An integrated approach to AMD mitigation through sulfide removal from tailings

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-73). === The formation of acid mine drainage (AMD) from the microbial oxidation of sulfides in mineral waste deposits is one of the major challenges facing the mining industry worldwide. Growing environmental awareness and subsequent changes in legislat...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hesketh, Alexander H
Other Authors: Broadhurst, Jennifer Lee
Format: Dissertation
Language:English
Published: University of Cape Town 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11427/11280
Description
Summary:Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-73). === The formation of acid mine drainage (AMD) from the microbial oxidation of sulfides in mineral waste deposits is one of the major challenges facing the mining industry worldwide. Growing environmental awareness and subsequent changes in legislation has focused research in addressing the prevention of pollution by AMD. Current waste management approaches focus on deposition techniques to control AMD formation and on remediation. However, these approaches do not remove the risk of AMD generationand are yet to be proven effective in mitigating long-term acid generating potential. Incompliance with the principles of pollution prevention, addressing waste at its source,the aim of this work is to remove the risk of AMD generation by focusing on theremoval of sulfides from potentially acid generating tailings prior to disposal.