Preliminary List of Abstracts (Alphabetical Order)

1ST INTL. SYMP. ON SUSTAINABLE MINING OPERATIONS

Modern mining can be safe and profitable with a long-term environmental impact that is no different to other primary-production sector activities. However, these traits of "sustainable mining" are generally limited to mines in developed countries that have legislation in place to protect people, communities and the environment. Mining in developing countries can be very different. Operations may be well organised with high standards in the above criteria. But operations can be illegal, unsafe and detrimental to the environment, food safety and the fundamental fabric of community. In this scenario the concept of sustainable mining is very difficult to argue.Unlocking developing countries' mineral potential can lead to economic development and poverty reduction. However, we cannot assume that these benefits will automatically accrue from mining; Many examples have shown that mining is more likely to lead to poverty exacerbation than to poverty reduction. A widely touted model to explain this apparent conflict in ideas is the "Resource Curse".Perhaps an explanation for this curse lies in analysis of community livelihoods in mining areas. The poorest people in the world generally live in rural areas of developing countries, and these same areas host the main non-renewable resources of the planet. Mining, therefore, represents a new livelihood for communities that would otherwise be employed in agriculture and farming. However, can mining be considered a community-wide viable "alternative livelihood"? I believe this question is at the centre of the issues we see in developing countries today.Mining exploits a non-renewable resource and has a finite life time. Some skills gained by workers benefit the wider community, but many cannot be applied to traditional livelihoods at the end of mining. This threatens the fundamental structure of farming communities in mineral-rich areas. There are many examples of farmers abandoning their fields, and migrating in the search of metal.Massey University is a leading international university for agricultural research, training and extension; Massey was ranked in the top 20 agriculture universities in the world in 2013 (QC ranking). Today Massey is using its presence and expertise in this space to benefit mining communities in developing countries. Initiatives in Indonesia, Ecuador and Columbia are establishing training centres for artisanal gold miners. Agriculture is a key area for training and extension; The aim is to highlight how income from agriculture can be superior to that from mining. If the infrastructure built for mining (power, water, transport) is used in tandem with education to develop the sector, then the prospect of long-term profitable agriculture is more secure. If this is the closure plan for mining in developing countries then perhaps more mining operations will meet the criteria of sustainability.

Goldcorp is one of the largest gold producers in the world with projects in South, Central and North America. Goldcorp's flagship operation is Penasquito, a world-class, poly-metallic deposit and one of the largest mines in Mexico that started production in 2010. Since the early stages of the project, Goldcorp has used the most advanced technologies available to maximize its value. However, the implementation of optimum mine plans has been challenging to put into practice. This is due to the fact that the mine operation involves more complexity than the plans usually reflect. This challenge is a wide industry issue that presents opportunities for improvement. This technical session discusses the mine planning methodologies and procedures used to connect long, medium and short term planning strategies in order to bridge the gap and produce optimum mine plans that can be practically implemented in the field.

In the face of increasing energy costs, limited water resources, more stringent legislative requirements, lower grade and more difficult to extract base metal deposits, the mining industry is searching for more sustainable technologies and practices. To address this need, Metso Process Technology and Innovation (PTI) is conducting a research and development project to investigate alternative technologies and practices in mining and minerals processing that reduce the usage of energy, water and carbon emissions. The main objective is to propose more efficient mining and processing technologies with the target to reduce energy usage by >30% and greenhouse gas emissions by >50% compared to that achieved currently in the mining industry. Key areas of interest were identified across mining and processing operations and grouped into the following interrelated work areas for investigation: High Intensity Select Blasting, In-Pit Crushing and Conveying, Pre-Concentration, Energy Efficient Comminution Circuits, Coarse Mineral Flotation and Water Recovery. Investigations have included review of industrial data, modelling, simulation, laboratory and pilot scale trials, and in some areas industrial scale trials will be commenced shortly. This paper discusses the investigations and key findings for each of these project areas highlighting the possibilities for reducing energy, water usage and carbon emissions. A particular mining process may incorporate any combination of these possibilities, and requires tailored solutions based on a detailed understanding of the ore deposit, process and local conditions. Technologies exist today that can transform base metals mining into a sustainable industry of tomorrow.

