Thiosalts in the Mining Industry ─ A Review of the Projects Funded by the Thiosalts Consortium

The Thiosalts Consortium is an industry and government group, formed in 1995, to provide a forum for participants to fund projects aimed at reducing the environmental effect of thiosaltcontaminated mining effluents. The goals of the Consortium are as follows: • Fund research into practical solutions to environmental problems related to thiosalts; • Provide a forum for technology exchange and transfer; • Raise the awareness of the mining industry with respect to environmental problems; • Provide a technical basis for codes, standards and regulations; • Keep abreast of new environmental regulations; and • Establish a core group with expertise on thiosalts. In the past seven years, the Thiosalts Consortium has funded fourteen projects. This paper is a review of nine projects completed since 1998. These projects are as follows: (1) inter-laboratory measurement testing program for total thiosalts; (2) investigation of the SO2-air mixtures for thiosalts destruction from metal mining effluents, (3) thiosalt treatment by bicarbonate addition, (4) characterization of thiosalt generation during milling of sulphide ores, (5) co-precipitation of thiosalts with ferric salts, (6) acute toxicity of thiosalts to Daphnia magna and Selenastrum capricornutum, (7) direct photolytic process for the removal of thiosalts from mine effluent (8) evaluation of thiosalts oxidation by ultrasonic irradiation, and (9) photocatalysed singlet oxygen oxidation of thiosalts.