review · Heliyon
Mining wastewater harms ecosystems, making effective treatment before discharge essential. Several established commercial technologies, including SAVMIN, SPARRO, Biogenic sulphide, and DESALX, combine two or more separation processes to recover salts and reclaim more than 95 percent of water for reuse. Alongside these commercial systems, pilot-scale and laboratory-stage technologies are being developed to extract and remove metals. However, certain treatment operations generate hazardous sludge and secondary waste streams that require careful management. While laboratory-tested adsorption methods demonstrate promising treatment capabilities, significant knowledge gaps remain regarding adsorbent reusability, toxic sludge management, and overall economic feasibility. Realising circular mine water management requires implementing adsorption systems at scale and integrating treatment processes capable of recovering precious metals at low concentrations alongside water reclamation.
Untreated mining effluent causes substantial damage to surrounding ecosystems. Implementing effective separation and treatment systems helps protect natural waterways while turning hazardous effluent into valuable resources. By reclaiming over 95 percent of wastewater and recovering mineral salts and precious metals, these integrated approaches support industrial resource efficiency and advance circular water management practices.
Mining companies and industrial water treatment providers have access to established, commercialised solutions such as SAVMIN, SPARRO, and DESALX for large-scale water reclamation and salt recovery. Meanwhile, specialized adsorption and low-concentration metal recovery systems remain at laboratory or pilot testing stages. Industrial adoption of these emerging technologies will require further demonstration of process economics, adsorbent reusability, and safe sludge handling under operating conditions.
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Mining wastewater can have adverse effects on the ecosystem; thus, treatment before discharging into the environment is of utmost importance. This manuscript reports on the effect of mining wastewater on the environment. Moreover, the currently used, effective and commercialised mine wastewater treatment technologies such as SAVMIN®, SPARRO®, Biogenic sulphide, and DESALX® are reported in this study. These technologies integrate two or more separation processes, which have been proven to be effective for the high recovery of salts and water for reuse. Some of the technologies reported can significantly recover salts and >95% of water. Modern pilot-stage and laboratory-scale treatment systems used for the recovery and removal of metals are also reported herein. Since some treatment technologies can generate highly toxic sludge and other waste products, the management of the generated waste was also considered. Some studies have focused on the treatment of wastewater at the laboratory level using the adsorption process. Most adsorbents exhibit promising results; however, there is insufficient research on reusability, toxic sludge management, and the economic analysis of the systems. Moreover, the implementation of adsorption systems in wastewater is necessary. Furthermore, the integration of treatment systems to recover precious metals at low concentrations is desirable in addition to water reclamation to achieve circular mine water.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24730
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