BioMine was an integrated project under the sixth framework programme of research supported by the European Commission. It was dedicated to the evaluation of biohydrometallurgy to improve the exploitation of the European non-ferrous metal resources in a sustainable way.One kind of the resources considered for bioleaching is lead concentrate. The relevant studies covering pre-treatment and bio oxidation with bacteria of concentrates were done. Using Th. Ferrooxidans, L. Ferrooxidans, Th. Thiooxidans, Thiomonas intermedia and Starkeya novella bacteria, which are found in galena concentrate and optimizing the bioleaching operation, the oxidizing grade of PbS was over 90% when the conditioned concentrate realized the grain size less than 10 microns.

There are a fixed total of 21 million bitcoins available for trading with about half of this number currently in circulation. Each bitcoin is divisible to 10-8 which means a total number of units in the system of 2.1 million billion (2.1x10-15). A billion is the threshold for defining something as nano-scale. As such, a bitcoin may be considered a representative currency of a new nanoscale economy. There is nothing "real" about a bitcoin - rather, it is a virtual concept and so, is even smaller than the smallest entity of matter that we know about - a fermion! The value of a bitcoin is highly volatile fluctuating by several orders of magnitude in a day, and so, this represents a very risky investment at this point. However, their historical value over the last three and a half years has risen from the initial transaction price of a quarter of a cent to over 900 dollars - a value increase of over 26% per month. Bitcoin transactions are extremely difficult to trace and so, they are considered immune to taxation and currency control by governments. They are viewed by many as a convenient money-laundering vehicle which can be used by criminals to hide their nefarious ventures. Will Bitcoin just be a "bubble" that bursts like a tulip bulb coming to life? Or will it bloom into an annual plant that flowers and sustains itself well into the future. Only time and events will tell. This paper will explore the realm of Bitcoin and examine its potential to replace Gold as a "safe-haven" investment.

Phytoextraction is the process of harvesting a crop of plants for their metal content. This can be a remediation technology, or may yield an economic profit (phytomining). Phytomining was first proposed in the 1980s using plants that are known to accumulate more than 1% nickel on a dry weight basis, and was subsequently proposed for the precious metals gold, platinum and palladium. However, case studies for phytoextraction are difficult to find. The technology has not sustained economically-viable levels of metal recovery at field scale. Instead, the inherent value of phytomining may be its ability to support sustainable development of the mining sector in developing countries, especially in locations where artisanal and small-scale mining is practiced.Indonesia has a significant Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) industry, defined as any informal and unregulated system of gold mining. A major environmental concern is the discharge of mercury- and cyanide-contaminated waste to water or land. A new technology is needed to improve the environmental protection and human health at ASGM locations. Gold phytoextraction is a commercially-available technology that is being assessed in this country. In the context of ASGM, tailings could be contained in specific 'farming areas' and cropped for metal. Up to 1kg of gold recovered from plants growing on 1 hectare of land could be sold, generating positive revenue for the project, effectively paying for the clean-up or management of mercury pollution, reducing or mitigating environmental and human risk in the mining area.Phytoextraction has the potential to create opportunities for education and employment. New skills in agriculture would be transferable to the production of food, fibre and timber crops on land adjacent to the mining operations. Phytoextraction could therefore catalyse alternative livelihoods in ASGM areas.

The continuing Syrian crisis vividly illustrates the logics of leading world powers behavior, developing various approaches to its solution. In the first place, when making any political decision, all active key "gamblers" calculate economic consequences of possible trends in the behavior of petroleum prices at the world market and, in conformity with these considerations, try to play their "game", influencing the situation for their own sake. For instance, Russia, being a technologically backward country, is impartially interested in the growth of petroleum costs worldwide. Respectively, in this situation Russia is on the side of political forces that are able, at least, not to allow the development of collapse processes at the world petroleum market. In this sense, global policy needs, as never before, to possess a set of alternative tools capable to affect the situation by purely engineering methods.Up-to-date mining and chemical science and technology provide such opportunities.In particular, the process of coal liquefaction in the immediate vicinity of the mining face, which we have developed, allows not only obtaining artificial liquid fuel in underground conditions at a lower price in comparison with natural petroleum, but also rejecting the use of railway services for delivering coal mines production to its destination place.

