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Wiseman, I. M., Rutt, G. P., & Edwards, P. J. (2004). Constructed wetlands for minewater treatment: Environmental benefits and ecological recovery. Water and Environment Journal, 18(3), 133–138.
Abstract: The ecology of the River Pelenna (in South Wales) was impoverished by polluted discharges from abandoned coal mines. A series of passive constructed wetlands was created in order to treat these discharges and to improve the ecology of the river. A three-year Environment Agency R&D project investigated the performance, environmental benefits and sustainability of the constructed wetlands. It showed that the treatment systems were removing most of the iron contamination. In the reaches downstream from the minewaters, the dissolved-iron concentration quickly dropped below the target level. Invertebrate abundance, trout and riverine bird populations increased in following years. However, occasional overflows from the systems have significantly affected the ecology of one stretch of river The research work has provided an insight into the potential for ecological recovery associated with future minewater treatment.
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Ueki, K., Kotaka, K., Itoh, K., & Ueki, A. (1988). Potential availability of anaerobic treatment with digester slurry of animal waste for the reclamation of acid mine water containing sulfate and heavy metals. Journal of Fermentation Technology, 66(1).
Abstract: The use of an anaerobic digester slurry of cattle waste for the reclamation of acid mine water was examined. When the digester slurry was mixed with acid mine water, anaerobic digestion, including sulfate reduction and methanogenesis, was enhanced. In the mixture of acid mine water and the digester slurry, sulfate reduction proceeded without diminishing methanogenesis. The digester slurry and its supernatant (SDF-sup) showed a significant capacity to act as a strong alkaline reagent, and the pH of the acid mine water was markedly elevated by the addition of the digester slurry of SDF-sup even at the low ratio of 1% (v/v). Precipitation of heavy metals in the acid mine water occurred as the pH was elevated by the addition of SDF-sup. When the digester slurry was added at the ratio of 5% (v/v) to acid mine water which had been pretreated with SDF-sup, the rate of sulfate reduction increased with increasing the concentration of sulfate in the mixture up to about 1,400 mg·l-1. In acid mine water pretreated with SDF-sup and supplemented with the digester slurry at the ratio of 5% (v/v), the maximum amount of sulfate reduced within 20 d of incubation was about 1,000 mg·l-1, and the maximum rate of sulfate reduction was about 120 mg SO42-·l-1·d-1.
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Dugan, P. R. (1987). Prevention of formation of acid drainage from high-sulfur coal refuse by inhibition of iron- and sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms. II. Inhibition in run of mine refuse under simulated field conditions. Biotechnol. Bioeng., 29(1), 6.
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Oleary, W. (1996). Wastewater recycling and environmental constraints at a base metal mine and process facilities. Water Sci. Technol., 33(10-11), 371–379.
Abstract: In temperate areas of abundant freshwater there is seldom an urgency to recycle. The statutory protection of inland waters for beneficial uses such as drinking, food processing and game fishing is requiring industries to choose recycling. A European success in this trend is a base metal mining/milling industry which, since 1977, is implementing hydraulic, hydrological, treatment and ecological studies with wastewaters and mine tailings. A model activity, located 50 km from Dublin is considered. Zinc and lead concentrates produced and exported to smelters ultimately yield approximately 194,000 t and 54,000 t of these respective metals (32 and 21 percent of European production). Water use as originally planned would have been approximately 6m(3)/t of ore milled. While ore milling increased by 25 percent to 8,500t/d in 1993, water use declined by 33 percent to 4m(3)/t. The components making up this reduction range from milling technology efficiency to greater recycling from the 165 ha tailings pond. Environmental standards, based on framework regulations originating in EU Directives, have been instrumental in achieving wastewater savings. A conclusion is the value of integrating water quantity, quality, recycling, storage, production and other factors early in project planning. Copyright (C) 1996 IAWQ. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
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Al, T. A. (1996). Storm-water hydrograph separation of run off from a mine-tailings impoundment formed by thickened tailings discharge at Kidd Creek, Timmins, Ontario. Journal of Hydrology, 180(1-4), 55–78.
Abstract: The Kidd Creek Cu-Zn sulphide mine is located near Timmins, Ontario. Mill tailings are thickened and deposited as a thickened slurry in a circular, conical-shaped pile with an area of approximately 1200 ha. Deposition of tailings as a thickened slurry results in a relatively uniform grain-size distribution and hydraulic conductivity, and a thick tension-saturated zone above the water table. The tailings are drained by numerous small, ephemeral stream channels, which have developed in a radial pattern. During storms, water from these streams collects in catchment ponds where it is held before treatment. The contribution of tailings pore water to the run off is of interest because of the potential for discharge of pore water containing high concentrations of Fe(II)-acidity, metals and SO4 to the stream. Hydraulic head measurements, measurements of water-table elevation and groundwater how modelling were conducted to determine the mechanisms responsible for tailings pore water entering the surface streams. Chemical hydrograph separation of storm run off in one of these streams, during three rainfall events, using Na and Cl as conservative tracers, indicates that the integrated tailings pore water fraction makes up between less than 1% and 20% of the total hydrograph. This range is less than the maximum fraction of tailings pore water of 22-65% reported for run off from a conventional tailings deposit. At this site, preferential flow through permeable fractures may be the dominant mechanism causing discharge of tailings pore water to storm run off. Estimates of the mass of Fe(II) that discharges to the surface run off from the pore water range up to 2800 mg s(-1) during a moderate intensity, long duration rainfall event. The greatest potential for discharge of significant masses of solutes derived from the pore water exists during long duration rainfall events, when the water table rises to the surface over large areas of the tailings impoundment.
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