Mell What are mine tailing piles?
Tailings are a type of rock waste from the mining industry. Once the ore has been stripped of its valuable minerals, sometimes through the addition of chemicals, it is piled up into tailings. Tailings can reach immense proportions, appearing in the form of large hills (or sometimes ponds) on the landscape.
What can mining tailings be used for?
Tailings ponds are used to store the waste made from separating minerals from rocks, or the slurry produced from tar sands mining. Tailings are sometimes mixed with other materials such as bentonite to form a thicker slurry that slows the release of impacted water to the environment.
How are tailings produced?
Tailings consist of ground rock and process effluents that are generated in a mine processing plant. Mechanical and chemical processes are used to extract the desired product from the run of the mine ore and produce a waste stream known as tailings.
What are tailings and slag?
Copper slag has a finer gradation and higher specific gravity than limestone filler due to relative higher oxides of iron [72]. Copper tailing is the waste rock remaining after ore has been processed to remove the copper. It is usually pulverized to the size of fine sand.
What are the three parts of Reclamation?
Some components of reclamation include practices that control erosion and sedimentation, stablize slopes, and avoid and repair impacts to wildlife habitat. The final step is usually topsoil replacement and revegetation with suitable plant species.
Why are tailing ponds bad?
Tailings ponds contain waste water from the extraction of bitumen from the oilsands. As well as water, they contain fine silt, residual bitumen, salts, organic compounds and solvents. They are considered toxic. Without being able to separate the water from the bad stuff, it’s difficult to reclaim the ponds.
Where does mining waste go?
By far, the major fraction of mining waste such as waste rock are disposed of in heaps (or piles) at the source. Coarse coal refuse is typically removed from the preparation plant and disposed of in large piles or banks.
What is mine waste called?
Tailings
Tailings are the waste materials left after the target mineral is extracted from ore.
Why are tailings so controversial?
Minerals are processed so we can gain access to the desired minerals. What are tailings and what are they so controversial? They lead to much of the pollution associated with mining. while the mines cause habitats to be temporary destroyed and miners can get lung diseases from breathing in mineral particles in the air.
What happens to tailings after mining is finished?
Because tailings originate in slurry form they are dumped in or near water, contaminating the water and destroying aquatic life. Tailings also can be transported by wind or water to contaminate other areas. Mine wastewater containing metals and chemicals can also leach into nearby waterways.
What is another word for reclamation?
In this page you can discover 16 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for reclamation, like: redemption, reformation, redevelopment, recovery, restoration, after-use, demolition, tailings, afforestation, recycling and improvement.
What are the tailings from nickel ore?
These tailings contain large amounts of pyrite (FeS 2) and Iron (II) sulfide (FeS), which are rejected from the sought-after ores of copper and nickel, as well as coal. Although harmless underground, these minerals are reactive toward air in the presence of microorganisms, which if not properly managed lead to acid mine drainage .
What are iron ore tailings?
Iron ore tailing—a waste material of mineral beneficiation plants, is used as a source of iron for synthesizing magnetite powder.
What is a tailings impoundment?
Tailing ponds are areas of refused mining tailings where the waterborne refuse material is pumped into a pond to allow the sedimentation (meaning separation) of solids from the water. The pond is generally impounded with a dam, and known as tailings impoundments or tailings dams.