Artisanal mining represents, perhaps, the most egregious problem for the worldwide mining industry. Artisanal miners, over 30 million around the world, devastate the local environment in which they operate affecting all three environments - the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, and the atmosphere. The practices used are old "by-hand" mining techniques mixed together with some modern practices that are very dangerous when not performed in an appropriate manner. Artisanal miners mine for many different commodities, but gold is the predominant treasure. For ease of extraction, most of these operations use mercury which leads to significant pollution of lakes and rivers as well as affecting the health and safety of local communities. This paper will discuss the different approaches being taken by governments around the world to attempt to regulate, control or eliminate these activities. The focus will be on working with the miners to educate them about the dangerous methods they are using that can come back to affect them and their families well in the future. This education process also involves teaching them how to significantly enhance their recovery of gold and to reduce their costs while at the same time establishing practices to reduce the impact on the environment and occupational safety.

In the world, including Hungary, there are several depleting oil and natural gas fields. In Hungary, there is a mining and a governmental regulation stating that when the depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs get abandoned, the wells drilled on them should also be liquidated. However, the liquidation of the abandoned hydrocarbon fields involve very high expenses for the companies in the hydrocarbon industry.On the other hand, in the forthcoming decades, the European Union and Hungary should decrease the CO2 and the so-called greenhouse gas emission in order to contribute to the sustainable development and the environmental protection. One of the possibilities to decrease the CO2 emission is the capture and storage of the concentrated carbon dioxide released in geological formations. The depleted oil and natural gas fields have already proven that they are capable of trapping the fluids for millions of years, thus, the possibility of long-term safe storage of carbon dioxide is the highest in these reservoirs. It seems to be obvious that the depleting hydrocarbon fields should be used as long-term safe CO2 and greenhouse gas storages instead of their liquidation.In our presentation we demonstrate an analytic calculation method to estimate the carbon dioxide storage capacity of depleted oil and gas fields. It is a detailed calculation which, apart from the simple volumetric view estimation, takes the current production and depletion state of the oil and gas wells into account as well. We show the laboratory measurement device which is able to monitor the filtration properties of the supercritical state carbon dioxide at reservoir conditions. Finally, we present how they can be used to determine the capacity of the carbon dioxide injection well.

Cement production requires comminution of a variety of feed materials to very fine sizes. Different equipment is used to achieve these levels of fineness at the designed production rates. More recently a trend towards the use of high-pressure grinding rolls has developed to reduce the reliance on ball mills. As new cement product mixes are being sought to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, changes in grinding philosophies are being examined. For example, is it more efficient to grind the constituents separately or together? This decision and other issues will be examined in this paper.Presenter: Sixto Aguero Starkman

Mine closure planning is an evolving activity that today includes the development of a parallel economy based on non-mining support. The options available to a company to create a new community or use an existing one to support the non-working life-style of its employees have switched in recent years to the use of fly-in-fly-out camps. While this approach may reduce infrastructure costs, over the long term the best choice may depend on a myriad of factors such as orebody life and value, remoteness of the mine site, availability of an existing community, culture of existing inhabitants, availability of trained workers, etc. Many mining companies today are recognizing that a new community needs to develop a multi-dimensional economy that initially might integrate with the production activities of the mine, but eventually needs to be able to stand on its own post-mining. This paper describes a novel approach to creating entrepreneurs in a remote mine site that can grow the community in a sustainable one that can survive the eventual succession of the dominant industrial activity.

The intensive use of productive land for industrial expansion vis-a-vis increasing biotic pressure is a major problem in developing countries. Western Kachchh region in India is no exception to this, wherein, a 406 km stretch of coastal tract has undergone aggressive maritime developments (10 ports), industrial developments viz. Thermal power stations (05 no), cement industries (05 no) and special economic zones (12 no). The region also has 03 major opencast mines (lignite, bauxite and limestone). The present work discusses the opportunities and options of sustainable mineral exploration and management of natural resource base of dry land ecosystem in Kachchh region. From the 21 minerals found in Gujarat state, Kachchh district is endowed with lignite, bauxite, bentonite, limestone, kaolinite, gypsum, siderite, sandstone, trap, sand and brick-earth. The lignite reserve of the district is 300MT locked up in different locations spreading across around 1200 km2, which has led to pouring in of the investors and large mining companies to set up their units in the region. Major concentrations of these economically valuable minerals (lignite, bauxite, bentonite, and limestone) are seen in the Western part of Kachchh district, which is rich with a unique biodiversity of this exclusive dry land ecosystem (Narayan Sarovar Wildlife Sanctuary - a protected area). The area has a large population of poor people, which are dependent on the natural resource base of the area. The major challenge is to balance the increasing demand for mineral resources (environmental degradation as impact of opencast mines, especially those of lignite and bauxite) and need of the local populace for natural resource. This conflicting interest of industrial development and natural resource base calls for a holistic management approach, in order to achieve a trade-off between developmental imperatives and natural resource management.

