E - Fixed Constructions – 02 – D
Patent
E - Fixed Constructions
02
D
209/70
E02D 31/00 (2006.01) B09B 1/00 (2006.01) B09C 1/02 (2006.01) C02F 9/00 (2006.01)
Patent
CA 1327027
- 32 - Abstract of the Disclosure TREATMENT OF MINE TAILINGS Mine tailings containing iron sulphides can cause acidity in groundwater travelling down through the tailings, if the tailings ever become exposed to the air. In the worst case, if only an upper level of the tailings becomes exposed, the amount of acidity produced is as if the whole body of tailings were exposed, because ferric ions in the water seeping down from the vadose region to the still-unexposed anaerobic regions tend to cause oxidition of the sulphides below, as if they too had become exposed. A layer of organic carbon (in the form of wood chippings, seaweed, etc) is added to the body of tailings, just below the (stabilized) water table. Water seeping down from the vadose region encounters the carbon before reaching the anaerobic sulphides, and most of the oxidation-producing tendency of the ions in this water is dissipated on the carbon, by bacterial action, leaving the anaerobic sulphides below unchanged. Further layers of organic carbon may be included, below the predicted level of the water table, as a safety factor to cater for errors or accidents that might affect the water table level.
602058
Blowes David William
Ptacek Carol Jane
Asquith Anthony
University Of Waterloo
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