MEB 4202

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING IN
MINING

LECTURE 3
Monitoring of Sulfidic Wastes
Monitoring of Sulfidic Wastes
 Monitoring is the process of routinely, systematically, and
purposefully gathering information for use in management-
decision making:-
 It characterizes environmental changes from mining
activities to assess conditions on the site and possible
impacts to receptors
 Monitoring includes both:-
 Observation (e.g., recording information about the
environment)
 Investigation (e.g., manipulative studies such as toxicity
tests where environmental conditions are controlled).
Monitoring of Sulfidic Wastes
Monitoring Components
ARD/AMD sources, pathways, and receptors
Source - Chemical Pathway – Physical Receptor – Biological

 Waste rock  Air  Aquatic life

 Tailings  Vadose zone  Terrestrial wildlife
 Ore stockpile  Groundwater  Vegetation
 Heap leach pile  Surface water-  Humans
 Underground sediment
workings (walls)
 Pit (walls)
ARD/AMD sources, pathways, and receptors
Common indicators of sulfide oxidation in the field :-
i. Abundant yellow to red staining on rocks and flocculants in seepage points,
streams and ponds due to the formation of secondary iron minerals and
colloids;
ii. Sulfurous odours;
iii. Unsuccessful colonization of waste materials by vegetation;
iv. Abundant mineral efflorescences within and on exposed waste materials;
v. Increasing magnetic susceptibility due to the abundance of magnetic
secondary iron oxides and carbonates;
vi. Increasing waste temperature due to exothermic pyrite oxidation;
vii. Decreasing oxygen concentration in pore gases due to oxygen
consumption;
viii. Decreasing pH, increasing EC, and increasing sulfate, metal (Cu, Zn etc)
and major cation (Na, K, Ca, Mg) concentrations in drainage waters with
time
Indicators vi - viii are commonly used to monitor sulfidic wastes
Monitoring Techniques
 The monitoring techniques are designed to identify the early
presence of, or the changes to, any products of the acid
producing reactions in sulfidic wastes.
 The products of the acid producing reactions are usually
quantified by one or more of the following parameters;
 Water analyses of:
 dissolved contaminant concentrations and loads
 Temperature profiles.
 Pyrite oxidation is an exothermic reaction, and the effects of heat
generation can be assessed by remote or in situ sensing.
 Oxygen concentration within gas pores
 Sulfide oxidation reactions in the unsaturated zone of sulfidic waste piles
and tailings are oxygen consuming.
 Hence, the depletion of oxygen within the gas phase can be indicative of
sulfide oxidation.
Monitoring Strategies
 An essential component of sulphidic waste management includes
 Background studies
 Classification of materials
 Point source monitoring
 Monitoring surface water and ground water in both up- and
down-stream gradients
 Monitoring of effectiveness of control measures
Environmental Mine Waste Management Strategies
Organizational Scheme

 The environmental mine waste management strategies

can generally be divided into three categories:
 Prevent: This deals with strategies intended to
prevent the generation of problematic drainages.
 Control: Strategies that control problematic
drainage in situ.
 Treatment: The existing problematic drainages
generally require treatment.
Environmental Mine Waste Management Strategies
Organizational Scheme
 Control of Sulfide Oxidation
 Uncontrolled sulfide oxidation can lead to the generation
of AMD/ARD.
 Hence prevention of generation of AMD needs
appropriate control strategies.
 Control Strategies require the exclusion of one or more
of the factors that cause and accompany oxidation, i.e:-
 Exclusion of water;
 Exclusion of oxygen;
 pH control;
 Control of Fe 3+ generation;
 Control of bacterial action;
 Removal and/or isolation of sulfide minerals.
Control techniques for AMD/ARD
 Note that control techniques are not yet proven to
securely prevent AMD development in the long term
due to Global climate change leading to changing
rainfall patterns and weathering processes at individual
mine sites
 Control techniques
i. Water covers,
ii.Dry covers
iii.Encapsulation, In-Pit Disposal and Mixing,
iv.Co-disposal and Blending,
v.Addition of Organic Wastes
vi.Bactericides
 1. Wet / Water covers
 Water cover systems are designed to chemically isolate reactive
mine wastes by inhibiting oxygen diffusion through a water
column (i.e. in a pit or lake) or through interstitial pore spaces (i.e.
in a tailings basin).
 This is due to the marginal solubility of oxygen in water.
 i.e. Water covers limit the exposure of Potentially Acid
Generating (PAG) materials to oxygen.
 Submerging sulfidic waste (i.e. tailings or waste rocks) under
water is an effective counter to acid generation:-
 The low solubility of oxygen in water
 The slow transport of oxygen in water (i.e. its diffusivity) also
reduces the transport of oxygen into a mass of sulfidic waste.
 1. Wet / Water covers, cont
 An anoxic environment is established in oxygen deficiency
environment, hence reducing rate of sulfide oxidation.
 The major concerns with subaqueous disposal are:
 to achieve stagnant anoxic conditions and
 to maintain complete and continuous water saturation.