Kosovo is well known in the Balkans region as a big producer of energy from the power plants from lignite open pit mines. As a result of lignite burning, a large amount of fly ash is discharged, which causes a great impact in the environment. In the same time, the considerable amount of fly ash is available for recycle use, mainly by adding fly ash to cement. However, the use of fly ash in cement industry is limited because the production rate of cement and the concentration of fly ash in cement are limited. Using fly ash in the underground base metals mines, like hydraulic filling is a potential area which can provide scope for environmentally safe and large volume utilization of fly ash. On the other hand, the use of fly ash in the form of hydraulic filling increases the safety of mining facilities and setting, affecting the work efficiency of the mining method. In the TREPCA mine (Kosovo), we started using fly ash as a hydraulic filling material within the underground mining method "Cut and fill". Prior to the use of fly ash in mine, there were series of laboratory examinations and reviews on physical model. The water used in the formation of pulp for hydraulic transport is fully connected with fly ash particles in ore-pas, which means that there is no need to pump out additional amount of water. In this paper, the results of these examinations in the laboratory, as well as the effects of using fly ash in underground lead and zinc mines in Kosovo are presented.

The operation of fragmentation, in the field of mineral processing, usually applies mechanical energy through milling processes. The energy consumption in this stage is important to create a parameter to the viability of the iron ore processing in order to produce fines with high iron ore grade and small impurities, such as phosphorous, silica and alumina. Thus, an alternative to enhance the energy efficiency of the comminution stage is to perform a pre-treatment of the body ore using a rapid temperature change caused by microwave energy and cooling at room temperature.In this context, the present work aims to study the effectiveness of heating and cooling rates of iron ore using microwave energy to heat up and its subsequent cooling in a short period (thermal shock). The study was carried out using X-ray diffraction analysis coupled with the Rietveld method to evaluate the mineralogical composition of the iron ore samples before and after the thermal shock. Afterwards, the microscopy analysis was carried out to identify structural changes of the fissures in the samples to clarify the mechanism of the enhancement of milling. The work index (WI) measured in the milling process was used to demonstrate the efficiency of the processing route and the effect on the total energy consumption. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyze the structure of ore and the volume fraction of the fissures formed after heating and cooling with several rates. In this study, it was concluded that it is possible to economically treat the iron ore to improve the grindability with a smaller amount of energy compared to the traditional route.

Phytomining has been suggested as an alternative technique for the recovery of gold from some areas of mine tailings and mineralized soil. Plant Growth Regulators have been used to improve rates of metal phytoextraction by some plant species. However, no studies have been published the efficacy of exogenous plant growth regulators to specifically improve the performance of gold phytoextraction for plants growing in mine tailings. To evaluate the influence of plant growth regulators on Au, Ag, and Cu phytoextraction, two commercial products (NaphtaleneAcetic Acid, NAA; And Indole-3-Butyric Acid, IBA) were tested under shade-house conditions. Helianthus annuus L. (sunflower) was grown in mine tailings with a gold concentration of 2.30 mg/kg and a high concentration of Cu and Fe. Solutions of plant growth regulators were applied to plants two weeks after seeding. At the end of the seven-week growth period, a solution of sodium cyanide was applied to each pot to induce metal uptake. Results show that a plant growth regulator solution made up of NAA and IBA can increase the average Cu concentration up to 313 %, the average Ag concentrations up to 150 %, and the average Au concentrations up to 36 % relative to control treatments. This is the first evidence supporting the potential benefit of using rooting (exogenous) plant growth regulators to improve the Au, Ag and Cu concentration in plants grown at mine tailings. The application of this result could benefit directly the profit of phytomining operations.

