In Situ Resource Recovery from Waste Repositories: Exploring the Potential for Mobilization and Capture of Metals from Anthropogenic Ores

Abstract

Wastes and the waste repositories in which they reside are becoming targets for resource recovery, both for legacy wastes and for future waste arisings as part of a desire to move toward a circular economy. There is an urgent requirement to explore concepts for practicable technologies that can be applied to these ends. This paper presents a synthesis of concepts concerning in situ technologies (developed from mining and contaminated land remediation industries) that have enormous potential for application to technospheric mining. Furthermore, potential target waste streams and their mineralogy and character are presented along with a discussion concerning lixiviant and metal capture systems that could be applied. Issues of preferential flow (critical to the success of in situ techniques) and how to control it with engineering measures are discussed in detail. It is clear that in situ recovery of metals from anthropogenic ores is a novel technology area that links new sustainable remediation approaches for contaminated materials and technospheric mining for closing material loops, and warrants the further research and development of technologies applicable to major waste streams.

National Mineral Waste Databases as an Information Source for Assessing Material Recovery Potential from Mine Waste, Tailings and Metallurgical Waste

“…Very efficient mineralogical, pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes have been developed for the recovery of metals from low-grade ores and wastes in the last two decades [8][9][10][11], such as in situ leaching, dump and heap leaching, hydrometallurgical processes and agromining, among others. An alternative area of development has been in relation to contaminated land remediation technologies, and Sapsford et al [12] offer a review of many of these approaches and assess their limitations and constraints and technology status. One method of particular interest is the application of electrokinetic techniques, which have potential applicability to the fine-grained materials often found in mine waste deposits.…”

Resource Recovery from Waste: Restoring the Balance between Resource Scarcity and Waste Overload

“…However, focus should turn to low-energy recycling technologies, such as the exploitation of biogeochemical processes to recover resources from wastes, moving beyond the simple extraction of minerals to the creation of high-value functional materials. By manipulating the bio-geochemistry of waste deposits-i.e., encouraging naturally occurring microbes that inhabit these deposits to extract and concentrate resources-systems can be designed that are integrated with natural ecosystem processes, in contrast to the rapid, high-energy, urban-centric industrial processes currently dominating resource recovery [43,44].…”

Going to waste? The potential impacts on nature conservation and cultural heritage from resource recovery on former mineral extraction sites in England and Wales

“…This has resulted in a growing interest in the opportunities for recovering resources from these wastes (e.g. Bellenfant et al 2013;Crane et al 2017;Sapsford, Cleall, and Harbottle 2017), which may increase the security of supply of metals and reduce the need for new mines (Dunbar 2015). In addition, the land resource occupied by former mineral extraction sites could be made available for other uses; in England, many such sites are allocated for housing and commercial development (Sinnett et al 2014).…”

“…Internationally, there is currently an emphasis on developing new technologies for resource recovery from mine wastes (e.g. Bellenfant et al 2013;Hennebel et al 2015;Dunbar 2015;Sapsford, Cleall, and Harbottle 2017) with very little consideration of the extent of ecological and cultural resources on such sites and their collective role in a 'mining landscape'. To date, research has focussed on the development of technologies to extract resources from wastes, for example, using microbial processes (e.g.…”