Mine Water

Nowhere is the conflict between economic progress and environmental quality more apparent than in the mineral extraction industries. The latter half of the 20th century saw major advances in the reclamation technologies. However, mine water pollution problems have not been addressed. In many cases, polluted mine water long outlives the life of the mining operation. As the true cost of long-term water treatment responsibilities has become apparent, interest has grown in the technologies that would decrease the production of contaminated water and make its treatment less costly. This is the first book to address the mine water issue head-on. The authors explain the complexities of mine water pollution by reviewing the hydrogeological context of its formation, and provide an up-to-date presentation of prevention and treatment technologies. The book will be a valuable reference for all professionals who encounter polluted mine water on a regular or occasional basis.

From the reviews:

"I would recommend that all scientists, mining engineers and students who are involved in mine water work buy "Mine Water" by Younger et al., for it provides a one stop shop on issues of characterisation and remediation."
(Mine Water and the Environment, 21)
"Throughout this work, there is a consistent integration of engineering, chemistry, and microbiology. This comprehensive book is thoroughly researched and well written overall. There are clear and abundant schematics and many useful tables and graphs... This would also be an extremely useful textbook for students of mining engineering or mine reclamation."
(Journal of Environmental Quality, 32 (March-April 2003)

"This book introduces a synopsis of global mining techniques and follows with a comprehensive analysis of the impact of mine water by characterizing it from chemical and physical perspectives. The authors, recognized leaders in the field of mine water treatment, are successful in relating this information from a multidisciplinary perspective. The engineering processes and physics and chemistry of mine wastes and remediation technologies are well documented throughout the text." (Aisling D. O'Sullivan, Ecological Engineering, Vol. 25, 2005)

Contenu
One Mining and the Water Environment.- 1.1 Mining, society and the environment.- 1.2 Scope of this book.- 1.3 Overview of mining and mine wastes.- 1.4 Impacts of mining and mine waters on the water environment and infrastructure.- 1.5 Summary.- Two Mine Water Chemistry.- 2.1 Sources of mine water contaminants and their natural attenuation.- 2.2 Acidity, alkalinity and pH.- 2.3 Assessing contamination loads.- 2.4 The geochemistry of metal ions in aquatic environments.- Three Mine Water Hydrology.- 3.1 Hydrology and mining.- 3.2 Issues and processes in mine water hydrology.- 3.3 Mass continuity and hydrological fluxes.- 3.4 Hydrometry in mining environments.- 3.5 Physical impacts of mineral extraction on natural hydrological systems.- 3.6 Water inflows to active workings.- 3.7 Dewatering techniques and their design.- 3.8 Environmental impacts of dewatering and their mitigation.- 3.9 Hydrological behaviour of waste rock piles, backfill and tailings dams.- 3.10 Mine abandonment and reboundprocesses.- 3.11 Abandoned mine hydrology after rebound is complete.- 3.12 Hydrological interventions in mine water remediation.- Four Active Treatment of Polluted Mine Waters.- 4.1 What is active treatment?.- 4.2 Oxidation, dosing with alkali and sedimentation (ODAS).- 4.3 Sulfidization and biodesalination.- 4.4 Sorption and ion exchange.- Five Passive Treatment of Polluted Mine Waters.- 5.1 What is passive treatment?.- 5.2 A brief history of passive mine water treatment.- 5.3 Chemical and microbial basis for passive treatment.- 5.4 Passive treatment technologies.- 5.5 Passive treatment process selection and staging.- Appendix I Glossary of mining and related terms relevant to mine water science and engineering.- References.