This volume is a collection of papers resulting from a symposium held at the 2002 Annual Meeting of the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists in Reno, Nevada. The majority of the chapters present hydro-geochemical studies of select sites, but with the variety of localities and approaches taken, this book will more widely appeal to land and resource managers, geologists, and engineers working with abandoned mines or modern site remediation efforts.

The Superfund program of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in the 1980s to address human-health and environmental risks posed by abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous-waste sites. Identification of Superfund sites and their remediation is an expensive multistep process. As part of this process, EPA attempts to identify parties that are responsible for the contamination and thus financially responsible for remediation. Identification of potentially responsible parties is complicated because Superfund sites can have a long history of use and involve contaminants that can have many sources. Such is often the case for mining sites that involve metal contamination; metals occur naturally in the environment, they can be contaminants in the wastes generated at or released from the sites, and they can be used in consumer products, which can degrade and release the metals back to the environment. This report examines the extent to which various sources contribute to environmental lead contamination at Superfund sites that are near lead-mining areas and focuses on sources that contribute to lead contamination at sites near the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District. It recommends potential improvements in approaches used for assessing sources of lead contamination at or near Superfund sites.

Sampling and Monitoring for the Mine Life Cycle provides an overview of sampling for environmental purposes and monitoring of environmentally relevant variables at mining sites. It focuses on environmental sampling and monitoring of surface water, and also considers groundwater, process water streams, rock, soil, and other media including air and biological organisms. The handbook includes an appendix of technical summaries written by subject-matter experts that describe field measurements, collection methods, and analytical techniques and procedures relevant to environmental sampling and monitoring. The sixth of a series of handbooks on technologies for management of metal mine and metallurgical process drainage, this handbook supplements and enhances current literature and provides an awareness of the critical components and complexities involved in environmental sampling and monitoring at the mine site. It differs from most information sources by providing an approach to address all types of mining influenced water and other sampling media throughout the mine life cycle. Sampling and Monitoring for the Mine Life Cycle is organized into a main text and six appendices that are an integral part of the handbook. Sidebars and illustrations are included to provide additional detail about important concepts, to present examples and brief case studies, and to suggest resources for further information. Extensive references are included.

Provides the tools needed to analyze and solve acid drainage problems Featuring contributions from leading experts in science and engineering, this book explores the complex biogeochemistry of acid mine drainage, rock drainage, and acid sulfate soils. It describes how to predict, prevent, and remediate the environmental impact of acid drainage and the oxidation of sulfides, offering the latest sampling and analytical methods. Moreover, readers will discover new approaches for recovering valuable resources from acid mine drainage, including bioleaching. Acid Mine Drainage, Rock Drainage, and Acid Sulfate Soils reviews the most current findings in the field, offering new insights into the underlying causes as well as new tools to minimize the harm of acid drainage: Part I: Causes of Acid Mine Drainage, Rock Drainage and Sulfate Soils focuses on the biogeochemistry of acid drainage in different environments. Part II: Assessment of Acid Mine Drainage, Rock Drainage and Sulfate Soils covers stream characterization, aquatic and biological sampling, evaluation of aquatic resources, and some unusual aspects of sulfide oxidation. Part III: Prediction and Prevention of Acid Drainage discusses acid-base accounting, kinetic testing, block modeling, petrology, and mineralogy studies. It also explains relevant policy and regulations. Part IV: Remediation of Acid Drainage, Rock Drainage and Sulfate Soils examines both passive and active cleanup methods to remediate acid drainage. Case studies from a variety of geologic settings highlight various approaches to analyzing and solving acid drainage problems. Replete with helpful appendices and an extensive list of web resources, Acid Mine Drainage, Rock Drainage, and Acid Sulfate Soils is recommended for mining engineers and scientists, regulatory officials, environmental scientists, land developers, and students.

Spoil to Soil: Mine Site Rehabilitation and Revegetation presents both fundamental and practical aspects of remediation and revegetation of mine sites. Through three major themes, it examines characterization of mine site spoils; remediation of chemical, physical and biological constraints of mine site spoils, including post mine-site land-use practices; and revegetation of remediated mine site spoils. Each theme includes chapters featuring case studies involving mine sites around the world. The final section focuses specifically on case studies with successful mine site rehabilitation. The book provides a narrative of how inert spoil can be converted to live soil. Instructive illustrations show mine sites before and after rehabilitation. The purpose of this book is to provide students, scientists, and professional personnel in the mining industry sensible, science-based information needed to rehabilitate sustainably areas disturbed by mining activities. This book is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students majoring in environmental, earth, and soil sciences; environmental and soil scientists; and mine site environmental engineers and regulators.

Gold Metal Waters presents a uniquely inter- and transdisciplinary examination into the August 2015 Gold King Mine spill in Silverton, Colorado, when more than three million gallons of subterranean mine water, carrying 880,000 pounds of heavy metals, spilled into a tributary of the Animas River. The book illuminates the ongoing ecological, economic, political, social, and cultural significance of a regional event with far-reaching implications, showing how this natural and technical disaster has affected and continues to affect local and national communities, including Native American reservations, as well as agriculture and wildlife in the region. This singular event is surveyed and interpreted from multiple diverse perspectives—college professors, students, and scientists and activists from a range of academic and epistemological backgrounds—with each chapter reflecting unique professional and personal experiences. Contributors examine both the context for this event and responses to it, embedding this discussion within the broader context of the tens of thousands of mines leaking pollutants into waterways and soils throughout Colorado and the failure to adequately mitigate the larger ongoing crisis. The Gold King Mine spill was the catalyst that finally brought Superfund listing to the Silverton area; it was a truly sensational event in many respects. Gold Metal Waters will be of interest to students and scholars in all disciplines, but especially in environmental history, western history, mining history, politics, and communication, as well as general readers concerned with human relationships with the environment. Contributors: Alane Brown, Brian L. Burke, Karletta Chief, Steven Chischilly, Becky Clausen, Michael A. Dichio, Betty Carter Dorr, Cynthia Dott, Gary Gianniny, David Gonzales, Andrew Gulliford, Lisa Marie Jacobs, Ashley Merchant, Teresa Montoya, Scott W. Roberts, Lorraine L. Taylor, Jack Turner, Keith D. Winchester, Megan C. Wrona, Janene Yazzie

The present book deals with various, very significant topics of coal fly ash beneficiation, such as treatment of acid mine drainage with coal fly ash, toxic metal adsorption using coal fly ash, recovery of metals from coal fly ash and phytoreclamation of abandoned acid mine drainage site after treatment with coal fly ash, the status of research in coal fly ash utilization and applications and some other related topics in this growing and increasingly important research area. Overall, coal fly ash beneficiation has come to assume an important role in most areas of waste management research today. Continued growth and emphasis on scientific research is expected in all areas of waste management and conversion of waste to wealth technologies.