Mine and Industrial Site Remediation for Closure –
Tools and Global Case Studies

A two-day workshop summarising emerging themes in best practice for site closure - with global case studies – and identifying knowledge gaps.

With Andy Fourie (University of Western Australia), Steve Rock (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), David McMillan (Natresco & Assoc. Ltd, U.S.), David Tongway (Fellow, CSIRO & Australian National University), Mark Tibbett (University of Western Australia), Alan Baker (United Kingdom and University of Melbourne, Australia) and Isabel Weiersbye (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg)

The theme of the 3rd International Seminar on Mine Closure, Mine Closure 2008, highlights a fundamental principle of sustainable development - the conversion of waste to resources. This pre-Seminar workshop summarises emerging themes in best practice for site closure, and seeks to identify knowledge gaps and needs for the mining, metals and waste management industries.

Mining activities, tailings and waste, and industrial facilities have the potential to act as sources for the degradation of water and soil resources. Degradation can compromise the economic viability and safety of land-use on surrounding properties, as well as on the site itself. Source control and mitigation of impacts are therefore essential from a number of perspectives – for legal compliance, to meet ISO, SOX and other obligations, to minimize the future costs of site closure, and to minimise the exposure of the industry and future land-users to liabilities. Various technologies are available for point-source control, and for the remediation of groundwater, soils and waste.

The workshop provides an overview for decision-makers, managers and practitioners on the major themes from Mine Closure 2006 and Mine Closure 2007, and current best practice and emerging technologies for containment of waste facilities, and rehabilitation of soil and water resources. Case studies will be described in the context of site safety and regulatory acceptance. Aspects include setting appropriate objectives and closure criteria; energy-efficient landform design and geotechnical approaches; landscape function, carbon sequestration and biotic attributes; bioremediation approaches, and evapotranspiration (ET) covers to minimise seepage and acid mine drainage.

Topics to be discussed include a framework and the identification of technically-achievable criteria for site closure. Examples of projects implemented on mine and industrial sites will be described in the context of objectives achieved for technical performance, energy conservation, minimisation of cost and emissions, and site regulatory approvals. Lessons learned from the USEPA Alternative Covers Assessment Program (ACAP), and the implementation of Bio- and Phytoremediation technologies on a wide range of industrial and mining sites in the U.S., Australia, Europe and southern Africa will be highlighted.

Professor Andy B. Fourie is a geotechnical engineer and Professor of Geomechanical properties of tailings residues at the University of Western Australia (previously the University of the Witwatersrand). He is co- Principal of the Mine Closure Seminar series, and Co-Chairman (Australia) and co-Editor of Mine Closure 2008. Andy has extensive experience in risk assessment and consulting to industry, with over 20 years of expertise in the design and assessment of artificial landforms and waste deposits, the deposition of tailings – including thickened paste, and the design and performance assessment of waste facilities and covers for landfilled waste and mine tailings storage facilities. Andy lectures and reviews for numerous journals and scientific and government institutions worldwide. He has a special interest in evapotranspiration (ET) covers and the Australian Alternative Covers Assessment Programme (ACAP) for the design and testing of evapotranspiration covers on waste deposits and tailings. Andy is on the editorial boards for the International Journal of Surface Mining and Rehabilitation, Geotextiles and Geomembranes and Geosynthetics International, and the International Journal of Hazardous Waste Management. Andy has co-authored over 70 scientific papers and conference proceedings, including book chapters, and reviews for numerous scientific journals and industries.

Dr Steve Rock is an environmental engineer based at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), and has over 20 years of experience in applied science. Steve specialises in the implementation and testing of emerging phytotechnologies, and the development of training courses for regulators, scientists and engineers. He has a special interest in the development of soil covers from waste materials, and leads the Alternative Covers Assessment Programme (ACAP) for the design and testing of evapotranspiration (ET) covers on waste deposits. Steve has authored numerous scientific reports, and provides expert support to advisory committees and panels. He is the host of the web-based PHYTOREM user-group – a USEPA initiative that facilitates free global information sharing on phytotechnologies in order to foster environmentally and economically-sound methods of land and waste remediation.

David McMillan is Principal of Natresco & Associates, Ltd, a United States-based natural resource and environmental consulting firm established in 2000. David focuses on the design of bioremediation technologies for land-filled waste and contaminated sites, and natural landscaping. He has authored three scientific papers on soil science and numerous reports on bioremediation approaches, including the use of fungi to treat organic contaminants. Projects have included the design of vegetative covers for industrial and fly-ash landfills, and remediation strategies for organics (TCE-PCE, PAH, PCB, BTEX), hydrocarbons and chlorides in soils or shallow groundwater using plant or fungal-based technologies. David has a special interest in the implementation of evapotranspiration (ET) covers, and Natresco is partnered with the USEPA for the development of training courses for regulators, scientists and engineers.

David Tongway is a fellow of the Australian National University and CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems in Australia, and has over 30 years of experience in the ecology of disturbed lands in a range of climates and environments. David is a landscape and soil ecologist who specialises in the determinant principles of how natural landscapes work as ecosystems. These principles can be put to work to design restoration or rehabilitation for degraded lands, mined lands and tailings. David currently works on the criteria for rehabilitating mined lands and tailings for bond return. Together with colleagues in Australia, David developed the landscape function analysis (LFA) and ecosystem function analysis (EFA) approaches to monitoring of landscape condition. He currently provides mentoring and training in LFA and EFA worldwide, and has authored 67 scientific publications, including 16 book chapters; is the Editor of two books, and
author of numerous consultant reports to industry. David received the CSIRO award for a lifetime contribution to science, and is currently an advisor to the United Nations on the restoration of a wardevastated environment and a consulting scientist to the mining industry. He is working on a new book on ecological restoration for practitioners.