The effects in terms of plant height, cover and number of leaves at bulk limestone mine industrial areas have been observed. The plants identified for this study were Azadirachta indica (L.) A.Juss, Dalbergia sissoo, Delonix regia and Carissa carandas L. There were significant changes in plant cover and height, while wide changes were identified in number of leaves. It has been observed that the plant species A.Indica showed (p<0.003), D.Sissoo (p<0.006), D.Regia (p<0.02) and C. Carandas (p<0.07) in number of leaves respectively. It has been identified that the limestone dust had a significant effect on the plant growth. A.Indica and D.Sissoo were less affected by limestone dust whereas C. Carandas was highly affected and D.Regia was moderately affected. It was also discovered that the C. Carandas showed less survival rate.

The mining industry has a history of applying the latest technology and techniques of the time just as the manufacturing industry does. The difference is that the manufacturing industry seems to do this more effectively. But is this the case? Can the mining industry learn from the manufacturing industry?Will the techniques apply?While the mining industry has been lagging behind the manufacturing industry, Computer IntegratedManufacturing or CIM has been evolving for the last four or five decades through the use of robotic manufacturing techniques that eliminate waste such as the Toyota Production System. In fact, Shigeo Shingo, the father of the Toyota Production System describes it as a system that "absolutely eliminates waste". Basic principles include Eliminating Overproduction, Just-in-Time and the Separation of the Worker from the Machine. The principle of "Separation of the Worker from the Machine" has been one of the keys to the application of automation in the research and in the industrial work our team applies to mining. Key technologies such as telecommunications networking, positioning, robots and plant control allow the application of this principle and will be described in this talk.In summary, this talk reviews the evolution of manufacturing and mining comparing their characteristics focusing on the latest techniques being applied. It will discuss the infrastructure required and the application of telerobotics to mining through case studies carried out by our team.

Turkey, as one of the earliest permanently settled regions in the world, is a country where the mining industry dates back to 10000 B.C. Since it occupies the significant portion of the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt, it benefits from a highly varied geology. It is the tenth ranked producer of minerals in the world in terms of diversity. Around 77 different minerals exist and 60 of them are currently exploited economically. Mining represents approximately 4 per cent of Turkey's GDP. In recent years, the value of mineral exports has been steadily increased and reached up to 4 billion USD. In this sense, Turkey can be considered to be an important player in the global mining industry. Development in technology, increasing environmental awareness in public and new laws and legislations have inevitably compelled mining sector to adhere to principles of sustainability. In February 2009, Turkey became signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, and therefore, had to come up with policies for cleaner development supported by external sources of finance. Implementing new technologies in every stage of mining industry and targeting reduction of emissions will be obligatory in the future for Turkey. This paper comprehensively presents the general overview of Turkey's Mining industry and investigates the challenges, issues, and opportunities from a sustainable perspective.

Mining of raw materials, metals processing, and recovery are crucial for our wellbeing, development of the society, and for the world economy. Mining and metals processing requires energy, water, land area, and importantly good personnel. The development of good practices, improved resource efficiency and sustainability thinking in the whole value chain are required in industrial operations. The global mineral market, driven primarily by the growing standard of living and urbanization of industrial and development countries, is expected to lead to a mineral resource gap in future years unless new mineral sources and more efficient technologies are developed. Also societal licence of operations must be earned nowadays. In addition to more efficient extraction processes, the looming resource gap requires more careful use of mineral raw materials over a wide range of products. In addition, the concentrations of metals found in primary deposits are now deeper than before and furthermore the deposits are more complex. Also secondary sources, such as end of life products, mineral residue streams, and urban landfills could offer competitive processes, starting with acceptable concentrations for a number metals which are very important in modern society together with base metals. These trends lead to a need to develop new technologies for economically sustainable extraction from low grade sources and proper management of the socio-environmental impacts related to general mineral extraction processes. There is a clear need for tools and methods that allow for more rigorous and sustainable mining, processing, and material design. A whole new value chain ought to be developed. However, the technological readiness level for a flexible utilization of low concentrate materials as a raw material is not high. Low energy efficiency and high economical costs are the main obstacles as to why low concentrate raw materials, especially mining wastes, are not refined in larger quantities.New innovative ways to utilize secondary raw material sources require skills, equipment and knowledge of hydrometallurgy and materials sciences. A series of well thought out processing steps can lead to safe landfilling and at the same time the extraction of valuable raw materials. The steps involving interrelationships between primary raw materials, secondary materials, wastes, by-products, and even substitute materials, could be designed in such way that the raw material composition can be used directly without any addition to functional material preparation. The whole value chain needs to be clarified and technology gaps filled.

