Natural Resources Extraction: Stressors and Impact Management - Sustainable Practices in Geoenvironmental Engineering - page 152

Airborne emissions
Noxious gases and
particulates

Redeposited on “land” as:
acid precipitation
“harmful” particulates

Ponds

Heaps

Rejects, spent material,
oversize, overburden, spoils,
waste rock, etc.

Tailings, sludge, slime, slurry,
red mud, liquid wastes, etc.

Wastewater

Impoundment ponds and
embankments, noxious
leachates, groundwater
pollution, impoundment-
embankment stability

Contamination of soil,
groundwater, and
receiving waters

Noxious leachates,
groundwater pollution,
acid mine drainage
polluted waters

FIGURE 5.7
Discharges from resource recovery operations and some of their more signiicant impacts on land use and the
geoenvironment. The ponds containing the slurry tailings could also be dammed-up valleys or even aban-
doned mine pits.

Dust inhalation by humans may also lead to cancer and other illnesses such as asbestosis
and silicosis. Bioaccumulation of mercury, lead, and other heavy metals in the food chain
may also be signiicant. Kobayashi and Hagino (1965) reported that the runoff of cadmium
from a zinc mining waste in the 1950s led to accumulation in the Jintsu River that was used
for drinking water and irrigation of rice ields and that itai-itai disease aflicted the popula-
tion living in the area. Secure disposal, cleanup, and management of drainage eliminated
the disease.

5.3.1.3 Solid Waste Materials and Stressors

The principal sources of solid waste materials issuing from extraction of the various min-
erals are waste rocks, ore spoils, and overburden. There are two types of geoenviron-
mental impact problems from the stressors associated with the disposal of solid waste
materials: (1) physical-mechanical and (2) chemical, physicochemical, and biogeochemi-
cal. In the irst case—i.e., physical-mechanical—stability of the heaps and tailings dams
is a major concern.
Historical evidence shows numerous failures of these physical structures arising from
simple slope instabilities to landslides and/or liquefaction triggered by excess porewater
pressures. A chronology of some major tailings dam and heap failures compiled by WISE
(2013) can be seen in http://www.wise-uranium.org/mdaf.html. The compilation includes