Establishing tailings associated sulfur biogeochemical cycling across the resource extractive industries

在整个资源采掘行业建立与尾矿相关的硫生物地球化学循环

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-06361
• 负责人: Warren, Lesley
• 金额: $ 2.62万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=668220
• 关键词: Establishing; tailings; associated; sulfur; biogeochemical

Mine tailings environments are one of the fastest growing and least studied biogeochemical landscapes on the planet. Every year the Canadian mining industry withdraws approximately one billion cubic meters of freshwater, approximately equivalent to ½ of our annual, renewable water supplies, which is predominantly returned to receiving environments.The alteration of this water through operational extraction activities can pose significant environmental threats. In those extractive processes, Canadian mining activities generate approximately 2 million tons of waste rock (overburden) and tailings (post-processed, toxic, aqueous slurries of highly altered, rock particles and chemical additives) daily. Because of the environmental and human health risks tailings can pose, they are typically stored on site in tailings ponds, resulting in large amounts of wastewater requiring treatment. The wastewater generated from these tailings impoundments has the potential to cause significant impacts to the downstream receiving environments if not properly treated. These tailings impoundments remain a microbial black box from which unpredictable impacts can emerge. In particular both metal mining (sulfide rich ores) and oil sands tailings, are known to be sulfur rich; and contain highly altered, varying concentrations of carbon, nitrogen and iron compounds that would enable a broad array of possible interconnections between sulfur and other biogeochemical cycles. At the global scale many existing tailings environments remain at risk of developing deleterious sulfur related impacts such as acid mine drainage, and high levels of hydrogen sulfide gas, highlighting that novel research efforts are necessary to elucidate the biogeochemical transformations governing S cycling in these contexts to better prevent such impacts. Further, as these contexts continue to increase worldwide, they will be an increasingly important contribution to the global sulfur biogeochemical cycle. The goal of the proposed innovative research program is to establish a comprehensive understanding of sulfur biogeochemical cycling occurring within tailings from across the extractive resources mining sector, from which vitally need new solutions for more sustainable management and a more comprehensive global sulfur biogeochemical model can be developed. This long-term research program goal will be met through experimental research activities that will systematically build a new knowledge platform based on the generation of mechanistic understanding of the different microbes involved, the catalyzed pathways and associated controls as well as the implications of varying electron donors and acceptors for sulfur redox cycling from a comprehensive suite of mine tailings samples. Ten HQP will receive training in cutting edge environmental biogeochemical research of critical Canadian importance.

尾矿环境是地球上增长最快且研究最少的生物地球化学环境之一，加拿大采矿业每年抽取约 10 亿立方米淡水，大约相当于我们每年可再生水供应的 1/2，这些水主要返回到水源中。在这些开采过程中，加拿大的采矿活动会产生约 200 万吨废石（覆盖层）和尾矿（后处理的有毒含水物质）。由于尾矿可能造成环境和人类健康风险，因此它们通常储存在尾矿池中，从而产生大量需要处理的废水。如果处理不当，蓄水池可能会对下游接收环境造成重大影响，这些尾矿蓄水池仍然是一个微生物黑匣子，特别是金属采矿（富含硫化物的矿石）和石油。众所周知，砂尾矿富含硫；并且含有高度变化的、不同浓度的碳、氮和铁化合物，这使得硫和其他生物地球化学循环之间存在广泛的可能的相互联系。产生与硫相关的有害影响的风险，例如酸性矿山排水和高含量的硫化氢气体，强调需要开展新的研究工作来阐明这些区域中控制硫循环的生物地球化学转变此外，随着这些环境在全球范围内不断增加，它们将对全球硫生物地球化学循环做出越来越重要的贡献。拟议的创新研究计划的目标是建立对正在发生的硫生物地球化学循环的全面了解。在整个采掘资源采矿业的尾矿中，迫切需要新的解决方案来实现更可持续的管理，并开发更全面的全球硫生物地球化学模型，这一长期研究计划的目标将通过以下方式实现。实验研究活动将以某种方式建立一个新的知识平台，该平台基于对所涉及的不同微生物、催化途径和相关控制的机械理解，以及不同电子供体和受体对硫氧化还原循环的影响。尾矿样品的十个总部将接受对加拿大至关重要的尖端环境生物地球化学研究的培训。