Frei Martinho, Picu and Pedra Lavrada are towns in Paraiba State whose main primary economy is the mineral activity, as the semi-arid climate does not favor the agricultural practice. The mentioned towns are seated in the central portion of Borborema Province, where pegmatite zoned bodies are intrusive in mica-schist of Serido Formation. In addition to industrial minerals (quartz, feldspar, muscovite), there are also rare minerals (beryl, tourmaline, aquamarine, tantalite) used as gems or in the electronic industry. The mining is made by gold miners, as the small dimensions of ore bodies do not allow the installation of midsize and large enterprises. As a result of it, so far, there is not a systematic research planning, mining, safety at work, recovery of degraded areas. The pegmatites usually occur in structural highs, i.e., on the hinges and flanks of anticlines, facilitating open pit mining for industrial minerals and rare minerals associated. The underground mining is done as a continuity of surface mining, where concentrations of rare minerals occur at depths greater than those reached by the rudimentary methods of disassembly. Two-hundred meters deep wells are built, and they have difficult access, offering dangers to the miners. Due to socio-economic and industrial importance of prospecting activity in the area, the present study will address strategies for improvements in the general working conditions in gold digging, such as sustainability, security, environment, and health and life quality.

Recent reclamation work on waste and tailings materials from PGM processing operations suggest that phyto-mining is a viable process in certain cases. This paper will describe the process of scheduling phyto-mining within a plan to remediate a waste dump that requires stabilization. The recovery of PGMs can off-set some of the costs of such reclamation activities. The form of the metals recovered into the plant cells suggests that active catalysts can be created without significant downstream processing of the plants.Presenter - Ms. Peipei Shi

In 2006, a tragic accident took place at the Sullivan mine in Kimberley, B.C. Four people died as the result of their entering into an oxygen-depleted sampling station located at the toe of a waste dump. The dump had been in active use for over 50 years and the sampling shed in place for about 5 years without any problem. The accident was reported by the BC Chief Inspector of Mines as being "unprecedented in the history of mining". The accident demonstrates that reclamation sites can be a danger only recognizable if a risk assessment is carried out on a regular basis each year after closure. Annual assessments are needed since physical, chemical and environmental factors at the site affect oxygen-depletion that change over time. In this paper, an Atmospheric Fuzzy Risk Assessment (AFRA) tool will be described that can identify a possible confined space danger at a waste dump undergoing reclamation. The tool uses fuzzy logic in a rule-based expert system to transfer knowledge on atmospheric hazards. AFRA can help mining engineers and other safety professionals to recognize this danger at a reclamation site while developing an inventory of confined space issues at any site.

Decisions on a considerable number of mining projects in Canada are being affected by issues related to First Nations communities. This paper will review the First Nations issues with respect to resource development. The historical nature of these issues is requiring mining companies to rethink how they approach mine development especially with respect to community engagement and value-sharing. Examples of successful engagement and unsuccessful efforts will be presented.