Table: Oxygen solubility/concentration and diffusion coefficient in air and water at 25 oC

 The oxygen diffusion coefficient is four orders of magnitude slower in water than in air
Water Cover Processes
Two types of structures for water cover methods:-
 Natural water bodies or flooded mining voids
 Engineered tailings dams and manmade lakes.

Fig1: Wet/Water Cover Processes

 a). Subaqueous Disposal
Generally you need:
Sufficient depth of water over the PAG material to account for:-
 Mixing of the water column and
 To prevent re-suspension of wastes by wind or wave action.
Climate with a positive water balance,
Long-term physical stability of containment facilities and outlet structures
Designs must consider the potential for periods of extended drought and
exposure of previously saturated material

Fig. Subaqueous Tailings Disposal

b) Partial Water Cover
 The partial water cover concept involves an elevated water table
that maintains saturation throughout the bulk of the tailings profile
 The objective of the partial water cover is to minimize the higher
risk of structural failure associated with having a water cover and
pond adjacent to the embankment wall.

c) Wetland Covers
 A wetland cover includes soil, vegetation, and water overlying acid
generating wastes.
 Soil improves extreme climatic drying events and
 Vegetation helps prevents erosion.
 Water limits oxygen ingress and
 Plants offer passive treatment opportunities
2. Dry covers
 Capping the sulfidic wastes with a thick layer of solid material is
another effective counter to acid generation.
 Dry covers are typically earthen, organic, or synthetic materials
placed over the reactive mine wastes.

Simplified cross-section of
sulfidic waste rock dump with
a dry cover
2. Dry covers, cont.
 Dry covers reduce the oxygen flux and water flow into the
underlying sulfidic waste.
 By limiting the amount of oxygen entering the waste, the
oxidation reaction can be slowed .
 Likewise, by reducing the flow of water into the waste rock,
the quantity of contaminated drainage can be reduced

 Dry covers are constructed from low hydraulic conductivity

solids materials, such as:
 low-sulfide waste rock, oxide waste,
 clay subsoils, soils,
 organic wastes, and
 neutralizing materials (e.g. limestone, lime, dolomite, brucite,
kiln dust)
2. Dry covers, cont.
 Dry covers range from simple clay barriers to complex,
composite covers (with a number of layers).
 In the long term, dry cover systems must interact with climate,
hydrology, human activity, vegetation, animals, and settlement of
underlying material
 Depending on the prevailing climate, dry covers designs are
categorized as (For multi-layer cover):
 Unsaturated covers: maximize run-off
 Saturated covers: Store relatively large volumes of
infiltrating water for long periods of time
 Store-and-release covers: Store relatively large volumes of
infiltrating water for short periods of time.
2. Dry covers, cont.
Unsaturated covers:
The covers are designed to maximize rainfall run-off and to
minimize water infiltration and oxygen diffusion into the waste
through water diversion, run-off and shedding.
Best suited in areas where evaporation exceeds rainfall (semi-
arid to arid).
 It is difficult to maintain saturation in dry climates where the
potential evapotranspiration ratio is greater than 1.0
2. Dry covers, cont.
Saturated covers:
Best suited in areas with wet climate.
Water saturated covers prevent infiltration of oxygen to
potentially acid generating materials.
A good saturated cover promotes run-off and maintains a high
degree of water saturation within the sandy clay layer
Transport of oxygen in the pores of this saturated layer is then
governed by the low solubility and slow transport of oxygen in
water rather than air
2. Dry covers, cont.

Store-and-release covers :
These are suitable for climates with distinctly seasonal rainfall.
The covers are designed to store water (moisture) in an upper
cover layer during higher precipitation periods and releasing
moisture via evapotranspiration in dryer periods.
Percolation of water into the waste is limited because the
majority of the stored water is removed through evapotranspiration.
Vegetation plays a
significant role in using
and pumping water
from these covers.
 2. Dry covers, cont.

