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Mining Wastes Wilbert Aureo
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Mining Process Mining, in its broadest sense, the process of obtaining useful minerals from the earth’s crust. The process includes excavations in underground mines and surface excavations in open-pit, or opencut (strip) mines. Microsoft ® Encarta ® © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Mining Wastes Waste from extractive operations (i.e. waste from extraction and processing of mineral resources). is one of the largest waste streams in the world. It involves materials that must be removed to gain access to the mineral resource, such as topsoil, overburden and waste rock, as well as tailings remaining after minerals have been largely extracted from the ore.
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Mining wastes Mine wastes: Open-pit mining Underground mining Mineral processing Hydrometallurgy Produces waste rock : either barren host rock (referred to as “spoils” in coal mining), or “ore” that is too low-grade, overburden soils and sands. Produces processed solid wastes that includes tailings and sludges with different physical and chemical properties. Tailings can be used as mining back-fill , but are generally contained on surface. Also produces mill-water and other processing waste-water also produced, as well as atmospheric emissions .
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Tailings the waste left after ore has been extracted from rock.
Tailings composition: Tailings consist of a liquid and solid component : generally about 20 – 40 weight percent solids (Robertson, 1994). The composition of both is highly site-specific , depending on the ore and gangue minerals and the nature of the water (fresh or saline) and processing chemicals used. Microsoft® Encarta® © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Mine Tailings Google.com
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Sulphidic Mine Wastes Sulphidic mine wastes: Sulphide wastes are the biggest problem on mines because of potential for generating acid mine waters
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Acid Mine Waters “ Acid mine drainage ” (AMD) refers to a particular process whereby low pH mine water is formed from the oxidation of sulphide minerals .
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Waste Rock Waste-rock disposal – rock dumps: “Waste-rock” is rock emerging from the mine that will not be processed further. It is either “ore” that is below the cut-off grade, or is simply the barren host-rock to the mineral deposit. Rock dumps contain an wide variety of different rocks and minerals that is site specific , depending on the nature of the ore deposit and the host-rock. If sulphide minerals are present in any of the rocks, there is the potential for acid mine drainage.
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Wastes on Air
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Environmental contamination and pollution as a result of improper mining, smelting and waste disposal practices has occurred, and still occur , around the world (Lottermoser, 2007).
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Health Concerns Human Eating Contaminated Fish
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Danger to the Environment
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