Acid mine drainage (AMD) is formed by the natural oxidation of sulphide minerals, which are exposed to air and water, the main characteristics are: acid pH, moderate to high concentration of metals; high concentration of sulfates, high electrical conductivity, high suspended solids content.
The acid drainage process, once started, is difficult to be interrupted with high cost remediation techniques, so even if Brazil still does not have specific legislation to mitigate mine drainage, the adoption of studies to predict the drainage potential has been increasingly common.
The main techniques used are the physical, chemical and mineralogical characterization of the local rock record to assess the potential for acidity and neutralization generation and to simulate the process of weathering, dissolution and precipitation of minerals.
The main topics covered in this webinar will be:
What is acid mine drainage and its main characteristics;
Why bother with DAM? ;
Main laboratory analyzes used in the prediction of DAM;
Kinetic tests and static tests: what they are, when they are indicated and how to carry them out.
Carolina Bittencourt
Carolina has over 13 years of experience in Environmental Geochemistry, Aqueous Mineral Processing and Hydrometallurgy. Carolina develops hydrogeochemical models, involving mass and energy transport, assessment of mining drainage and effluent contaminated by inorganic chemicals and radionuclides. She has experience in evaluating mining projects (mainly gold, copper, lithium, uranium and rare earth ores) for feasibility and pre-feasibility studies, due diligence and audits to JORC (2012) and NI-43101 standards. From 2010 to 2015, she taught at Higher Education Institutions (Brazil) subjects related to environmental geochemistry, soil and groundwater contamination, and mineral processing. Carolina is the author of articles in the field of applied environmental geochemistry, with an emphasis on the study of acid mine drainage prediction, contamination of water resources.
