncentral chile were geochemically and. A total 450,000 cu m of mud and water inundated vratsa and the nearby village of zgorigrad, which suffered widespread damage. After the war copper prices plummeted, and most copper mines closed almost immediately. Mineral tailings from two copper mines were bioleached under different conditions. Pdf geotechnical characteristics of copper mine tailings. When a mineral product is mined, the valuable portion is usually embedded in a rock matrix called ore. Tailings are distinct from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overlies an ore or mineral body and is displaced during mining without being processed the extraction of minerals from ore can be done two ways. Copper present in tailings pls was selectively precipitated as cus by biogenic h 2 s. The dexing copper mine is one of the largest copper mines in asia chen et al. Stabilization characteristics of copper mine tailings through. Tailings from gold mining operations can pose a threat to the environment and health of nearby communities. The copper, iron, uranium, and phosphate industries not only account for the bulk of the metal and nonmetal mineral wastes generated, they are also highly regionalized industries.

The properties of tailings are dependent on the ore body being mined, the grinding and processing circuits, the reagent properties and the thickening process prior to disposal. For this website the term tailings refers to the slurry waste output from the processing plant. Not only can this waste be harmful if it leaches into groundwater, but it can also mean. In total, 1400 tailing samples from 35 drill cores were collected from the 1 tailings pond at the dexing copper mine. Download 1,1 tailings stock photos for free or amazingly low rates. Particle size distribution of copper mine tailings table 2 amount of hcl extractable heavy metals in each particle size fraction of the copper mine tailings sampling concentration in each fraction, j. It was called the worst environmental disaster in canadian history. Due to the progressive fall of the ore grades and the increasingly refractory composition of minerals, concentrating plants have increased which has led to an increase in the generation of tailings.

New technology allows it to recover up to 40% of the gold left in particle form in tailings. Water absorption values for lead, zinc, copper and iron ore tailings are typically higher than the standard maximum limit of. Tailings may also contain chemicals used for mineral extraction. Pdf waste management issue in mining industry has become increasingly important. Geochemistry and mineralogy of copper mine tailings. A tailings dam is typically an earthfill embankment dam used to store byproducts of mining operations after separating the ore from the gangue. Geochemistry of surface samples of the tailings deposits. Copper mine tailings ponds are encircled by soft, sometimes disturbingly soluble earthen dams that are supposed to contain the liquid slurry forever.

Copper mining waste storage piles may be as large as 1,000 acres and typically include three types of waste. Factors influencing the composition of bacterial communities found at. Copper mine tailings are the residual products after the extraction of precious copper metal from copper ores, and their storage can create numerous environmental problems. The crrs of the iron and copper tailings in this study are similar to other kinds of tailings such as copper tailings and copper zinc tailings. These dams contain millions of gallons of mine waste that has the consistency of slime. New approaches for extracting and recovering metals from.

The composition of tailings depends on the composition of the ore and the extraction process used to obtain the ore. As mentioned above, the cyclic resistance of soil can also be studied with the cdss test, and some of the reported data of cdss tests are also illustrated in fig. The mineralogy, chemical composition and distribution of elements in the impounded tailings are of great significance to the future utilization and reclamation of the tailings ponds. The mine tailings studied is from a copper mine in arizona, usa and contains mainly silica, alumina and calcium. Geoenvironmental characterization of sulfide mine tailings. Although it is difficult to come up with an average composition of tailings, since the composition will vary with the source and nature of the ores being. Tailings, especially those obtained in the past, have remaining copper and other valuable species in quantities that can potentially be recovered, such as gold, silver, vanadium, and rare earth. Luttrell2 1eriez flotation division 2200 asbury road erie, pennsylvania usa 16506 corresponding author. Tailings are distinct from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overlies an ore or mineral body and is displaced during mining without being processed. A research program was therefore initiated at the university of pretoria, to investigate the composition and state of south african gold tailings on the far west rand gold reefs. This paper investigates the utilization of copper mine tailings mt as an alternative road base construction material through geopolymerization. This is followed by nkomati nickel mine and the ookiep copper company recording a specific surface area of 3. Water and soil contamination at abandoned copper mines and waste sites were reported by benvenuti et al. Mining industry and tailings disposal miljodirektoratet.

Elsewhere, copper, lead, zinc gold and iron ore mine tailings have been used to produce cemented blocks jacobi, 1975. Mineral processing wastes material description user. It is therefore essential that while investigating the properties of tailings that the physical characteristics and material parameters e. Table 1 shows the chemical composition of the mine tailings. Potential for reuse of gold mine tailings as secondary. Mineral tailings from two copper mines were bioleached under. Tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction of an ore. The mine tailings were received in the form of dry powder from mission mine operations of asarco llc in tucson, arizona. Phytostabilization of mine tailings in arid and semiarid. Tailings dams rank among the largest engineered structures on earth.