Environmental Aspects of Mining

Understanding water quality associated with mining operations is critically dependent on knowing the water balance of the mines, mine dumps, and tailings facilities. Pit lakes are of particular concern due to their threat to avian populations and possible infiltration to groundwater. Understanding the long-term water stability was the subject of a recent paper published in Mining Engineering.

2009 article in Mining Engineering

Water that infiltrates the land surface interacts with sulfides (in either original bedrock or mining waste) to produce low pH water that has significant impact on regional surface and subsurface water quality. Understanding the climatology and its relationship to infiltration processes of a mining site is thus a critical component of both operating mine management and development of mine closure plans.