Maintenance, Remediation and Reclamation

An ongoing mining and extraction operation relies on active maintenance within an open pit, underground operation, and the surrounding mine area. Waste water released into the environment, either ground water pumped from underground operations or from within an open pit, or treated water released from the mineral processing operation, must be constantly monitored. Leach pads, tailings ponds, and their containment areas must be monitored for unintentional release of solvents and dissolved metals. Waste piles and surrounding drainage areas should be routinely checked for issues with acid mine drainage. Bruker's elemental analyzers cover a range of workflow solutions that drive efficiencies in mine site monitoring aimed at maintaining efficient mineral extraction operations.

• The field portable or mine-site optimized S2 PICOFOX and lab-focused S4 T-STAR total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) instruments provide low-operating cost, high-performance trace element analysis of liquids, suspensions, solids and contaminants down to ppb levels. These instruments provide rapid turn-around on-site data for water discharged from pit operations, waste water from mineral processing operations, contaminant monitoring of tributaries downstream of leach pads, waste piles and tailings dams.

• The handheld S1 TITAN and benchtop CTX X-ray fluorescence units can be equipped with application specific calibrations targeted at soil and stream sediment analysis for heavy metals within the vicinity of mining operations, tracking contaminant distributions. The low-cost and field-ready instruments provide rapid screening solutions to reduce the number of samples needed for more expensive techniques.

• Additional onsite and laboratory grade solutions are provided by the benchtop S2 PUMA EDXRF or high volume S8 TIGER WDXRF instruments. Equipped with the GEO-QUANT series of calibration solutions, target any major or trace element component with a high-accuracy and precision analytical approach. 

Mine reclamation has become an integral part of modern mining practice and is required by law in most countries. Reclamation includes planning before mining begins with characterization of the area needed to be returned to its prior state, and continues long after physical remediation efforts cease. Strategic plans for remediation and reclamation include choosing and implementing the right analytical tools and workflows that allow prediction of potential environmental problems, selection of appropriate materials to be used in reclamation efforts, and efficient detection and monitoring of land surfaces, groundwater and run-off. 

Bruker's diverse analytical solutions allow you to improve efficiencies and minimize costs at all stages of the mine reclamation process from prediction to monitoring, including: 

• Characterization of waste rock for potential acid mine drainage and heavy metal contamination in ground waters using the rapid scanning capabilities of the M4 TORNADO micro-XRF, micron-scale capabilities of QUANTAX EDS and AMICS automated mineralogy for scanning electron microscope, or bulk mineralogical characterization using D2 PHASER or D8 DISCOVER XRD systems. 

• Identification of locally appropriate soil types and nutrient profiles to allow more advance ecosystem regeneration using portable XRF solutions like the handheld S1 TITAN (which incorporates the ISO 13196:2013 and ISO 18227:2014 soil quality methods), countertop XRF instruments such as the CTX or S2 PUMA, and more advance analytical solutions such as the S6 JAGUAR and S8 TIGER. 

• Screening and monitoring of soil contamination above and around reclaimed mine sites using handheld XRF. Examples include the US EPA 6200 method of site boundary delineation and data collection, where in-situ results allow for determination of contamination boundaries, as well as identification of areas where samples should be collected, prepared, and reanalyzed for more detailed lab-based quantitative analysis. 

• Monitoring of runoff and groundwaters within and around reclaimed mine sites using rapid turn-around and low-cost analytical techniques such as total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) using the field transportable S2 PICOFOX and lab-based S4 T-STAR. Both TXRF spectrometers provide detection limits for many elements in the pg and ppb range and are compact plug and play systems without need for gases, media or advanced lab infrastructure making operation costs negligible. 
• Detection of heavy metal contamination around abandoned historic mines using handheld XRF to identify and provide planning data for future clean-up efforts. The rapid turn-around, high quality data allow identification and screening of potential remediation sites and screening of samples for more expensive lab-based analysis. 

Selenium (Se) is a naturally occurring element in rocks and sediments.  While Se is essential to biological organisms, it is also toxic at higher concentrations. Mining effluent can have higher concentrations of Se that may require monitoring. TXRF is an inexpensive and easy analytical technology for trace element analysis in water without dilution, consumable gasses, or complex sample preparation.