Abstract: 400 systems installed within 4 years During the last two decades, the United States mining industry has greatly increased the amount it spends on pollution control. The application of biotechnology to mine water can reduce the industry's water treatment costs (estimated at over a million dollars a day) and improve water quality in streams and rivers adversely affected by acidic mine water draining from abandoned mines. Biological treatment of mine waste water is typically conducted in a series of small excavated ponds that resemble, in a superficial way, a small marsh area. The ponds are engineered to first facilitate bacterial oxidation of iron; ideally, the water then flows through a composted organic substrate that supports a population of sulfate-reducing bacteria. The latter process raises the pH. During the past four years, over 400 wetland water treatment systems have been built on mined lands as a result of research by the U.S. Bureau of Mines. In general, mine operators find that the wetlands reduce chemical treatment costs enough to repay the cost of wetland construction in less than a year. Actual rates of iron removal at field sites have been used to develop empirical sizing criteria based on iron loading and pH. If the pH is 6 or above, the wetland area (in2) required is equivalent to the iron. load (grams/day) divided by 10. Theis requirement doubles at a pH of 4 to 5. At a pH below 4, the iron load (grams/day) should be divided by 2 to estimate the area required (in2).

Abstract: Where mining proceeds below the water-table-as it has extensively in Britain and elsewhere-water ingress is not only a hindrance during mineral extraction but also a potential liability after abandonment. This is because the cessation of dewatering that commonly follows mine closure leads to a rise in the water-table and associated, often rapid, changes in the chemical regime of the subsurface. Studies over the past two decades have provided insights into the nature and time-scales of these changes and provide a basis for rational planning of mine-water management during and after mine abandonment. The same insights into mine-water chemistry provide hints for the efficient remediation of pollution (typically due to Fe, Mn and Al and, in some cases, Zn, Cd, Pb and other metals). Intensive treatment (by chemical dosing with enhanced sedimentation or alternative processes, such as sulphidization or reverse osmosis) is often necessary only during the first few years following complete flooding of mine voids. Passive treatment (by the use of gravity-flow geochemical reactors and wetlands) may be both more cost-effective and ecologically more responsible in the long term. By the end of 1999 a total of 28 passive systems had been installed at United Kingdom mine sites, including examples of system types currently unique to the United Kingdom. Early performance data for all the systems are summarized and shown to demonstrate the efficacy of passive treatment when appropriately applied.