Sarcheshmeh copper mine, with the final reserves of 828 million tons of sulfur ore and average grade of 0.74%, is known to be the largest open pit of Iran and most probably the second largest copper mine in the world. This mine is located in the seismotectonic zone of Central-Iran, and 23 Km away from the 150 Km long Rafsanjan active fault.In this study the vulnerability of the west wall of the...

Mine waters and tailings generated from mining and mineral processing activities often have detrimental impact on the local environment. One example is acid mine drainage, in which sulphides in the mining waste react with water and oxygen to produce an acidic environment that subsequently dissolves host rock minerals from the waste containing toxic metals and trace elements. Copper is one such ...

The sorption efficiencies of graphene oxide (GO) and functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNTs) were investigated and elucidated to study their potential in treating acid mine drainage (AMD) containing Cu2+, Mn2+, Zn2+, Pb2+, Fe3+ and Cd2+ metal ions. Several layered GO nanosheets and f-MWCNTs were formed via the modified Hummers’ method and the acid treatment of the MWCNTs, respec...

In this study, a plant-based adsorbent was used in order to remove lead, nickel, cobalt and cadmium metals from wastewater sample collected Sungun mine real wastewater. The biosorbent one of the most abundant native plants region, named Chrysopogon zizanioides (C. zizanioides). root powder C. heavy sample. characterized by FTIR, SEM, HR-TEM, EDS, BET ZPC analyses. effect pH, initial concentrati...

The computer-based 3D modeling of ore bodies is one of the most important steps in the resource estimation, grade determination, and production scheduling of open-pit mines. In the modeling phase, the volume of the orebody model is required to be filled by the blocks and sub-blocks. The determination of Block Size (BS) is important due to the dependence of the geostatistical issues and calculat...

Copper mine drainages are restricted environments that have been overlooked as sources of new biocatalysts for bioremediation and organic syntheses. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the enzymatic activities (esterase, epoxide hydrolase and monooxygenase) of 56 heterotrophic bacteria isolated from a neutral copper mine drainage (Sossego Mine, Canaã dos Carajás, Brazil). Hydrolase and mon...

Chronic copper poisoning was investigated in ruminants within the Phalaborwa area of the Kruger National Park (KNP). Exposure of ruminants to environmental copper pollution resulting form copper smelting operations of a mine in the area was examined by comparing impala faecal copper concentrations in dung heaps and tissue (liver, lung and kidney) copper concentrations of organs collected from i...

A cross-comparison of six strains isolated from two different regions, Chambishi copper mine (Zambia, Africa) and Dexing copper mine (China, Asia), was conducted to study the leaching efficiency of low grade copper ores. The strains belong to the three major species often encountered in bioleaching of copper sulfide ores under mesophilic conditions: Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Acidithiobaci...