Mine Tailing Effects on Deep-sea Ecosystems: an international workshop
Informations
- Funding country
Norway- Acronym
- -
- URL
- -
- Start date
- 1/1/2015
- End date
- 12/31/2016
- Budget
- 18,204 EUR
Fundings
| Name | Role | Start | End | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marine Resources and the Environment (MARINFORSK) - call 2016 | Grant | - | - | 18,204 EUR |
Abstract
With increasing societal demands for mineral resources, mining at the global scale is in a phase of growth. Mining activities produce vast amounts of waste formed by the non-processed overburden rock and the processed tailings, which are is the fine-particle slurry waste produced after the extraction of the targeted metal. Tailings often include metals and chemicals used during processing. Thus, with their vast volumes and potential toxicity, mine tailings management is considered the main environmental issue of any industrial mining. The main objective of mine tailing management is to provide a safe and economical storage of the mine residues with negligible public health and safety risks and minimised social and environmental impacts. To date, most industrial mines store their tailings on dams on land, with only 0.6% mines conducting Submarine Tailing Disposal (STD). Norway, however, is particularly interesting because STDs are common practice and, thus, Norway is in a leading position in terms of technology, methods and ecological studies. Currently, there is increasing global interest in Deep-Sea Tailing Placements, with tailings depositing on very deep seafloor areas (below 1000 m). Nevertheless, limited information exists on the original ecological status, vulnerability and recovery potential of deep-sea ecosystems targeted for DSTPs. The successful development of mining activities, in Norway and globally, requires that the environmental impacts of mine tailings is addressed urgently by all interested parties (scientists, industry, decision makers, conservation organisations), to ensure impact is minimised and recovery enhanced when discharges stop. It is in this current global framework of interest that we propose to host a multi-sectorial and international workshop on deep-sea tailing placement, with the goal to identify gaps in knowledge and necessary research to develop best available practices and management criteria for DSTPs.