Abstract
In order to satisfy the needs of constant economic growth, the pressure to exploit natural resources has increased. Since accessible mineral resources are becoming scarce, the mining industry is constantly looking for novel techniques to allow commercial exploitation of lower-grade deposits. However, mining can have considerable impacts on freshwater ecosystems. Here, we present the ecological damage inflicted by mine water originating from the massive Terrafame Talvivaara polymetal mine (central Finland), where bioheap leaching is being applied to high-sulphur low-grade ore. We found that saline mine water has turned the lake meromictic, and sediment is heavily contaminated. As a result, important zooplankton and phytoplankton groups have been significantly altered. As the exploitation of poor-grade deposits is the future of the mining industry globally, water management should be taken to a higher level in order to proceed towards a sustainable mining sector.
Highlights
The world is thirsty for key metals due to the high demand of technological societies
In order to speed up the extraction process, the Terrafame Talvivaara ore is treated via the additional input of sulphuric acid[13], which further increases the amount of total S in the mine water
Fig. 1), Lake Kivijärvi has shifted from a mesotrophic state towards more oligotrophic conditions during the past decade (2005–2014), and it is characterized by clearly elevated hardness and by very high Ca concentrations (Supplementary Fig. 1)
Summary
The world is thirsty for key metals due to the high demand of technological societies. The high magnitude of damage inflicted by recent mine water accidents is due, at least partly, to the technological advances of the past decades; it has become economically feasible to extract low-grade ores, which has resulted in larger mines and unprecedented high volumes of mine waste water. In 2016, the Terrafame Talvivaara mine obtained a permit to release waste water into a large lake north of the mine. Despite active and sometimes heated public discussion regarding the environmental and economic viability of the mine, and the fact that many other low-grade high-sulphidic deposits are going to be activated in the near future[1], the environmental damage directly caused by Terrafame Talvivaara has not yet been fully assessed scientifically
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