1. Organic matter degradation in paper sludge amendments over gold mine tailings
- Author
-
Cousins, Christine, Penner, Glenn H., Liu, Bruce, Beckett, Peter, and Spiers, Graeme
- Subjects
- *
BIODEGRADATION of organic compounds , *GOLD mining , *METAL tailings , *SEWAGE sludge , *PAPER , *NUCLEAR magnetic resonance , *FOURIER transform infrared spectroscopy , *CHEMICAL speciation , *SOIL amendments - Abstract
Abstract: The long-term stability of paper sludge amendments as covers for reclaimed mine waste storage facilities must be assessed by the mining industry. This study examines a 6 yr old sequence of paper sludge amendments applied over wastes from historic Au mines located in Northern Ontario, Canada. As paper sludge is mostly comprised of C-rich organic compounds, elemental quantification, 13C cross polarization/magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (13C CP/MAS NMR) spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were used to examine the minimal changes in the C content and speciation observed of the amendments over time. These results suggest that paper sludge covers are suitable for use in medium to long-term mining reclamation strategies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2009
- Full Text
- View/download PDF