Abstract
The worldwide mining industry produces millions of tons of rock wastes, raising a considerable burden for managing both economic and environmental issues. The possible reuse of Fe/Mn-rich materials for arsenic removal in water filtration units, along with rock properties, was evaluated. By characterizing and testing 47 samples collected from the Joda West Iron and Manganese Mine in India, we found As removal up to 50.1% at 1 mg/L initial As concentration, with a corresponding adsorption capacity of 0.01–0.46 mgAs/g mining waste. The As removal potential was strictly related to spectral, mineralogical, and elemental composition of rock wastes. Unlike rock crystallinity due to quartz and muscovite, the presence of hematite, goethite, and kaolinite, in association with the amorphous fractions of Fe and Al, enhanced the As adsorption. The natural content of arsenic indicated itself the presence of active sorptive sites. The co-occurrence of site-specific competitors (i.e., phosphate) represented a consequent limitation, whereas the content of Ce, Cu, La, and Pb contributed positively to the As adsorption. Finally, we proposed a simplified multiple linear model as predictive tool to select promising rock wastes suitable for As removal by water filtration in similar mining environments: As predicted = 0.241 + 0.00929[As] + 0.000424[La] + 0.000139[Pb] − 0.00022[P].
Highlights
Millions of tons of waste rock, overburden, and beneficiation wastes are produced by the global mining industry
We explored the suitability of various mining rock wastes to realize water filters for As removal from contaminated waters
Mining rock wastes showed a heterogeneous composition with Fe, Mn, and Al as main constituents (51.3%, 14.3%, and 6% average content, respectively), with rocks having Fe and Mn above
Summary
Millions of tons of waste rock, overburden, and beneficiation wastes are produced by the global mining industry. Due to their limited economic value and the remote location of most mining settings, over 95% of these materials are disposed of, forming enormous stockpiles in the mining area [1,2,3,4]. The cost of waste handling and storage can represents a financial loss around. Possible second life pathways of solid mining wastes include the recovery of critical raw materials, the use as backfill materials for open voids, the extraction of valuable minerals and metals from low-grade resources, their application as landscaping materials and capping materials for waste repositories, substrates for mine revegetation, and civil engineering
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