 Dry covers are divided into the following categories:

 soil covers
 alkaline covers
 organic covers (component of a multi-layer soil cover)
 covers of sulphide-bearing but net neutralizing
materials and
 synthetic covers (component of a multi-layer soil cover)
 Gas barriers
 Vegetation and landform
 2. Dry covers, cont.

a) Soil Covers:- Generally involve the use of granular earthen

materials placed over mine wastes.

 Key factors to consider in the design of a soil cover include:

The climate regime at the site
The reactivity and texture of the mine waste material
The geotechnical, hydrologic, and durability properties of
economically available cover materials
The hydrogeologic setting of the waste storage facility
Long-term erosion, weathering, and evolution of the cover
system
 2. Dry covers, cont.
a) Soil Covers, cont.:-
Limitations of Soil Covers
 Soil covers do not stop infiltration and may not stop acid drainage.
 Permeability of water infiltration barriers may increase with time
when subjected to climate and vegetation.
 Oxygen barrier covers are especially vulnerable to relatively small
imperfections in the cover – such as differential settlement, holes
caused by animal burrows, desiccation cracking, – that effectively
render permeable an otherwise sealed area.
 Soil covers may be prone to erosion and long-term maintenance
requirements
 Soil covers may be vulnerable to vegetation, animal, and human
activity including vehicle traffic
 2. Dry covers, cont.
a) Soil Covers, cont.:-
Conceptual Illustration of Processes Affecting Long-Term Performance of Soil
Covers

b) Alkaline Covers:- Alkaline cover materials, such as limestone,

placed over PAG materials can increase alkalinity of infiltration,
thereby providing pH control.
 2. Dry covers, cont.
c) Organic Covers:- Organic materials can be used to cover PAG
wastes to provide some or all of following:-
 A saturated layer that serves as a physical barrier to oxygen
 An oxygen consuming layer – (Decomposition of organic material
may create a large biological oxygen demand)
 Chemical inhibition – (Decomposition products and compounds
within the organic material may inhibit the growth and
metabolism of acidifying bacteria)
 Chemical amelioration – (Organic compounds may create
conditions that support the reductive dissolution of iron oxides
and subsequent precipitation in the form of sulphides thus
reducing acid production by ferric iron
 A carbon source for sulphate reducing bacteria
 Limitation of water infiltration by lowering hydraulic
conductivity
 2. Dry covers, cont.
d) Synthetic Covers:-
Use of synthetic materials to cover wastes and can dramatically
reduce infiltration.
Synthetics include different
 Types of plastics:-
 polyethylene (PE),
 high density polyethylene (HDPE),
 chlorinated polyethylene (CPE),
 chlorosulphonated polyethylene (DuPont trade mark
HYPALON),
 polyvinyl chloride (PVC),
 linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE),
 geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs), and
 Geomembranes impregnated with bitumen
 2. Dry covers, cont.
d) Synthetic Covers, cont:-
Advantages and Disadvantages of Synthetic Covers

Advantages Disadvantages
Low permeability  High cost
■ Easy to install  Possible limited design life - on the order of 50 to
■ Resistant to chemical 100 years
and bacterial attack  Requires proper bedding and protective cover
 Geotechnical stability concerns for steep slope
applications
 Vulnerabilities include:
 Sun light
 Puncture by surface traffic
 Cracking and creasing
 Degradation due to low acidity conditions /
cation exchange
 for geosynthetic clay liner (GCLs)
2. Dry covers, cont.

e) Covers of Sulphide-bearing but Net Neutralizing Materials

Mineral wastes that contain sulphides, but which have an
excess of neutralizing potential, can be used for covers that will
consume oxygen but not contribute to ARD generation

f) Gas Barriers:-
 Flooding of underground mine workings with
deoxygenated air (e.g., nitrogen) could prevent ARD.
 This applications are relatively rare.
2. Dry covers, cont.

