Effect of the alkaline industrial residues fly ash,green liquor dregs,and lime mud on mine tailings oxidation when used as covering material

The potential to use the alkaline residue products fly ash, green liquor dregs, and lime mud originating from paper mills as dry cover materials to seal tailings has been investigated. Metals concentration in lime mud and fly ash had the lowest and highest contents, respectively. The tailings (<1 % sulfur content, primarily pyrite) were disposed about 50 years ago and originated from the former Rönnskär mine site in Sweden. The results of chemical composition analysis show that the raw unoxidized tailings are active toward oxidation, while the components of the adjacent oxidized tailings are not. To quantify the release of metals from the tailings and to evaluate the effect of a sealing layer on oxidation and weathering of the tailings, batch leaching tests were conducted in which leachate from alkaline residue materials was fed to the tailings. The results show that a higher concentration of most trace elements is leached from the unoxidized tailings than from the oxidized tailings. Except As and Cr, the rest of analyzed metals (Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb) became immobilized in response to the increased pH as a consequence of the amendment. The three tested alkaline amendments show a similar potential for preventing the release of metals (with the exception of As and Cr) from the tailings. Under either aerobic or anaerobic conditions, microbial activity was found to be of minor importance. XRD analysis of the field samples revealed that it was feasible to use alkaline residue products in covering tailings, and that it was advantageous to use ash as a cover material more than dregs.     

Formation and composition of cemented layers in low-sulphide mine tailings, Laver, northern Sweden

Cemented layers (hardpans) are common in carbonate or sulphide-rich mine tailings and where pyrrhotite is the predominating Fe-sulphide. Laver, northern Sweden, is an abandoned Cu-mine where the tailings have low pyrrhotite content, almost no pyrite and no carbonates. Two cemented layers at different locations in the Laver tailings impoundment were investigated, with the aim to determine their effects on metal mobility. The cementing agents were mainly jarosite and Fe-oxyhydroxides in the layer formed where the tailings have a barren surface, whereas only Fe-oxyhydroxides were identified below grass-covered tailings surface. Arsenic was enriched in both layers which also exhibit high concentrations of Mo, V, Hg and Pb compared to unoxidised tailings. Sequential extraction indicates that these metals and As were mainly retained with crystalline Fe-oxides, and therefore potentially will be remobilised if the oxic conditions become more reducing, for instance as a result of remediation of the tailings impoundment.An erratum to this article can be found at     

A sensitivity study of the WRF model in offshore wind modeling over the Baltic Sea

Accurate wind modeling is important for wind resources assessment and wind power forecasting.To improve the WRF model configuration for the offshore wind modeling over the Baltic Sea,this study per-formed a sensitivity study of the WRF model to multiple model configurations,including domain setup,grid resolution,sea surface temperature,land surface data,and atmosphere-wave coupling.The simu-lated offshore wind was evaluated against LiDAR observations under different wind directions,atmo-spheric stabilities,and sea status.Generally,the simulated wind profiles matched observations,despite systematic underestimations.Strengthening the forcing from the reanalysis data through reducing the number of nested domains played the largest role in improving wind modeling.Atmosphere-wave cou-pling further improved the simulated wind,especially under the growing and mature sea conditions.Increasing the vertical resolution,and updating the sea surface temperature and the land surface infor-mation only had a slight impact,mainly visible during very stable conditions.Increasing the horizontal resolution also only had a slight impact,most visible during unstable conditions.Our study can help to improve the wind resources assessment and wind power forecasting over the Baltic Sea.