Acid drainage from waste rock dumps and mine sites (Australian and Scandinavia)

Abstract

This report reviews the literature from Australia and Scandinavia on acid drainage from pyritic waste rock dumps with an emphasis on measurements and theory of processes that control the rage of oxidation and the release of pollutants. Conditions within waste rock dumps have been measured at several mine sites and a range of rehabilitation treatments have been tried to reduce the release of pollutants. A number of models have been proposed to calculate air flow water transport and geochemistry. The data and experience at the mine sites are compared with predictions of the models.