Mineral exploration and processing is a major industrial sector in India and contributor to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The present study briefs the history of Kolar Gold Mines (KGM), options for further mineral exploration and opportunities in implementing new scientific tools for sustainable mining and environmental management. With a recorded history of 200 years of mining activities, KGM at Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), were once considered world's second deepest gold mine. The KGM have so far produced 800 tonne of gold per 51 million tonne of gold bearing rock. During 1972, Bharat Gold Mines Limited (BGML) took over KGM. The KGM yielded 47g of gold per tonne of ore during 1881-1890. However, during 1990s the returns were 03g/t due to the depletion of the high grade ore reserve and increase in production costs, which lead to its closure few years later. Mine wastes in the form of rock fragments and mill tailings have been stacked in huge piles and heaps, occupying about 15 to 20% of the lease area. In 1994, BGML floated 02 global tenders a) exploration and exploitation of gold in leasehold area, and b) extraction of gold from mine tailings. Notwithstanding earlier attempts of joint explorations, there have been recent initiatives for the revival of these mines. BGML has 33 million tonnes of tailings with 0.72g/t gold spread all over the mining township of KGF. We have recently initiated a study exploring the potential of gold phytomining from tailings at KGF. Chelate assisted phytoextraction, effect of co-metal ions on phytoextraction and metal accumulation with respect to soil particle size are being explored for optimizing gold extraction. The study also attempts at issues such as leachate studies with respect to gold and chelates. Thus, the present study aims at sustainable mineral exploration and integrating environmental management.

There is increased interest in developing advanced wastewater treatment technologies for the management of otherwise difficult-to-treat (recalcitrant) wastewaters such as Mining Influenced Waters (MIWs, e.g., acid rock drainage) from metal mine sites, industrial process waters from industrial facilities such as those associated with artisanal mining operations, landfill leachates, and contaminated runoff and percolates from phytoremediation sites. While the management of such waters can be achieved using conventional wastewater treatment methods, such methods are costly, labour-intensive, often generate byproducts which in turn must be managed, and their practicality for very long term treatment is questionable. The Mining Industry has been active in defining much more passive bioreactor-based methods to treat MIWs using aerobic and anaerobic bioreactors such as aerated sub-surface flow engineered wetlands (EWs) for removing contaminants amenable to aerobic degradation or conversion (Higgins et al., 2010), and anaerobic sulphate-reducing biochemical reactors (BCRs) for removing dissolved metals and metalloids (Mattes et al., 2010).Engineered Bioreactor Systems (EB Systems) have now been developed which allow the very effective treatment of many sorts of otherwise recalcitrant wastewaters in more economic treatment systems; Ones which require little operator attention or maintenance; And which can easily and consistently meet stringent discharge criteria over extended periods. Semi-passive EB Systems can involve in-ground aerobic and anaerobic bioreactors which may be insulated, buried or located under deep water to allow them to operate efficiently even under the severest environmental conditions.This paper will review the classification of passive and semi-passive in-ground wetlands and bioreactors and the conditions needed for their long-term successful operations. In particular, the applicability of integrating water treatment with phytomining to sustainably manage mine waste at artisanal and small-scale gold mines will be explored. The potential of phytomining residual gold from ASGM tailings was proposed by Krisnayanti et al. (2012). However, the potential discharge of leachate from phytomines is problematic. EB Systems to treat recalcitrant wastewaters at ASGM could address this problem. The paper will summarize the results of bench, pilot- and field-scale projects using them. The paper also will present the results of test programs which have allowed the updating of the designs of engineered bioreactors from their earlier empirical bases to those based on advanced reaction kinetics.

This paper reports a research correlating worldview with the support of modern resource development. A factor analysis was used to develop multivariate correlations for the answers to an exhaustive worldview questionnaire. An invitation to participate in the questionnaire was made to people from a wide variety of geographical, vocational and social backgrounds and the results suggest that, for this group at least, queries into worldview are predictive of support for resource development.It is postulated that the worldviews that are represented in disputes with Western resource development arose from the philosophical splits that occurred in the mid to late 18th Century. The empirical worldview of the Utilitarians is still being opposed by the value-based worldview of the Romantics. With the participation of a proliferation of non-government organizations in vetting resource development projects as encouraged by the Brundtland Commission, the concept of "sustainability" has been consolidated in the minds of all parties to such development. However, a study of resource development conflicts points out that environmental and social issues, being always the stated points of opposition, are often proxies for the underlying concerns which are rooted in the opposing worldviews held by the resource developer, the affected community members and the external interveners. Therefore, attempts to address the stated environmental or social issue result in frustration and sometimes failure because the underlying worldview causes of the conflict are not articulated or addressed.The theoretical and research underpinnings of the hypothesis are used to revisit a previous resource development failure in order to demonstrate that sources of conflict are generally much deeper than the oft articulated issues of environmental and social problems.

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