Mine Waste Rock: Insights for Sustainable Hydrogeochemical Management
1
Department of Geological Sciences & Geological Engineering, Queen’s University, 36 Union St W, Kingston, ON K7N1A1, Canada
2
Institut de Recherche en Mines et en Environnement, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue. 445 boulevard de l’Université, Rouyn-Noranda, QC J9X 5E4, Canada
3
MINES ParisTech, PSL University, Centre de Géosciences, 35 rue St Honoré, 77300 Fontainebleau, France
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Minerals 2020, 10(9), 728; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10090728
Received: 7 July 2020 / Revised: 16 August 2020 / Accepted: 17 August 2020 / Published: 19 August 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel and Emerging Strategies for Sustainable Mine Tailings and Acid Mine Drainage Management)
Mismanagement of mine waste rock can mobilize acidity, metal (loid)s, and other contaminants, and thereby negatively affect downstream environments. Hence, strategic long-term planning is required to prevent and mitigate deleterious environmental impacts. Technical frameworks to support waste-rock management have existed for decades and typically combine static and kinetic testing, field-scale experiments, and sometimes reactive-transport models. Yet, the design and implementation of robust long-term solutions remains challenging to date, due to site-specificity in the generated waste rock and local weathering conditions, physicochemical heterogeneity in large-scale systems, and the intricate coupling between chemical kinetics and mass- and heat-transfer processes. This work reviews recent advances in our understanding of the hydrogeochemical behavior of mine waste rock, including improved laboratory testing procedures, innovative analytical techniques, multi-scale field investigations, and reactive-transport modeling. Remaining knowledge-gaps pertaining to the processes involved in mine waste weathering and their parameterization are identified. Practical and sustainable waste-rock management decisions can to a large extent be informed by evidence-based simplification of complex waste-rock systems and through targeted quantification of a limited number of physicochemical parameters. Future research on the key (bio)geochemical processes and transport dynamics in waste-rock piles is essential to further optimize management and minimize potential negative environmental impacts.
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Keywords:
mine waste; drainage; water quality; geochemistry; hydrogeology; modelling
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MDPI and ACS Style
Vriens, B.; Plante, B.; Seigneur, N.; Jamieson, H. Mine Waste Rock: Insights for Sustainable Hydrogeochemical Management. Minerals 2020, 10, 728. https://doi.org/10.3390/min10090728
AMA Style
Vriens B, Plante B, Seigneur N, Jamieson H. Mine Waste Rock: Insights for Sustainable Hydrogeochemical Management. Minerals. 2020; 10(9):728. https://doi.org/10.3390/min10090728
Chicago/Turabian StyleVriens, Bas; Plante, Benoît; Seigneur, Nicolas; Jamieson, Heather. 2020. "Mine Waste Rock: Insights for Sustainable Hydrogeochemical Management" Minerals 10, no. 9: 728. https://doi.org/10.3390/min10090728
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