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Characterization of Mine Wastes for Prediction of Acid Mine Drainage

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Environmental Impacts of Mining Activities

Part of the book series: Environmental Science ((ENVSCIENCE))

Abstract

One of the environmental challenges the mining and minerals industry is facing today is the increased levels of metals in the environment due to mining, milling, and refining activities. Liquid effluents, mine waters, tailings, waste rocks, and dusts may contribute to the generation of potentially deleterious waste and contaminated groundwater and soil deposits in, around, and outside mine environments. Tailings which are unwanted silicate, oxide and sulfide minerals discarded during ore processing operations, are usually discharged into impoundments as a slurry with particle sizes that are predominantly in the silt to fine sand size range (1 µm-1 mm). Waste rock is essentially wall rock material removed to access and mine ore. Waste rock material, composed of particles ranging in size from silt to boulder size fragments, are often disposed of in large piles.

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Authors
  1. A. Dogan Paktunc
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hydraulics, National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC), Av. Brasil 101, 1799, Lisbon, Portugal

    José M. Azcue

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© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Paktunc, A.D. (1999). Characterization of Mine Wastes for Prediction of Acid Mine Drainage. In: Azcue, J.M. (eds) Environmental Impacts of Mining Activities. Environmental Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59891-3_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59891-3_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64169-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-59891-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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