High-value metals make the modern world go round, but the way we extract and dispose of them is far from sustainable. The domestication of metal-mining microbes could be an elegant and lucrative alternative.
The devastating effects of mine wastewater are regrettably obvious: polluted rivers and streams, dead aquatic life and countless hardships for downstream populations. Mining companies are under increasing pressure to contain, control and clear up contaminated water from their operations.
We are using our multidisciplinary expertise in environmental monitoring and management to minimise impacts from mining; developing new technologies and approaches for mine remediation and rehabilitation and filling knowledge gaps to ensure a sustainable positive legacy for the industry and surrounding communities.
Growing social awareness of the need to adequately treat mining waste in order to protect the environment has led to an increase in the research in this field. The aim of this study was to analyze the dynamics of the research focused on mining waste and its sustainable management on a worldwide scale from 1988 to 2017.
Cornwall has a lot of historic mine wastes, a source of pollution. Chris cultivates bacterial micro-organisms to recover metals from mine by-products, reducing pollution risk and value for mining companies.
Dr. Nadia Mykytczuk, the NOHFC research chair in Biomining, Bioremediation and Science Communication and her team are researching ways to use microbes to clean old mine sites and extract metals from those sites.
Can mining waste become a new resource? In #Horizon2020NEMO, innovative pilots for the valorization of sulphidic mining waste are upscaled.
The storage, disposal and reprocessing of tailings and mine waste can be a significant challenge for mine operators. Through the Weir Technical Centre in Melbourne, Australia, Weir Minerals works with customers to develop tailings processing and disposal methods that are safer for people and the environment.
A central element of mining's future is technology, be it those ideas which keep miners safe, keep mining equipment moving in the most optimised manner, new ideas that will keep commodities moving from pit to port, or that reduce or even eliminate the ecological impact of the industry.
Biomining is the kind of technique promised by science fiction: a vast tank filled with microorganisms that leach metal from ore, old mobile phones and hard drives.
Hazardous materials management is one of 17 themes in the Leading Practice Sustainable Development Program for the Mining Industry. The program aims to identify the key issues affecting sustainable development in the mining industry and to provide information that identifies sustainable approaches for the industry.
VCL has worked with CSIRO since 2008 to provide long term solutions for the remediation and neutralisation of above and below surface acidic and contaminated geochemically-complex wastewaters from mining and industry to a quality suitable for reuse or for discharge into the natural environment.