Geochemical Occurrence of Rare Earth Elements in Mining Waste and Mine Water: A Review

Minerals

卷:11

Christos Karkalis¹  Nikolaos Koukouzas¹  Konstantina Pyrgaki¹  Vasiliki Gemeni¹  Petros Koutsovitis²  Petros Petrounias² 

[1] Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas (CERTH), 52 Egialias, Marousi, GR-15125 Athens, Greece;

[2] Department of Geology, Section of Earth Materials University of Patras, GR-26504 Patras, Greece;

关键词: rare earth elements;    mining waste utilisation;    acid mine drainage;   

DOI  :  10.3390/min11080860

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Μining waste, processing by-products and mine water discharges pose a serious threat to the environment as in many cases they contain high concentrations of toxic substances. However, they may also be valuable resources. The main target of the current review is the comparative study of the occurrence of rare earth elements (REE) in mining waste and mine water discharges produced from the exploitation of coal, bauxite, phosphate rock and other ore deposits. Coal combustion ashes, bauxite residue and phosphogypsum present high percentages of critical REEs (up to 41% of the total REE content) with ΣREY content ranging from 77 to 1957.7 ppm. The total REE concentrations in mine discharges from different coal and ore mining areas around the globe are also characterised by a high range of concentrations from 0.25 to 9.8 ppm and from 1.6 to 24.8 ppm, respectively. Acid mine discharges and their associated natural and treatment precipitates seem to be also promising sources of REE if their extraction is coupled with the simultaneous removal of toxic pollutants.

【 授权许可】

Unknown