The Reprocessing and Revalorization of Critical Minerals in Mine Tailings

Mine tailings, the byproduct of mining and mineral processing, are increasingly mass produced as a result of increased demand for metals and minerals as well as the advancement in technology that allows for the exploitation of lower-grade ores. Lower grades can increase the volume of tailings that may contain new gangue …

About – Critical Metals in Copper Mine Tailings

Since every ton of copper produced requires mining and processing roughly 250 tons of rock, the past century of major mining has generated an estimated 17.5 B tons of tailings (i.e., nearly 10 cubic km of finely ground, copper-depleted waste rock), with upwards of 200 M tons now added annually and more to come as more copper is mined.

Arizona toxic releases soar, led by copper mines, smelter, …

A Green Valley resident said tailings dust that fell in 2018 resembled "a light dusting of snow." In addition to a $230,000 settlement, Freeport McMoRan said it spent $300,000 for cleanup.

Phytostabilization mitigates antibiotic resistance gene …

To narrow this knowledge gap, we implemented a phytostabilization project in an acidic copper mine tailings pond and employed metagenomics to explore ARG characteristics in the soil samples. Our results showed that phytostabilization decreased the total ARG abundance in 0–10 cm soil layer by 75 %, which was companied by a …

Finding New Life for Tailings: Sustainable Technology for …

Mining tailings refer to the residual materials produced during the process of extracting valuable minerals and metals from mined ore in a minerals separation process. Typically, tailings comprise a liquid slurry composed of fine mineral particles. ... However, also copper and zinc can bring additional revenues to the project. Differentiating ...

Socio-Environmental Risks Linked with Mine Tailings …

There is a need to define mine tailings in a clear, precise, multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and holistic manner, considering not only geotechnical and hydraulic concepts but also integrating environmental and geochemical aspects with implications for the sustainability of mining. This article corresponds to an independent study that …

Copper Mining and Processing: Processing Copper Ores

Copper processing is a complicated process that begins with mining of the ore (less than 1% copper) and ends with sheets of 99.99% pure copper called cathodes, which will ultimately be made into products for everyday use.The most common types of ore, copper oxide and copper sulfide, undergo two different processes, hydrometallurgy and …

Recycling and Reuse of Mine Tailings: A Review of …

Mining is an important industry, accounting for 6.9% of global GDP. However, global development promotes accelerated demand, resulting in the accumulation of hazardous waste in land, sea, and air environments. It reached 7 billion tonnes of mine tailings generated yearly worldwide, and 19 billion solid tailings will be accumulated by …

Toward sustainable reprocessing and valorization of sulfidic copper …

Future copper needs and hence, mining activities will determine the future availability of copper tailings and reprocessing potential. Three scenarios for 2050 are explored based on projected, prospective dynamic material flow analysis linked with resource scenarios of the previous studies by Ciacci et al. (2020) and Elshkaki et al. …

MANAGEMENT OF TAILINGS: PAST, PRESENT AND …

most readily achieved in new mining projects and hence change in tailings management for the mining industry as a whole will be generational. For context, this chapter first describes conventional tailings management, arguing that applying NPV accounting to tailings management supports the transportation of tailings as a slurry to a facility, with

Mine tailings reuse is focus of $3.6M Arizona Regents grant

Researchers at Arizona's three universities will explore ways to repurpose billions of tons of copper mine tailings under a $3.6 million grant approved by the Arizona Board of Regents.

Australia maps all of its tailings dams

A new Atlas of Australian Mine Waste aims to provide industry with opportunities to extract critical metals from previously mined rock. ... cobalt in the tailings of old copper mines." ...

New approaches for extracting and recovering metals from mine tailings

Mineral tailings from two copper mines were bioleached under different conditions. • Greatest copper extraction was achieved at extremely low pH, at 45 °C and under oxidative/reductive conditions.. Copper present in tailings PLS was selectively precipitated as CuS by biogenic H 2 S.. Microbial communities were dominated by Sb. …

A review of circular economy strategies for mine tailings

Only a limited number of studies have discussed mine tailings utilization as a means to replace cement in concrete. Kundu et al. (2016) show preliminary experiments of substituting cement with copper mine tailings percentages ranging from 0 to 50%. They concluded that a moderate use of mine tailings can be possible as SCMs but further ...

