AN EVALUATION OF “TALING DAM”

in GOLD MINING WITHIN THE EIA

Ilhan Talinli & Aysun Kabil

Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Civil Engineering,
Department of Environmental Engineering

Montreal, 2003
Scope of The Work :
 “Ovacik Gold Mine-Turkey” is selected as a case study
and its hazardous waste management is investigated.
 "Storage into Tailing Dam" and it has serious
environmental concerns about the method
 For this aim
 gold production process are examined
 hazardous wastes are defined
 influential mechanism of environmental risk and impact
assessment studies are determined
 recommendations for hazardous wastes generated from
Ovacik Gold Mine are introduced
What is Hazardous Waste?
 a hazardous substance that has been discarded or
otherwise designated as a waste material or one
that may become hazardous by interaction with
other substances
 Hazardous waste may either be in the form of
solid, liquid, semi-solid or contained gaseous
material (UNEP , WHO 1982 ).
 Hazardous waste generated from gold
mining processes must be managed in
respect of "Cradle to Grave Control
System" principles.
Relationship between Environmental Risk and
Impact Assessment
Engineering Risk Assessment Impact Assessment

1.Conceptual Investigation
Design

2. Gaining Rights Pre-operation

and Monitoring

3. Ultimate Design

4.Construction Construction Effect

Monitoring

5.Preparation Preparation Tests

Monitoring

6. Operation Short-term Effect

Monitoring

7.. Sustainable Long-term Effect

Rehabilitation Rehabilitation

8. Temporary Elimination Rehabilitation- Monitoring

9. Ultimate Elimination Ultimate Recovery and

and Rehabilitation Rehabilitation Monitoring
 Interdisciplinary Organization for
Environmental Risk Estimating and Impact
Assessment

Regulations Impact
Permissions Assessment

Engineering Ecosystem tests

Design Investigation Tolarable
Activities Operation Monitoring Effect
Developments Rehabilitation
Process Survey
 Two basic sectors in gold mining;
 Mining
 Primary production of gold extraction
 Mining process includes
 slackening soil
 taking up mineral
 and its transportation to extraction site
 This activity is realized by
 opening gallery
 blasting and transportation sub-processes.
 Mixed CN leaching is mostly used method of %64
all around the world in all extraction methods
(EIA, Ovacik, 1991).
 In this method, dissolution reaction of gold with
cyanide and its mechanisms

4Au + 8 KCN + O2 + 2H2O

4K[Au (CN)2] + 4KOH
 Main processes of Au production

From mine Ore Pleating – Grinding-Classification

Cyanide Leaching Adsorption (CIP , CIL)

Desorption Elution of Gold by Electrolysis Au

Waste Survey
 Waste types obtained from process survey for
gold extraction
 wastewater
 solid waste
 air emission
 hazardous waste
 sludge and
 noise
 Wastes from Processes of Gold Mining
Waste Processes Pollutants, Effects Form of
Waste
Wastewater All leaching Heavy metals, Liquid
processes and Carbon sulfide, flouride, SS,
methods pH, CN, As, sulfide,
alcalinity
Solid waste Blasting, Excavation, Dust, Particules Solid
Decupage
Air Blasting, Excavation, HCN, Particules, Gas and
emissions Leaching, Carbon Dust, CO2, SO2 solid
methods and Carbon
regeneration ,
Smelting
Waste Processes Pollutants, Effects Form of
Waste
Hazardous Leach process, CN, Heavy metals, Toxicity, Liquid and
waste Carbon methods Carcinogenic, Teratogenic, solid
Corrosivity, Mutagenity
Sludges Leach processes, CN, Heavy metals, Toxicity, Sludge
Carbon methods Carcinogenic, Teratogenic,
Corrosivity, Mutagenity
Noise Blasting, all Noise emissions Noise
process
equipments
 Waste of leaching –cyanide process should be
considered as the most important problem in the
general waste research
 Main environmental effect of cyanide and heavy metals is
acute toxicity
 This waste must be considered as a hazardous waste in
form of sludge including %50 of solid matter .
 For this reason, first an environmental risk assessment
should be made to solve storage and disposal problems of
this waste
 Practices, which will lead to environmental
protection legislation, have to be based on
 political proposals
 project planning as well as
 legal alterations for their ease of applicability.
 Management strategies also play an important role in
defining a hazardous waste. These steps may
include:
 Definition of the hazardous waste
 Determination of the hazardous waste
 Listing of the hazardous waste
 T/S/D facilities (Treatment, Storage, Disposal )
T/S/D Facilities in Hazardous Waste Sites
T/S/D
 T (treatment) : removing of the hazardous
characteristics of the waste.
 S (storage) : isolating of the hazardous waste
in appropriate construction for certain period.
 D (disposal) : ultimate disposal of treated or
stored hazardous waste in a hazardous waste
side
 The problem of tailing dam :
they are not suitable for the T/S/D facilities
 They can not be a storage system because
of being inappropriately designed for
hazardous waste management system
 A tailing dam for each gold mining site
should not be installed as a hazardous
waste site.
 Cyanide Removal Methods
 various removal methods in literature:

 Biological treatment/
 Reverse osmosis
oxidation  Ion exchange
 Chemical oxidation  Wet-air oxidation
 alkaline  Ozonation, UV/O3
 chlorination  Castone process
 sodium hypochlorite  Inco process
 chlorine
 calcium hypochlorite
 Activated carbon
adsorption
Comparison of Cyanide Removal Methods’ Costs*
Treatment methods Cost
Alkaline Chlorination
 Chlorine (Cl2) 0.20 $/lb removed CN
 Sodium Hypochlorite 1,40 $/lb removed CN
(NaOCl) 1,90 $/lb removed CN
 Calsium Hypochlorite
(Ca(OCl)2)
Catalytic Cyanide Oxidation with 1,36 $/kg removed CN
Activated Carbon
SO2/Air Oxidation 11,95 $/kg removed CN
Kastone Process 0,41 $/lb removed CN
Electrolysis 0,082 $/lb removed CN
Ozonation 0,14 – 0,64 $/lb removed CN

*(Johannes et al., 1989)

 Comparison of Capital and Operating Costs of
Cyanide Removal Method Annual Operating
Methods Capital Costs,$ and Maintanence Total
costs ,$
Ion exchange(a) 4.000.000.- 170.000.- -
UV/O3 (a) 6.000.000.- 590.000.- -
Polysulfide
Treatment (a) 600.000.- 35.000.- -
(Wong and Maroney 1990)
Ozone - - 490.850.-$/year
Alkaline
Chlorination - - 63.600.- $/year
(Mudder and Whitlock 1983 )
GM – IX Process Alkaline - 164.700.-$/year
Chlorination
(Semmens 1989) - - 276.650.-$/year
Ozonation - 0.34 $/h 18.500.-$ (3.78 1/h)
27.500.-$ (7.57 1/h)
47.088.-$ (3.78 1/h)
Chlorination - 2.44 $/h 55.566.-$ (7.57 1/h)
(Stopka 1980)
 The result of this economical analysis shows that
usage of UV/ozone method for especially high
concentrations of cyanide is the most economic
one.
TREATMENT PROCESS OF THE
CYANIDE BY INCO PROCESS
 Process steps of the Proposed treatment method of
the Cyanide is INCO process for Bergama Gold
mine tailings in Turkey
 Waste in slurry form is continuously pumped into two-
stage destruction tank set-up via a downcomer.
 SO2 presented as liquid form and air are injected into
the waste effluent to oxidize soluble cyanide. Reactor
has a bottom impeller to ensure rapid dispersion and to
promote the O2 gas transfer to the solution.
 Lime slurry (%10 solid) is continuously added to
maintain a pH of 8.7.
 Retention time of the slurry is 60 minutes in first
tank.
 Cu+2 and Fe+3 are added to remove complex cyanides
(ferrous and ferric cyanide), arsenic and antimony.
This tank retention time is 30 minutes.
 Effluent from second tank flows to the settling tank
to permit settling of the precipitates.
 Additional Sb is removed in third tank.
Typical operating conditions in mass balance
 83000 kg/h slurry including %45 solids is fed to
reactor
 SO2 21 kg/h, Cu+2 8 kg/h, Fe+3 37 kg/h, lime
slurry 187 kg/h are fed to reactor.
 Effluent contains 83000 kg/h slurry, 46000 kg/h
solution and 37000 kg/h solids.
 When cyanide (CNT) concentration is reduced
from 6.1 kg/h to 0.1 kg/h, Cu+2 and OCN¯
concentrations increase to 0.5 kg/h and 9.6 kg/h
respectively.
 Influent and effluent specific gravity is 1.396.
 Reactions of the cyanide in this process
CN¯ + SO2 + O2 + Cu +2 + H2O CNO¯ + Cu + H2SO4

The oxidation of thiocyanide and the hydrolysis of cyanide

SCN¯ + 4SO2 + 4O2 +5 H2O CNO¯ + 5 H2SO4
CNO¯ + 2H2O OH¯ + NH3 + CO2

According to INCO, iron cyanide removal is initiated by reduction of iron from to ferric to the ferrous
state
2Fe+3 + SO2 + 2H2O Fe+2 +4H+ + SO4-2
2Fe (CN)6-3 + SO2 + 2H2O 4Fe(CN)-64 + 4H+ + SO4-2

