Editorial for special issue on mitigating the impacts of mining

Dear readers,

A special issue (SI) entitled “Mitigating the Impacts of Mining” has been successfully organized at International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials (IJMMM). The primary reason for this SI lies in that this topic is gaining increasing attentions worldwide. A collection of high-quality papers will contribute to the sustainable development of the mining industry.

The importance of mining to the global economy through providing a diverse range of mineral commodities cannot be underestimated. These minerals are essential to our everyday life because they are vital raw materials for numerous products we use. In addition, a large number of industries depend on the provision of input from the mining industry, such as the manufacturing of drugs, glass, plastics, ceramics, electronics, etc. It is estimated that around 250−300 million people, including their dependants, rely on mining for income.

As we approach the end of the second decade of the 21st century, the mining industry is encountering increasing scrutiny from society due to its social and environmental impacts, i.e., high fatality ratio, acid mine drainage, deforestation, noise, dust, air and water pollution, public health impacts, and a loss of livelihoods. Recycling, closing the production loop, cleaner production, zero waste, and recovery of resources are all terms frequently signaled to the mining industry. Nowadays, mining operations not only need a ‘regulatory license’ to mine, but also a ‘social license’ to operate since any tensions or disruptions arising from discontented neighbors are unaffordable. How to mitigate the impacts of mining and, at the same time, offset the increased environmental and social costs, is the essential question facing the mining industry.

Challenges faced by the mining industry promote the adoption of new technologies, among which big data is one that can reshape the entire mining landscape. A review by Qi [1] aims at providing an up-to-date idea about fundamental problems of big data, especially big data management (BDM), during its applications in the mining industry. A brief introduction to big data and BDM is presented and the challenges encountered by the mining industry are introduced to indicate the necessity of implementing big data. This paper also summarizes data sources in the mining industry and presents the potential benefits of big data to the mining industry. A future is envisioned in which a global database project is established, and big data is used together with other technologies (i.e., automation), supported by government policies and following international standards. This paper also outlines the precautions for the utilization of BDM in the mining industry.

Mine closure is important for the mining industry that can generate many negative impacts to society and the environment if not treated seriously. To mitigate the adverse impacts associated with mine closure, a risk management method is proposed by Cui et al. [2]. They design an integral framework for mine closure risk management that includes risk assessment and risk treatment. Given the fuzziness and randomness contained in the transformation between qualitative and quantitative knowledge in the risk assessment process, a novel risk assessment method based on the cloud model is presented. Moreover, a hybrid semi-quantitative decision method is proposed to optimize decision making. The results of a case study showed that this risk management methodology can help budget planning for risk treatment and can provide an instructional framework to reduce the negative effects of closed mines effectively.

A large amount of mine tailings has been generated during the production of minerals and most of them are discharged into tailings dams. Serious safety hazards could happen if these tailings dams suffer from stability problems. Water migration within tailings dam is one important factor for the stability of tailings dam. The hydraulic properties of lenticle and its influence of moisture migration are investigated by Liu et al. [3]. An online monitoring capillary water absorption device is developed in this study. Three groups of comparison tests are conducted to simulate the lenticle position and thickness to the capillary rise for the first time. The results of this study increase our understanding about the moisture migration in tailings dams, which are beneficial to improve the design of tailings dam.

An alternative method to deal with mine tailings is the cemented paste backfill (CPB) technology. Once placed, the CPB is subjected to complex ambient conditions, which significantly affect the performance of CPB, such as water content, temperature and strength. Thus, a series of laboratory programs are conducted by Wu et al. [4] to investigate effect of curing humidity on the behaviors of CPB. The obtained results indicate that ambient humidity can dramatically affect CPB in terms of its macro performance of internal relative humidity, temperature and strength, as well as the micro expression.

Mine tailings can not only be used in cemented paste backfill, but also be used as the raw materials in alkali-activation, as explained in the review paper by Kiventerä et al. [5]. Alkali-activation as a solidification/stabilization technology offers an attractive way of dealing with mine tailings by producing a hardened concrete-like structure from raw materials that are rich in aluminum and silicon, which fortunately, are the main elements in mining residues. Furthermore, alkali-activation can immobilize harmful heavy metals within the structure. This review describes the results of research relating to alkali-activated mine tailings. The reactivity and chemistry of different minerals are discussed. Since many mine tailings are poorly reactive under alkaline conditions, different pre-treatment methods and their effects on the mineralogy are reviewed. In addition, possible applications for these materials are discussed.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all authors and reviewers for their noteworthy contributions and critical assessment. Moreover, we appreciate the significant assistance from the editors and the publishing team in organizing and helping with the peer-review process. This special issue would not be so successful without their constant support. We believe this special issue is important, timely and will contribute to the development of this field.