It deals comprehensively with the characterization of sulphiderich tailings, geotechnical and microstructural behaviour, surface tailings disposal applications, underground paste backfilling, and case studies. Life cycle assessment of mine tailings management in. Mine tailings are the ore waste of mines, and are typically a mudlike material. Mine tailings dam failures major cause of environmental. Smith billings symposium asmr annual meeting assessing the toxicity potential of minewaste piles workshop june 1, 2003 u. Mine waste characterization, management and remediation mdpi. Mine waste characterization, management and remediation. Unep tailings dams report and residual risk assessment riskope. Office of wastewater management hardrock mining wastes. The tailings dams of gura rosiei and valea salistei are located in the wstern part of the area, on the left bank of abrud river, the tailings dam of gura rosiei, and, respectively, the tailings dam of valea salistei in the valley of saliste creek.
The breach of a tailings pond at the mount polley copper and gold mine in b. Measured moisture contents of conventional tailings impoundments vary from 10% to 100% saturation smyth, 1981. Worldwide, the storage and handling of tailings is a major environmental issue. Moore, author of the mindful writer schwehns tailings, is, like all of my favorite contemporary nonfiction, uncategorizablepart memoir, part spiritual reflection, part reportage. Ferguson acid rock drainage ard to the rock drain and north fork of rose creek, faro mine complex. Tailings are finely ground rocks and other mineral waste as a result of mineral processing. This book provides an overview of paste tailings disposal at mine sites. Majority of release contained on adjacent mining area. Geotechnical engineering for mine waste storage facilities. Assessment, restoration and reclamation of mining influenced soils. Tailing and mine waste 2014 conference entitled risk assessment.
The course emphasys was on risk assessment methodologies, but we included many failures case studies such as the recent mount polley based on public data and a view on perpetuity. Mining operations generate large amounts of waste rocks and tailings that can have significant. Mill tailings are the coarsely and finely ground waste portions of mined material remaining after beneficiation operations have removed the valuable constituents from the ore. There exists a large volume of documentation relating to all aspects of design, construction, operation and closure of tailings facilities in the form of manuals, technical papers, conference proceedings and textbooks anglo 2005. This statistic shows the tailings and waste rock disposal in the canadian coal mining industry from 2006 to 2014, by subsector. Tailings and mine waste 08 contains papers from the twelfth annual tailings and mine waste conference, held by colorado state university of fort collins, colorado. Dec 19, 2017 the imperial metals mount polley gold and copper mine tailings dam disaster in british columbia, canada, dumped 24 million cubic meters more than 31 million cubic yards of mine waste and sludge. Mine wastes and their environmentally acceptable storage constitute the largest waste problem on the planet. Due to the way minerals are processed, tailings can contain concentrations of processing chemicals. Mine wastes deposited onland in socalled tailings dams, impoundments or waste dumps have several associated environmental issues that need to be addressed e. Mine waste, heavy metals, soil pollution, environmental contamination, risk. Unep tailings dams report and residual risk assessment. Of this total, approximately 40 percent was generated by the copper mining industry alone.
For hard rock mines, the main mine wastes are tailings, and the. Waste not, want not rethinking the tailings and mine waste. Once the ore has been stripped of its valuable minerals, sometimes through the addition of chemicals, it is piled up into tailings. Management approach and performance related to waste management, including the construction, operation, and ongoing monitoring of the various health, safety, and environmental risks and impacts associated with tailings storage tsfs and waste rock facilities. Nov, 2017 the global volume of stored tailings is also unknown. However, recent disasters illustrate the potential scale of accidents. Aug 22, 2016 this statistic shows the tailings and waste rock disposal in the canadian coal mining industry from 2006 to 2014, by subsector.
At stantec, tailings management is a core service offering. Tailing and mine waste 2014 conference entitled risk. Recycling and utilization of mine tailings as construction material through geopolymerization lianyang zhang, ph. Enactment of resource and conservation and recovery act rcra 117 pp, 662 k, about pdf epa must perform a detailed and comprehensive study of the adverse effects of solid wastes from active and abandoned surface and underground mines on the environment. Ebook guidelines for mine waste dump and stockpile design. When a mineral product is mined, the valuable portion is usually embedded in a rock matrix called ore. This book introduces recent development of technologies for mine waste management in china. This approach may be adapted to provide a waste cover over placed tailings in an open pit void. The reference document on best available techniques for the management of tailings and wasterock in mining activities covers activities related to tailings and wasterock management of ores that have the potential for a significant environmental impact. In particular the work sought out activities that can be considered as examples of good practice.
