Margarete Kalin, Boojum Research Ltd. Toronto, Ontario
TECHNICAL BACKGROUND
Organic contaminants in water are removed by biota, as some of their compounds are utilized by providing nutrients to the growth of biota. Complete bio-mineralization will lead to growth and the generation of carbon dioxide other gases. Inorganic elements on the other hand, such as metals, are bio-mineralized supporting growth by transfer of electrons leading to the conversion of metals to solid bio-minerals. Both processes result in the removal of the compounds from the water and take place in the sediments of wetlands and lakes. They are facilitated by the metabolic processes of algae (e.g. formation of stromatolites) and microbes (e.g. biogenic pyrite).
Ecological Engineering utilizes the natural cleansing capacity of aquatic systems by providing conditions in mine waste management areas which stimulate these processes in tailings ponds, open pits to improve water quality. Since microbes also facilitate the 'weathering' of mine wastes, reductions in sulphide oxidation is achieved through the application of the application of ecological principles in sulphidic mining wastes through promoting precipitation of secondary minerals and biofilms on the sulphide mineral surface.
The course presents laboratory and fieldwork on sulphide oxidation-reduction with associated data sets of ten to twenty years of monitoring the effects on the acid generating material. Achievements to date and future research needs will be highlighted.
PARTICIPANTS
The course will be of interest to mining engineers, geologists, hydrologists and environmental engineers. The course assumes that attendees have a realistic comprehension of the long term environmental challenges of mine waste water management. .
GENERAL AND SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
The course will instruct participants in the principal concepts of Ecological Engineering, as illustrated by its application in demonstration test sites, emphasizing sulphide oxidation-reduction measures. Conventional efforts to treat and/or prevent the generation of mine-related waste products too often ignore or attempt to suppress underlying ecological and biogeochemical processes. The specific goal of this workshop is to familiarize participants with those processes and demonstrate that they can be effectively utilized for the treatment of mine wastes.
COURSE MATERIALS
Those attending will receive a CD containing final reports on all of the case studies that are discussed as well as related publications, Power-Points from lecture series, and lists of relevant scientific literature.
CONTENT AND PROGRAM
THE ECOLOGY OF MINE WASTES- Extreme natural environments and mining wastes
- Sediments
- Water
- Particles
- Rocks- minerals
- South Bay, Ontario Canada
- Ground water in-situ treatment pilot tests application
- Phosphate, and underwater meadow
WASTE ROCK, COARSE COAL WASTES AND TAILINGS
- Organics and phosphate wastes – tailings - field experiment in uranium and nickel tailings - Elliot Lake and Copper Cliff, Ontario, Canada
- Phosphate wastes and pyritic waste rock from Northern Quebec and at former DEVCO sites
FINAL OVERVIEW
- Questions and Supplementary reading
- Discussion
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP AUTHOR
Margarete Kalin is the president and founder of Boojum Research Inc., a small, Toronto-based firm which develops and implements ecologically-based, self-sustaining decommissioning systems for mine waste management areas. An adjunct professor at U of Toronto, Ryerson University and recently appointed at U of Windsor, she has written and presented more than a hundred scientific papers, book chapters and reports on aspecsamets of her fieldwork and research. Her treatment systems utilize algae and bacterium, growing within enhanced environments and stimulated by the controlled application of nutrients, to create reducing conditions within which dissolved metals are re-mineralized. The 'swamp doctor' has applied her technology to effluent streams from coal, uranium, base metal and precious metals mines and mine sites in North and South America and Europe. She is the recipient of the Noranda Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Land Reclamation and the Teck-Cominco Environmental Award and, in 2005–06, was a Distinguished Lecturer for the Canadian Institute of Mining. She is a Qualified Environmental Professional with the Institute of Environmental Practice and Senior Ecologist with the American Ecological Society.
