effects acid mine drainage
Acid Mine Drainage
AMD Remediation
how to treat acid water
mine tailings
Acid drainage is a little-known global crisis. The UN has labelled AMD as the second biggest problem facing the world after global warming. In the US, an estimated 22,000km of streams and 180,000 acres of freshwater reservoirs are affected by acid mine drainage. Rivers and lakes in Arizona, Patagonia, Guangdong (China), Ontario, Papua New Guinea and at Rio Tinto in Spain, to name just a few, have all been polluted by AMD. In South Africa, the problem is disastrous, with more than 36 million cubic meters of AMD leakages a day imploding into the regions water.

NORTH AMERICA
The cost of AMD remediation at abandoned mines alone has been estimated to be in the tens of billions USD.
“Source for costs - Dr Michael Short, School of Natural and Built Environments – UniSA, January 2016”
PINS REPRESENT MULTIPLE SITES
AUSTRALIA
18,000 AMD producing mines in Australia alone, with over 600 mines in critical need of a total acid management solution, Australia represents just 2% of the global AMD issue.
Our first commercial installation: Frances Creek Mine. NT
WHAT IS AMD?
AMD is a form of water pollution that occurs when rain, runoff, or streams come into contact with rock that is rich in sulphur. As a result, the water becomes very acidic and damages downstream aquatic ecosystems. It mostly occurs where mining is done to extract coal or metals from sulphur-bearing rocks. Silver, gold, copper, zinc, and lead are commonly found in association with metal sulphates, therefore their extraction can cause acid mine drainage. Long after those mines are closed, the effects of acid mine drainage continue to manifest and contaminate waters as well as ecosystems.
The acronym ‘AMD’ is defined here as acidic and metalliferous drainage and includes acidic drainage, pH neutral metalliferous drainage (NMD), and saline drainage (SD) generally caused by the oxidation of sulphide minerals.
AMD (as manifested by NMD or SD) can still be an issue even if a site assessment concludes that drainage with a low pH is unlikely to develop. The potential for self-heating and auto-ignition of sulfidic waste materials must be considered and assessed where needed.
