Journal
JOURNAL OF GEOCHEMICAL EXPLORATION
Volume 224, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.gexplo.2021.106742
Keywords
Acid Mine Drainage; Valorization; Treatment waste; Metal load; Critical Raw Materials
Categories
Funding
- Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [CGL2016-78783-C2-1-R, CGL2017-86050-R]
- MORECOVERY project of the European Institute of Technology Raw Materials programme [H2020-EIT-PN 18190]
- R&D FEDER Andalucia 2014-2020 call through the project RENOVAME (FEDER) [UHU-1255729]
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Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) poses a significant threat to water resources globally, but also presents an opportunity for economic valorization of elements. Understanding the distribution of rare earth elements (REE) in AMDs can help identify their market potential. Utilizing the economic potential of AMD-affected regions can improve water quality in abandoned mining sites.
Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) generates a great concern worldwide due to its severe impact to water resources during hundreds and even thousands of years after the cessation of mining activity if control measures are not implemented. AMD treatment is an environmental necessity, but also constitute a tremendous opportunity for the valorization of potential secondary sources of elements of economic interest. The knowledge of the hydrogeochemistry of REE in AMDs and their distribution using normalized patterns would help discrimination of the most potentially marketable AMD sources. To achieve this goal and to estimate the total economic potential of a severely AMD-affected region, chemistry and flow data were determined in spatially and temporally-distributed samples of numerous AMD sources collected throughout the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB). Due to high anual metal loads of elements such as Al (6600 ton), Zn (1600 ton), Cu (600 ton), Co (26 ton), Ni (10 ton), LREE (10.7 ton/yr), MREE (2.1 ton/yr), HREE (1 ton/yr), Y (3.7 ton) or Sc (0.7 ton), AMDs of the IPB would have an economic potential of 24.1 M$/yr (being REE 22.6% of this potential). Although the technical and economic limitations would impose a more realistic value of 4.2-10.3 M$/yr. The magnitude of this economic potential cannot be compared with active mines, however the longevity of the AMD generation processes and the need to achieve an environmental improvement make valorization of these leachates an interesting option to recover metals, which would help to treatment plants costs, improving notably the quality of water bodies in abandoned mining sites.
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