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WHAT INNOVATIVE APPROACHES CAN BE DEVELOPED FOR MINING SITES?
Citation:
BATES, E. R., D. R. BLESS, D. J. REISMAN, AND T. L. RICHARDSON. WHAT INNOVATIVE APPROACHES CAN BE DEVELOPED FOR MINING SITES? Presented at Board of Scientific Counselor's (BOSC) Review, CINCINNATI, OH, December 13 - 15, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public
Description:
Mining is essential to maintain our way of life. However, based upon industry's reporting in the most recent Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), the primary sources of heavy metal releases to the environment are mining and mining related activities. The hard rock mining industry released 3.5 billion pounds of toxic pollution in 1998, almost half of all toxic pollution released that year in the United States. In addition, more than 600,000 mines, many of which are abandoned, have polluted approximately 180,000 acres of reservoirs and lakes and 12,000 miles of streams with acid and toxic metals. Currently available technology has been successfully used to reduce and treat impacts from large, active mines and a few abandoned, but is cost prohibitive for the application to the tens of thousands of abandoned mines that continue to discharge toxic metals and acid. The Mine Waste Technology Program, the Superfund Program, including the Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program, the Engineering Technical Support Center contribute to the development, evaluation, and deployment of the technologies that provide lower cost, often passive or semi-passive, innovative solutions to successfully treat and control mine wastes. In addition, collaborative efforts with other government, universities, and the private sector are also necessary to address such a huge problem. Several projects that have yielded successful results are summarized on the poster.