In mining, tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction of an ore. Tailings are distinct from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overlies an ore or mineral body and is displaced during mining without being processed.

Why are tailing ponds bad?

The contaminated tailings ponds attract and kill migrating birds. They emit methane and other greenhouse gases. Despite years of public promises from officials that the tailings ponds would shrink and go away, they are growing.

What is the purpose of a tailing pond?

The tailings pond is a necessary facility for maintaining normal production of a mine as a place for stockpiling tailings. On the other hand, the tailings dam is a major danger for metal and nonmetal mines, because dam failure may occur.

What are tailing ponds in mining?

Tailings ponds are engineered dam and dyke facilities used for storage of tailings materials. Tailing ponds are also used to enable water to separate from the tailings. Water from the tailings ponds is recycled back into the extraction process, reducing the use of fresh water from the Athabasca River and other sources.

How are tailing ponds created?

These ponds are massive earth structures, initially constructed from overburden hauled from the mine site. Tailings ponds are normally located in a part of the lease that has little or no bitumen. Tailings produced in Extraction and Froth Treatment normally contain about 50% water.

Oilsands Tailings Ponds a Growing Problem

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Are tailing ponds man made?

The dam and the tailings artificial lake within it are constructed and maintained as part of ongoing operations by Syncrude in extracting oil from the Athabasca Oil Sands.

Are tailing ponds toxic?

There are several environmental concerns that are associated with the existence of tailings ponds. The main problem with the ponds is that they include toxic and harmful chemicals such as ammonia, mercury, and naphthenic acids. The water containing these chemicals is toxic to animals, particularly aquatic organisms.

What is a tailing?

Tailings are the waste materials left after the target mineral is extracted from ore. They consist of: Crushed rock.

What happens to tailings after mining is finished?

Because tailings originate in slurry form they are dumped in or near water, contaminating the water and destroying aquatic life. Tailings also can be transported by wind or water to contaminate other areas. Mine wastewater containing metals and chemicals can also leach into nearby waterways.

How tailings are formed?

Tailings consist of ground rock and process effluents that are generated in a mine processing plant. Mechanical and chemical processes are used to extract the desired product from the run of the mine ore and produce a waste stream known as tailings. ... The challenges associated with tailings storage are ever increasing.

What happens to tailings dams?

Tailings are pumped into a pond to allow the sedimentation – or separation – of solids from the water. The water removed from tailings dams can be, and often is, later reused in the mine's processing cycles.

What are in mines?

Ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. Mining is required to obtain any material that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a laboratory or factory.

How do tailings affect the environment?

Mine tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the desired product from an ore. They often consist of fine particles suspended in water, which have the potential to damage the environment by releasing toxic metals, causing erosion and sinkholes, and contaminating soil and water supplies.

Are tailings bad?

Tailings, especially tailing stored in water by tailings dam in ponds, can be dangerous sources of toxic chemicals, such as heavy metals, sulfides and radioactive content. These ponds are also vulnerable to major breaches or leaks from the dams, causing environmental disasters.

Can we live without mining?

We need to start from a basic statement: The modern world simply can't function without mining; Mineral products are essential components for cell phones, cars, energy towers, solar panels, wind turbines, fertilizers, machinery and all kinds of construction. ... Mining: If it can't be grown, it has to be mined.

How do you dispose of mine tailings?

Due to the way minerals are processed, tailings can contain concentrations of processing chemicals. This can make mine tailings an environmental concern, so proper transportation and disposal are crucial. Consequently, the next step is to pump mine tailings away with slurry pumps into tailings ponds.

What if we stop mining?

So, what would happen if the world suddenly stopped mining tomorrow? Automobiles, both gas and electric would disappear. 27 States would lose 25% of their electricity output. No nails to hammer projects home.

What does a tailing do?

Tailing is an enzymatic method for adding a non-templated nucleotide to the 3' end of a blunt, double-stranded DNA molecule. Tailing is typically done to prepare a T-vector for use in TA cloning or to A-tail a PCR product produced by a high-fidelity polymerase (not Taq) for use in TA cloning.

Where do tailings come from?

Tailings are the waste products from mining. Mechanical and chemical processes are used to grind up rock into a fine sand to extract the valuable mineral or metal from the rock ore. All the unrecoverable and uneconomic remnants from this process are waste.

Are tailings and gangue the same thing?

As nouns the difference between gangue and tailings

is that gangue is (mining) the earthy waste substances occurring in metallic ore while tailings is the waste that remains after the minerals have been extracted from an ore by ore dressing; gangue, slimes.

Do tailings ponds freeze?

Fluid tailings are warm when disposed of, so tailings lakes don't freeze in the winter. Because of this, wildlife are attracted to the toxic lakes in cold weather.

What chemicals are in tailing ponds?

TAILINGS PONDS CONTAIN:

These are: arsenic, benzene, lead, mercury, and air pollution.

What are oil tar sands?

Tar sands (also known as oil sands) are a mixture of mostly sand, clay, water, and a thick, molasses-like substance called bitumen. Bitumen is made of hydrocarbons—the same molecules in liquid oil—and is used to produce gasoline and other petroleum products.

Can tailings be recycled?

Especially, the recycling of gold mine tailings is indispensable for mining and brings about additional income. ... These wastes are partially reutilized as construction materials, red tide remover, lower grade pigment, etc.; however, most of them are not recycled (Lee, Hwang & Bae, 2006, 2009).

What fills the tailings ponds in the Alberta tar sands?

Since oilsands mining operations started in 1967, 1.3 trillion litres of fluid tailings has accumulated in these open ponds on the Northern Alberta landscape (Figure 1). This is enough toxic waste to fill 400,000 Olympic swimming pools.