The ferrous cyanide complex is then removed through precipitation with either copper, zinc or nickel
2 M+2 + Fe (CN)6-4+ H2O M2 Fe (CN)6. H2O (M+2 is Cu, Ni, or Zn)

These residual metals remaining in solution are precipitated as their hydroxides:

2Cu+2 + SO3-2 + O2 + H2O + 2OH¯ 2Cu (OH)2 + SO4-2
Ni +2 + 2OH¯ Ni(OH)2
Zn + 2OH¯ Zn (OH)2
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

 Specific Cyanide utilization will be 0.35-

1.76 kg NaCN/ton mineral (used 1.5 kg
NaCN/ton)
 Water content of slurry is %52 by weight and
2.083 ton slurry occurs with ratio of 1.083 m 3
water/ton mineral
 Specific gravity of the slurry is 1.43 ton/m 3 so
waste volume is 1.457 m3
 Cyanide concentration :

1.5 kg NaCN /1.457 m3 = 1030 g CNT / m3

 %0.035 NaCN concentration is desired in leaching tank.
 (0.035/100) * 1083 * 1000/1.457 = 260 g NaCN / m 3 slurry
and
 1030 - 260 = 770 g/ m3 NaCN is utilized by other metals in
slurry.
 Acid rains may cause decrease of pH in
tailing dam and accumulated free CN¯ may
change in form of HCN to atmosphere.
 In volume of three times rain water at 3.5
pH will decrease water pH from 9 to pH 8.3.
 If 16000 m2 surface area and water in 0.5 m
height in tailing dam, 8000 kg cyanide may
accumulate due to 100 g/ m3 concentration and
this amount may transfer to atmosphere by
change of pH.
 Tailing Dam
 hazardous wastes and slurries are collected in tailing dam
which is designed 15 ha in surface area and 2 million m3
volume has also been predicted in Bergama Gold mine.
 Storage of the hazardous wastes is not an ultimate
solution in management facilities
 Tailing dam is used as
 a storage tank in gold mining for removed cyanide slurries
 whereas, various wastes from extraction processes are collected
in
 Tailing dam is considered as an ultimate disposal area
Cost to Western Europan Chemical Industry for
treating and disposing of waste
Methods Cost Range
US $ /tonnes
Simple Disposal to land 1-20
Disposal to land in a site lined with plastic sheet 10-50
Underground disposal to dropping into old wells or mines 20-150
Land disposal after encapsulation either by mixing the waste 10-100
with cement or other agent or by incarcerating whole drums in cement

Coastal sea dumping from ships or 5-15

Deep-ocean dumping beyond the continental shelf 10-150
Simple incineration (without significant heat recovery) 30-150
Incineration with alkaline stack scrubbing 100-350
Incineration onboard ship at sea 50-350
All types of chemical treatment and, in particular :
Destruction of cyanide by hypochlorite 300-500
Reduction of chromic acid 100-300
Destruction of cyanide (catalytic) 200-500
Economical Analysis of Tailings in Gold Mine
 Suggested treatment and disposal cost of stored hazardous
waste in tailing dam as average 200 $/ton
 Volume of tailing dam in gold mine : 2 million m3
 specific gravity of slurry is 1.43 tons /m3
 Waste amount of the waste in tailing dam :
2.106 m3 * 1043 tons/ m3 = 2.860.000 tons and total cost
for treatment and disposal is;
2.860.000 tons * 200 $/ton = 572.106 US$
economical table of the project
 Initial Investment Cost = 46. 106 US$
 Production Income per year = 40 106 US$
 Production Outcome = 21. 106 US$
 Rant per year = (40-21) 106.= 19 106 US$
 Rant of investment per 8 years = 8* 19.10 6
=152. 106 US$
 %10 of this rant remain for Turkey = 152.
106 * 0.1 = 15.2. 106 US$
 When 2.860.000 tons hazardous waste is required
about 572. 106 US$ treatment and disposal cost,
rehabilitation of tailing dam can not be a solution
for this problem.
 Benefit/cost ratio is very low. Whereas
environmentally minimal hazard and impact is
aimed in EIA concept.
 Existing methods for removing of cyanide are
appropriate to solutions.
 Cyanide is main pollutant in waste slurry however overall
waste can not be treated in based on individual parameters
such as cyanide, copper, zinc etc.
 Precipitation of heavy metals in coagulation is impossible
because of being high ionic strength in slurry.
 Tailing from gold extraction processes is hazardous
waste in slurry form and its main characteristic is
toxicity. Therefore it should be managed by T/S/D
facilities such as detoxification, solidification, deep well
injection, disposal to spent mining after solidification
and controlled land- filling for treated waste.
 Tailing dam should not be a storage or
disposal method . It may be a
temporary store for hazardous waste
but never to forever.