Editorial for special issue on mitigating the impacts of mining.pdf

Editorial for special issue on mitigating the impacts of mining Chong-chong Qi 1,2, Andy Fourie 1, Qiu-song Chen 2, and Ryan Veenstra 3 1 School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, University of Western Australia, Crawley WA 6009, Australia 2 School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China 3 Newmont Corporation, Subiaco WA 6008, Australia Dear readers, A special issue SI entitled “Mitigating the Impacts of Mining” has been successfully organized at International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials IJMMM. The primary reason for this SI lies in that this topic is gaining increasing attentions worldwide. A collection of high-quality papers will contribute to the sustainable development of the mining industry. The importance of mining to the global economy through providing a diverse range of mineral commodities cannot be underestimated. These minerals are essential to our everyday life because they are vital raw materials for numerous products we use. In addition, a large number of industries de- pend on the provision of from the mining industry, such as the manufacturing of drugs, glass, plastics, ceramics, elec- tronics, etc. It is estimated that around 250−300 million people, including their dependants, rely on mining for in- come. As we approach the end of the second decade of the 21st century, the mining industry is encountering increasing scru- tiny from society due to its social and environmental impacts, i.e., high fatality ratio, acid mine drainage, deforestation, noise, dust, air and water pollution, public health impacts, and a loss of livelihoods. Recycling, closing the production loop, cleaner production, zero waste, and recovery of re- sources are all terms frequently signaled to the mining in- dustry. Nowadays, mining operations not only need a ‘regu- latory license’ to mine, but also a ‘social license’ to operate since any tensions or disruptions arising from discontented neighbors are unaffordable. How to mitigate the impacts of mining and, at the same time, offset the increased environ- mental and social costs, is the essential question facing the mining industry. Challenges faced by the mining industry promote the ad- option of new technologies, among which big data is one that can reshape the entire mining landscape. A review by Qi [1] aims at providing an up-to-date idea about fundamental prob- lems of big data, especially big data management BDM, during its applications in the mining industry. A brief intro- duction to big data and BDM is presented and the challenges encountered by the mining industry are introduced to indic- ate the necessity of implementing big data. This paper also summarizes data sources in the mining industry and presents the potential benefits of big data to the mining industry. A fu- ture is envisioned in which a global database project is estab- lished, and big data is used together with other technologies i.e., automation, supported by government policies and fol- lowing international standards. This paper also outlines the precautions for the utilization of BDM in the mining industry. Mine closure is important for the mining industry that can generate many negative impacts to society and the environ- ment if not treated seriously. To mitigate the adverse impacts associated with mine closure, a risk management is proposed by Cui et al. [2]. They design an integral frame- work for mine closure risk management that includes risk as- sessment and risk treatment. Given the fuzziness and ran- domness contained in the transation between qualitative and quantitative knowledge in the risk assessment process, a novel risk assessment based on the cloud model is presented. Moreover, a hybrid semi-quantitative decision is proposed to optimize decision making. The results of a case study showed that this risk management o- logy can help budget planning for risk treatment and can provide an instructional framework to reduce the negative ef- fects of closed mines effectively. A large amount of mine tailings has been generated dur- ing the production of minerals and most of them are dis- charged into tailings dams. Serious safety hazards could hap- pen if these tailings dams suffer from stability problems. Wa- ter migration within tailings dam is one important factor for the stability of tailings dam. The hydraulic properties of len- ticle and its influence of moisture migration are investigated by Liu et al. [3]. An online monitoring capillary water ab- sorption device is developed in this study. Three groups of Corresponding author Chong-chong Qi E-mail chongchong.qiresearch.uwa.edu.au University of Science and Technology Beijing and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020 International Journal of Minerals , Metallurgy and Materials Volume 27, Number 8, August 2020, Page 1007 https//doi.org/10.1007/s12613-020-2152-7 comparison tests are conducted to simulate the lenticle posi- tion and thickness to the capillary rise for the first time. The results of this study increase our understanding about the moisture migration in tailings dams, which are beneficial to improve the design of tailings dam. An alternative to deal with mine tailings is the ce- mented paste backfill CPB technology. Once placed, the CPB is subjected to complex ambient conditions, which sig- nificantly affect the perance of CPB, such