g) Vegetation:
The purpose of the vegetative cover may include:
 erosion control,
 enhancement of evapotranspiration as part of a
store and release cover system,
 re-establishment of sustainable ecosystems,
and
 satisfaction of requirements for post-closure
land use, including regulatory requirements and
visual appeal.
 Performance Monitoring of Dry Cover Systems
 Historically, dry cover system performance was evaluated by
water quality analyses of seepage discharged from the waste
storage facility.
 This approach empirically describes a waste storage facility
through monitoring of its cumulative effect at the base.
 For sites actively generating ARD, monitoring gaseous oxygen
and temperature profiles can also serve as a tool for the
evaluation of cover system performance because the profiles
indicate the internal behaviour of the waste storage facility.
 Although these monitoring techniques have their merits, it may take tens of
years before a considerable change is measured inside or downstream of the
waste storage facility due to the drain-down effect and complete oxidation of
sulphidic minerals.
Performance Monitoring of Dry Cover Systems, cont.
 Direct measurement of field performance is the state-of-the-
art methodology for measuring performance of a cover system.
 In terms of a field test plot trial scale, cover system field
performance monitoring systems should be designed to measure
most of the components of the water balance as well as oxygen
ingress rates.
 This includes:
 meteorological monitoring,
 monitoring of moisture storage changes, and
 monitoring of net percolation, surface runoff, erosion, and
vegetation
Performance Monitoring of Dry Cover Systems, cont.

Fig: Conceptual Schematic of the Components of a Field Performance

Monitoring System
3. Encapsulation and Layering
 Involves placing acid producing and acid consuming materials (typically waste
rock) in geometries designed to control or limit ARD
 Potentially acid generating material is enclosed in non-reactive benign material
such as oxide waste or even neutralizing material
 The disposal practice may utilize the buffering capacity of any benign waste to
control acid production
a) Encapsulation method b) in-pit disposal method e.g.
backfilling of waste into open pits

c) Mixing highly sulfidic and benign wastes

represents an additional disposal option
4. Blending
 This is the mixing of waste rock types of varying acid generation
and neutralization potential to create a deposit that generates a
discharge of acceptable quality.
 The effectiveness of blending as an option depends on:-
 The general stoichiometric balance between acid producing
and acid neutralizing materials,
 Geochemical properties and reactivity of waste rock types,
 flow pathways created within the deposit, and
 The extent of mixing and method of blending i.e .
Homogeneous and thorough mixing.
5. Co-disposal
 Co-disposal simply refers to the combining of tailings and waste
rock prior to disposal.
 i.e. Mixing of coarse-grained waste rock with fine-grained
tailings or coal washery wastes i.e. disposal of waste rock
with tailings
 The primary goal of co-disposal is to exploit the hydraulic
properties of fine-grained materials (i.e. tailings) to limit exposure
of mine waste materials to oxygen.
 This is accomplished by mixing tailings and waste rock prior
to disposal.
5. Co-disposal, cont.
 The high moisture-retention capacity of the tailings creates
saturated conditions throughout the deposit.
 Since oxygen diffuses more slowly through water than air,
the rate of sulfide oxidation is minimized
 For ideal mixing, the void space of waste rock particles are filled
with finer tailings particles which typically have a higher moisture
content, thereby:-
 Limiting the transport of oxygen and water relative to
deposits of waste rock alone
 Altering the hydraulic properties of the wastes
5. Co-disposal, cont.
Additional benefits of co-disposal include:
 short-term control as reactive wastes are disposed,
 increased physical stability of the deposit due to waste rock
sheer strength,
 increased density within the deposit,
 increased water recovery from tailings,
 relatively high surface area associated with fine-grained
material increases potential for adsorptive trace metal
removal,
 certain fine-grained waste materials (e.g. taconite tailings)
may contain acid neutralizing minerals, and
 reduced land development, disposal, and reclamation costs.
6. Addition of Organic Wastes
 The organic wastes can be used as amendments to create
reactive, low permeability biomass surfaces.
 The wastes inhibit pyrite oxidation via various mechanisms:-
 Alkaline organic wastes provide a pH buffer and use up
oxygen during their degradation.
 Dissolved organic compounds form stable iron-organic
complexes or combine with iron to form stable precipitates,
limiting the availability of iron as an oxidizing agent
 Organic compounds are adsorbed on pyrite surfaces,
preventing oxidation
7. Bactericides
 Certain bacteria are known to increase the rate of pyrite
oxidation.
 Antibacterial agents (bactericides) can inhibit the growth of
these microorganisms
 Examples of bactericides
 anionic surfactants,
 cleaning detergents,
 organic acids,
 food preservatives
End