The global volume of stored tailings is also unknown. Evolution of geochemical and mineralogical parameters during insitu remediation of a marine shore tailings deposit by the implementation of a wetland. One response to tailing and mine waste 2014 conference entitled risk assessment and decision making for tailings facilities roy wares says. Proceedings of the 2nd international conference, fort collins, co, usa, 1720 january 1995 isbn 10. Tailings and mine waste 10 includes over 40 papers which present stateoftheart papers on mine and mill tailings and mine waste, as well as current and future issues facing the mining and environmental communities, including technical capabilities and developments, regulations, and environmental concerns. This can make mine tailings an environmental concern, so proper transportation and disposal are crucial. From 1932 to 1946, mine and mill operators dredged more than 15 million metric tons of tailingscontaminated sediments from the river at cataldo mission flats, stockpiling recovered material on the floodplain.
Mining tailings definition of mining tailings by the. Tailings and mine waste08 contains papers from the twelfth annual tailings and mine waste conference, held by colorado state university of fort collins, colorado. Approximately 81 percent was generated by the copper, iron, uranium, and phosphate. In alaska, pogo mine, greens creek mine, and nixon fork mine use drystacking for tailings disposal. Section 3 presents the need for a lifeof mine riskbased approach to tailings management, and briefly describes this approach.
Coal mining disposal of tailings and waste rock in. Department of civil engineering and engineering mechanics university of arizona, tucson, arizona u. Members in the mining sector shall carry out physical and geochemical characterisations of mine tailings and waste rock. Go search best sellers gift ideas new releases whole foods todays. Legislative and regulatory timeline for mining waste. Jerritt canyon tailings storage facility srk consulting. It will need to be reconsidered in a mine life cycle context, focusing on a valuebased conception of waste van ewijk and stegemann, 2016. In contrast, the fort knox and red dog mines use artifical wet impoundments with earthen dams, and kensington mine stores its tailings in a natural lake. Tailings and mine waste management what is in this topic. Challenges competing factors such as cost, the environment, safety, and technical viability are at the forefront of thinking when todays mining organizations are investing in new tailings systems or retrofitting existing ones. The traditional approach for monitoring the susceptibility of mine tailings to dust emission includes collecting dust samples from monitoring stations, which are limited to a tiny sampling area. Scale of tailings production is immense, since metal extraction is usually only ounces or pounds. Proceedings of the eleventh tailings and mine waste conference, 10 october 2004, vail, colorado, usa crc press book written by specialists from the mining industry, this collection of over sixty papers from the eleventh annual tailings and mine waste conference deals with technical capabilities and developments. Tailings are a type of rock waste from the mining industry.
The collapse of the dam at the germano mine, which is owned by global mining giants vale and bhp billiton, released more than 33 million cubic metres of tailings, or waste left over from the processing of the ore. The book is a comprehensive treatment of the application of geotechnical. Mining tailings definition of mining tailings by the free. Dates action or event notes on significance to mining waste. Recycling and utilization of mine tailings as construction. Section 4 provides an overview of the key elements of management systems that are applied throughout the life of a tailings storage facility to ensure operating and closure objectives are met. Section 3 presents the need for a lifeofmine riskbased approach to tailings management, and briefly describes this approach. Dan overton, president and principal geotechnical engineer with engineering analytics inc. In this study, two groups of heavy metal containing particulate waste materials, municipal solid waste incineration mswi fly and bottom ashes and mine tailings i. Advancing solutions for a new legacy april 35, 2012, denver, colorado. Aug 10, 2018 tailings are a type of rock waste from the mining industry. Presents papers on mine and mill tailings and mine waste, as well as current and future issues. October 21, 1976 congress passes the resources conservation and recovery act rcra public law 94580 which requires epa to develop regulations governing the identification and management of hazardous.