as water con- tent, temperature and strength. Thus, a series of laboratory programs are conducted by Wu et al. [4] to investigate effect of curing humidity on the behaviors of CPB. The obtained results indicate that ambient humidity can dramatically affect CPB in terms of its macro perance of internal relative humidity, temperature and strength, as well as the micro ex- pression. Mine tailings can not only be used in cemented paste backfill, but also be used as the raw materials in alkali-activa- tion, as explained in the review paper by Kiventer et al. [5]. Alkali-activation as a solidification/stabilization technology offers an attractive way of dealing with mine tailings by pro- ducing a hardened concrete-like structure from raw materials that are rich in aluminum and silicon, which fortunately, are the main elements in mining residues. Furthermore, alkali- activation can immobilize harmful heavy metals within the structure. This review describes the results of research relat- ing to alkali-activated mine tailings. The reactivity and chem- istry of different minerals are discussed. Since many mine tailings are poorly reactive under alkaline conditions, differ- ent pre-treatment s and their effects on the miner- alogy are reviewed. In addition, possible applications for these materials are discussed. We would like to express our sincere thanks to all authors and reviewers for their noteworthy contributions and critical assessment. Moreover, we appreciate the significant assist- ance from the editors and the publishing team in organizing and helping with the peer-review process. This special issue would not be so successful without their constant support. We believe this special issue is important, timely and will contribute to the development of this field. References C.C. Qi, Big data management in the mining industry, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 272020, No. 2, p. 131. [1] C.Q. Cui, B. Wang, Y.X. Zhao, Y.J. Zhang, and L.M. Xue, Risk management for mine closure A cloud model and a hybrid semi- quantitative decision , Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 272020, No. 8, p. 1021. [2] D. Liu, M.J. Lian, C.W. Lu, and W. Zhang, Effect of the len- ticles on moisture migration in capillary zone of tailings dam, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 272020, No. 8, p. 1036. [3] D. Wu, R.K. Zhao, C.W. Xie, and S. Liu, Effect of curing humid- ity on perance of cemented paste backfill, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 272020, No. 8, p. 1046. [4] J. Kiventer, P. Perumal, J. Yliniemi, and M. Illikainen, Mine[5] tailings as a raw material in alkali-activation A review, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 272020, No. 8, p. 1009. Chong-chong Qi is currently a professor at School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, China. He received his Bachelor degree from China University of Mining and Technology, China, and PhD de- gree from The University of Western Aus- tralia, Australia. Prof. Qi has published over 60 peer reviewed SCI papers. He is an Editor- ial Board Member of SCI journals ‘International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy, and Materials’ and ‘Advances in Civil Engineering’. Moreover, he has served as chair and committee member for many inter- national conferences. The research interests of Prof. Qi include cemen- ted paste backfill, environmental assessment and protection, mine clos- ures, construction stability, etc. Andy Fourie is a Professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at University of Western Australia, Australia. He has Bachelor and Master degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and a PhD from Imperial College, University of London, UK. After a period in consulting practice with SRK in Johannes- burg, he began an academic career at the University of Queensland, Aus- tralia. His research is inmitigating the impact of mining and municipal solid waste disposal. Andy has published over 200 articles, including more than 80 in international journals. He has recently been appointed to the ICMM International Council on Mining and Metals ‘expert review panel’ for the ICMM Global review of tailings storage facility standards and critical controls. He has contributed to a new series of guidelines for managing mine tailings in Australia, as well as developing a document for the International Atomic Energy Association on barrier systems for retainin guranium mining waste. Qiu-song Chen is an associate professor at School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, China. He has pub- lished more than 50 papers, among them around 30 are published in reputed SCI journals. Assoc. Prof. Chen has helped SCI journals review more than 60 papers and served as lead guest editor and guest editor for several special issues. The total citation was more than 800 Google Scholar and several papers have been selected as ESI highly-cited papers. Ryan Veenstra received his bachelor’s de- gree in Applied Science Geological Engin- eering from University of Waterloo, Canada. He earned his Ph.D. from University of Toronto, Canada. Dr. Veenstra has worked over 10 years for the mining industry in Aus- tralia and Canada. Dr. Veenstra is currently working as Senior backfill Engineer at New- mont Mining Corporation, Northern Territory, Australia. 1008Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater. , Vol. 27 , No. 8 , Aug. 2020