Geochemistry of a copper mine tailings deposit in Repparfjorden

Within copper mining and extraction, the resulting tailings usually account for a high proportion (up to 99%) of the mined ore (IIED, 2002). Submarine tailing disposal is considered to be a viable option as the tailings are not visible on land, may be more stable on the ocean floor and are less likely to oxidize in the submarine environment.

Evaluation of heavy metal contamination in copper mine …

An investigation of concentrations of copper, cobalt and cadmium minerals in soils and mango fruits growing on Konkola copper mine tailings dam in Chingola, …

Process effluents and mine tailings: sources, effects and

Increasing population levels, growing economies, rapid urbanization and changes in consumption patterns have increased the demand for raw materials such as …

Flotation Tailings from Cu-Au Mining (Bor, Serbia) as a …

Copper is one of the most important base metals and is widely used in industry. In the Earth's crust, copper is most often present in the form of copper–iron-sulfide and copper sulfide, such as the minerals chalcopyrite (CuFeS 2) and chalcocite (Cu 2 S). About 80% of copper ore originates from Cu-Fe-S minerals, primarily chalcopyrite as the most …

The chemistry and toxicity of discharge waters from copper …

Copper mining generates large quantities of waste, tailings, and acid outflows causing long-term environmental impacts and potential threats to human …

TENORM: Copper Mining and Production Wastes | US EPA

There is a broad range of TENORM concentrations in copper mining wastes. Mining and extraction of copper by surface or underground methods can concentrate and expose radionuclides in the waste rock and tailings tailingsThe remaining portion of a metal-bearing ore after some or all of a metal, such as uranium, has been …

Past, Present, and Future of Copper Mine Tailings …

Copper mine tailings consist of a slurry of ground rock (considering different metals), water, and chemical reagents that remain after metallurgical processing. The …

Turning the Tide on Tailings: Creating Opportunities Rather …

E&MJ explores new ways of managing mine tailings ... The first project involves testing the application of a large-volume filtration unit at a BHP copper mine in Chile which will remove up to 80% of the water in the tailings stream before it's deposited in a TSF. When the partnership was announced, manufacture of the filter unit was underway ...

Frontiers | Heavy metal pollution and risk assessment of tailings …

The low-grade copper sulfide mine tailings was found to be acidic with a pH of 4.5. Cation exchange capacity was determined to be 13.1 cmol/kg. The d 10, d 50, and d 90 values of the tailings particle sizes were 1.61, 16.18, and 72.4 μm, respectively. According to the particle size distribution results, it can be seen that the permeability of ...

Towards mine tailings valorization: Recovery of

In copper mining, tailings can account for 95–99% of crushed and ground ores (Edraki et al., 2014). Worldwide, mine tailings are produced at a rate of anywhere from five to fourteen billion tons per year (Adiansyah et al., 2015; Edraki et al., 2014; berger, 2016).

Copper Tailing

As copper tailings appear in ground form, the grading of copper tailings reported by Gupta and Thomas (2013) and Nitish et al. (2013) has a sizeable silt fraction of 0.06–0.002 mm. Copper tailings are considered to be finer than CS, which usually has a dominant sand …

Retreatability analysis of the Musina copper mine tailings …

Mining the tailings for copper could offer a self-funding option that has the potential to complete proper rehabilitation. The main risk is associated with the possible inhalation or ingestion of dust, and any remediation of the tailings dumps and rock dumps should include stabilising the surface (e.g. by using vegetation). ...

Copper tailings production worldwide | Statista

In 2018, the global tailings production from copper mining reached 3.44 billion metric tons, up from 3.34 billion metric tons in 2016.

CHAPTER II MINE TAILINGS 4 FACILITIES: OVERVIEW 3 2 …

Ore material Water The milling process requires. of4 188 million 5 300 million. water (some of the water is reused in thetonnes tonnes milling process).End result: 20,1 million …

Environmentally sustainable mining: The case of tailings …

The technical and socio-political causes of mine Tailings Storage Facilities (TSF) disasters are examined. ... The Ok Tedi is an open pit copper and gold mine in Papua New Guinea (PNG) developed from the early1980s by a consortium headed by the Australian firm, BHP Billiton. It cost about US$1.4 billion to develop the mine which sits …

Treasure from trash: how mining waste can be mined a …

For example, the historic Baal Gammon mine in northern Queensland once produced copper, ... Overseas, mine tailings reprocessing projects are planned as far afield as South Africa and Bolivia.