Tails of the Tailings

This essay will encourage you to think about solutions to pollution beyond the simple-minded plans of throwing buckets of money down the “well”

If you have found this site because of the social / political essays which certainly dominate the content, thank you. However, this essay may be applicable to a wide range of interests beyond the usual ideologies which debate here and in the feedback. This essay is intended to inform readers who might be seeking to learn more about environmental issues; no, not necessarily climate change. This essay will encourage you to think about solutions to pollution beyond the simple-minded plans of throwing buckets of money down the “well” to do whatever it is that much paper is supposed to do to whatever is down there that someone doesn’t want in “their well.” The quoted words are to indicate a metaphor for: back yard, public park land, a nearby lake or stream, et cetera. Got it, good. And if you don’t understand that much, this may not be your “cup of tea.”

Extracting copper from the Earth also brings up trace amounts of numerous materials accepted as toxic to humans. The list of those materials includes mercury, arsenic, lead, asbestos-like fibers and the always popular but never specific “air pollution”. Although recent events associated with the Wohan Laboratory operated by the Chinese have discredited the objectivity of the World Health Organization, it is nevertheless reasonable to accept that these chemicals are legitimate concerns for public health.² But processing copper produces a product called copper slag which in itself is designated as non-hazardous waste.

Confused yet? Well enjoy…

So if the hazardous materials associated with copper in the act of mining are somehow removed during processing, how is it these toxins are escaping by themselves into groundwater where no mining is taking place?

Take for example the popular tourist attraction near Butte, Montana known as the Berkeley Pit. Thirty-five thousand tourists visit this abandoned open pit copper mine yearly. The mine was in operation until the late 1970’s. The dewatering pumps, which kept the bottom dry enough for trucks and equipment to work, were finally shut off in 1982. The pit then filled with water which today is some 1000 feet deep. But this water is not just your average groundwater or rain and snow run off. Nor is this water simply the result of processing the copper and using the pit as a collection basin for the wastewater from the processing plant. This water is deadly poison.

While the government spends millions of dollars each year covering much of the cost of the water treatment processes known as polishing, others from the private sector are working to develop their own processes. The biggest player for now is Atlantic-Richfield. Since A-R acquired the pit they have received millions in government funds to subsidize their operation of polishing the toxic wastewater from the pit and discharging EPA acceptable clean water into the a creek where it finds its way downstream just a few short miles to a wildlife santuary located in the heart of the Western migratory bird flyway.

Sadly, the volume of wastewater being polished is barely enough to hold the water level in the pit constant. In fact when the level is constant for just a couple of years it is celebrated as progress. But average yearly rainfall plus the annual snow melt from the surrounding Rocky Mountains can quickly overcome current treatment volumes.

As of this writing a division of Mitsubishi is working to bring a process plant to Butte, Montana which, if brought online successfully, would produce commercially applicable hydrogen from the the water in the pit. This venture would not only enhance the rate of the detoxification of the pit, but it would be a source of enough clean burning hydrogen to meet the electric power needs of much of Los Angeles, California.

But if you think producing clean fuel from a toxic water source is maybe a bit of a dream, maybe even a scam, consider the Palo Verde electric station in Arizona. The Palo Verde station, some 50 miles west of Phoenix, holds the record of being the largest annual generator of electricity in the United States. And it is kept operational by using sewage water pumped to it from nearby cities. You read that right. The nuclear plant that annually produces the most electricity in the United States relies on wastewater from sewage plants yet produces zero carbon “climate changing” emissions! OK, now you already know more about carbon emissions than John Kerry.

Meanwhile, back to Montana’s largest tourist attraction. To find out more about what becomes of the hazardous materials such as the lead or other metals removed from the pit water, you will have to wait for another essay. Or visit the pit and find out for yourself. You will come away believing in thinking outside the box for solutions to pollution.

Here are a couple of reports for those who are really really interested.

1: THOMAS 2013 ET EL

Fine tailings used as substitute material for common sand in concrete mixture have demonstrated they improve the overall performance of the concrete. “using up to 60% copper tailings as part of sand, showed that the performance of concrete mixes designed at water/cement ratios of 0.40, 0.45 and 0.50 improved with the use of copper tailings up to 30% for compression strength, flexural strength, pull-off strength, drying shrinkage, water permeability and abrasion resistance.” Ravindra K.Dhir OBE, …Chao Qun Lye, in Sustainable Construction Materials: Copper Slag, 2017

2: Sustainable Construction Materials: Copper Slag, 2017

The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA, 1991) and the Basel Convention of 1996 (Alter, 2005). made the decision to exclude copper slag from the hazardous waste list under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1991, That decision was based on the investigation of several industrial processing wastes, including copper slag, copper tailings and calcium sulfate wastewater treatment plant sludge, from 91 plants located in 29 states. The 1996 decision by the United Nations Basel Convention removed the restrictive designation of copper slag as a hazardous waste for the purposes of international shipments for disposal. That decision was based on studies from several countries including Canada as well as the United States.