Reclamation - restoring disturbed lands

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New gold rush flattens Johannesburg's famous mining dumps (2014 Article) (www.foxnews.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Good article that shows how mine dumps can be reclaimed to support human use (drive in) and how re-mining of wastes can be feasible in some cases

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I suppose if anything, that material isn't going to be dropped right back where they pulled it, so that's going to be a big benefit.

I'm not up on all the chemistry involved, but would either the cyanide process or acid leeching also pull out the other heavy metals that they are concerned about? If so, that should make the tailings at least more inert, right?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Yeah, often mines produce more than one metal. Copper and Zinc, or copper and molybdenum are often produced together. Similarly, gold and silver are often produced together. The issue is that there are still residual metals that are not extracted or are only partially extracted, with residual levels beyond those that are safe for human health.