In 2006, the total tailings and waste rock from nonmetallic mining. Therefore, at most underground mines, very little waste rock requiring separate disposal results subsequent to the initial mine development activities. Tailing and mine waste 2014 conference entitled risk assessment and decision making for tailings facilities oct 7th, 2014. Then the unep report asks mining companies to make environmental and human safety a priority in management actions and ontheground operations by requiring. The course emphasys was on risk assessment methodologies, but we included many failures case studies such as the recent mount polley. Tailing and mine waste 2014 conference entitled risk assessment and decision making for tailings facilities. The jerritt canyon mine tailings storage facility 1 tsf1 located in northeast nevada was commissioned in 1980 and operated through 20 for the disposal and containment of spent tailings slurry from the jerritt canyon milling operations. Spain 15,000 acidic tailings containing heavy metals omai mine. The challenge is that the waste hierarchy was originally designed to address embodied mineral content in products, rather than mine waste and tailings generation. We bring worldwide experience in all phases of design and implementation for tailings management projects with experts located on six continents and experience under a variety of climatic, social, environmental, and regulatory conditions. Tailings and mine waste conference ubc library open collections. Additional limitations for dust emissions monitoring include cost, security issues, and trafficability issues.
Mine waste transfer and disposal methods mine tailings, gangue. In many instances, when waste rock is separated from runof mine coal within the mine, it is deposited in mine voids rather than being brought to the surface. University of british columbia and c3 alliance corp hosted tailings and mine waste 19 in vancouver, bc, november, 2019. Inpit tailings storage can provide many advantages when compared to typical aboveground tailings storage facilities tsfs. The mount polley tailings spill occurred in the cariboo region of central british columbia, canada. Bonstrom et al gunnar mine tailings remediation plan water shedding cover system and landform design. Jul 27, 2015 the tailings storage methodology is full inpit disposal in multiple tsfs for the lifeof mine. Whereas wasterock piles commonly have a large open and freedraining porosity, mine tailings drain slowly, maintaining a large residual moisture content under gravity drainage. Mine wastes deposited onland in socalled tailings dams, impoundments or wastedumps have several associated environmental issues that need to be addressed e. Life cycle assessment of mine tailings management in canada. Key tailings management documents used in industry. The spill began 4 august 2014 with a breach of the imperial metalsowned mount polley copper, gold and silver mine tailings pond, releasing its water and slurry with years worth of mining waste into polley lake. As regulations become more restrictive and existing mines expand into new pits, the motivation and opportunities for inpit tailings disposal is increasing.
Mining tailings synonyms, mining tailings pronunciation, mining tailings translation, english dictionary definition of mining tailings. Mine wastes have been accumulating for thousands of years, and their rate of production has accelerated in step with increases of the human population to an estimated worldwide production rate of 350. In particular the work sought out activities that can be considered as examples of good. Elghali et al investigation of the role of hardpans on the geochemical behavior of joutel mine tailings.
Brilliant in all of its guises, tailings only makes me want to read more by kaethe schwehn. This is tragically underlined by the failiure of one of icmm company member vales tailings storage dam at its corrego do feijao mine in brumadinho, brazil, on 25 january 2019. Deposition of mine waste and tailings into the same open pit void, probably not with the intention of achieving a homogeneous blend of tailings and mine waste. Tailings dams, tailings impoundment facility, tailings storage facility tsf, tailings disposal, thickened tailings disposal on surface and as mine backfill, high. Guidelines for mine waste dump and stockpile design name author. Smith billings symposium asmr annual meeting assessing the toxicity potential of mine waste piles workshop june 1, 2003 u. Publications sumirco bernhard dold sustainable mining. The purpose of this series of conferences is to provide a forum for discussion and establishment of dialogue among all people in the mining industry and environmental community regardin. Guidelines for mine waste dump and stockpile design is a comprehensive, practical guide to the. Many tailings are toxic and must be kept perpetualy isolated from the environment. Characteristics the physical and chemical characteristics of tailings vary according to the ore being mined and the particular beneficiation operations used. The spill flooded polley lake, creating a plug at hazeltine creek, and continued into. Continuity of the initial hydrogeological conditions is incorporated in the design by the use of the pervious surround concept and the reinstatement of the lower aquifer palaeochannel aquifer at the base of the pit. Mine waste transfer and disposal methods mine tailings.
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