Waste Management in Mining Industry

Abstract

The modern mining industry is of considerable importance to the world economy as it provides a great diversity of minerals products for industrial and domestic consumption. The consequence of large scale mining and mineral processing industry is not only the large volume of material processed but also the large volumes of wastes produced. These wastes have major environmental and socio-economic impacts. Rehabilitation of mine sites is an integral part of modern mine planning, development and mine closure. Several issues have to be addressed in the successful rehabilitation of a mine site including removal of mine wastes, ensuring long-term stability of waste repositories, modeling of future water quality and quantity in abandoned quarries and underground workings, construction of suitable landforms, development of suitable plant growth medium, establishment of vegetation cover and addressing generic mine waste issues. Every mine has its own unique waste and they require proper characterization, monitoring, treatment and secure disposal.