Professor Alan J.M. Baker is a plant scientist with over 30 years of experience in the biology of metallophyteflora on five continents. Alan mentors researchers, practitioners and graduate students, and consults to themetals and mining industry. In addition to Europe, Australasia and the USA, he has worked in ThePhilippines, Thailand, New Caledonia, Sri Lanka, PR China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Brazil, CostaRica, Cuba, Chile and Mexico. Alan recently retired as Professor of Botany at the University of Melbourne,Australia, prior to which he was based at the University of Sheffield, U.K. Alan specialises in the biology ofmetallophytes – plants that grow in metal-rich substrata; and their conservation and use by the metals andmining industry. This ranges from phytoremediation to geobotanical techniques for mineral exploration,biomining using metal hyperaccumulator plants, and strategies for the conservation of biodiversity atmining sites. Major themes are the development of metallophyte floras, and the ecology and physiology ofmetal-hyperaccumulating species. Alan has authored 173 scientific publications, including 23 book chapters,~200 conference presentations, numerous reports and has 5 shared patents in addition to serving as anexpert scientist on international advisory committees, panels and working groups. He lectures and reviewsfor numerous journals, and serves on the Advisory Panel of the IUCN-ICMM Post-Mining Alliance, based atthe Eden Project (UK). Alan is Editor-in-Chief (Inorganic Contaminants) of the International Journal ofPhytoremediation, and Member of the Editorial Advisory Boards of the journals Land Contamination andReclamation, Environment International, Environmental Geochemistry and Health, Environmental Pollution,Agrochimica and the Journal of Environmental Sciences (China).

Isabel Weiersbye is a plant scientist with the Restoration and Conservation Biology Research Group at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Isabel has 14 years of experience in the mitigation of impacts for the metals and mining industry, and leads the Ecological Engineering and Phytoremediation research programme, established in 1995. This cross- disciplinary programme undertakes R & D projects in partnership with mining and metals industries, and involves a number of scientists and post-graduates. Isabel works on the remediation of tailings and waste, and contaminated soils and water using native flora in partnership with community-based businesses. She is a consulting scientist to the metals industry and Government, where she focuses on biogeochemistry and risk minimisation (inorganic contaminants), mine closure planning and the design, implementation and evaluation of bio- and phytotechnologies to convert hazardous wastes to resources for the gold, uranium, platinum, base and other metals industries. Isabel has authored 30 scientific papers and proceedings, ~100 scientific conference abstracts and numerous reports, and received an international award and four national awards for applied scientific research, including a THRIP Excellence award for science and sustainable development from the National Research Foundation of South Africa. Isabel is the Chairman (South Africa) and co-Editor of Mine Closure 2008.

Professor Mark Tibbett is a soil scientist and Director of the Centre for Land Rehabilitation (CLR) and DeputyDirector of the Centre for Applied Organic Geochemistry, both at the University of Western Australia. TheCLR is a multi-disciplinary centre applying soil science, geomechanics, hydrology, soil biology, plantnutrition, plant biology, ecology and resource economics to the management of disturbed lands. The CLR isinvolved in professional training, research and post- and undergraduate supervision. The Centre for AppliedOrganic Geochemistry node at the UWA is developing a focus on soil organic matter dynamics. Markspecialises in soil science, and in particular in the nutrient (especially phosphorus and carbon) andmicroflora dynamics of disturbed and polluted terrestrial environments, decomposition in soils and thedevelopment of soil flora and stability in disturbed lands. He has experience in a range of environments –from cool temperate to tropical, and in Europe and Australasia. Mark lectures and reviews for numerousjournals and scientific and government institutions in the U.K., Europe and, Australia and is the AssociateEditor for the journal Restoration Ecology, and on the Editorial Advisory Committee of the Australian Journalof Botany. He is editor of 5 books and has authored 75 scientific papers, chapters and conferenceproceedings, numerous reports to industry and government institutions, and over 60 conferencepresentations. Mark is co-Principal of the Mine Closure seminar series, and Co-Chairman (Australia) and co-Editor of Mine Closure 2008.

Day 1 – Monday 13th October 2008
Session Chairs: Isabel Weiersbye and Andy Fourie

Emerging Themes in geotechnical best practice – lessons from Mine Closure 2006 and 2007
- Andy Fourie, University of Western Australia, Perth

Landscape function and information sources for mine closure
- David Tongway, CSIRO and Australian National University

Lunch – Chiefs Boma

Emerging Themes in Remediation best practice for polluted sites

• Steve Rock, the United States Environmental Protection Agency
  
• David McMillan, Natresco & Associates, U.S.

Tea and Coffee Break

Metallophytes and phytoremediation
- Alan Baker, U.K. and University of Melbourne, Australia

Tea and Coffee Break

Lessons for decision makers from the USEPA Alternative Covers Assessment Program (ACAP)
- Steve Rock

Case Studies on Industrial and Mine Sites
- Dave McMillan

Phytotechnologies – overview, possibilities and costs
- Isabel Weiersbye, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Tea and Coffee Break

Workshop Ends