Waste Management in Mining and Allied Industries

Abstract

Waste management is the systematic assessment of potential hazards, disposal and proper utilization of waste in mining and allied industries. Due to waste there is a great environmental concern and resource constraint. These wastes can affect the environment through it intrinsic property. Proper planning is essential to manage the waste. Management indicates managing wastes in such a way that it would be beneficial in any way. In view of associated environmental hazards and their impacts on public health and safety, efforts must be made to minimize waste generation, systematic disposal practices must be followed and sound waste management methodologies need to be adopted.

In mining and steel industry, wastes are generated in every stage of the operations and are required to handle properly. The types of waste generated from both the industries are solid, liquid and gaseous wastes. So, waste management involves solid, liquid and gaseous waste management. Therefore the waste generated can be utilized or can be reused as raw material for other processes if not has to be disposed safely so that it will not affect the environment.
The objective of the waste management in mining and steel industry is to assess the waste disposal techniques used in both the industries as well as their waste management techniques. Field studies have been carried out on waste management in different industries, which include an open-cast limestone and dolomite quarry (BSL) mine, an opencast coal mine ( Basundhara OCP) as well as an underground coal mine (Hirakhand Bundia) of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) and Rourkela Steel Plant. In the BSL opencast mines that major waste problem is from the generation of the overburden and dust emission. In open cast coal mines due to high production and high mechanization the volumes of waste generated is more. The waste generated is managed by efficient methods. Solid wastes that are generated in the mines are being efficiently utilized for backfilling and the mine waste water generated is used for fighting fire and used for dust suppression measures. In underground coal mines waste type generated is different, so technique of waste management differs. Depending on the types of various processes to produce steel, diverse amount of wastes are generated in RSP as compared to waste generated from mining industry. In steel industry wastes contain some valuable resource in it, generally for solid waste. These solid wastes generated can be raw material for other process and in many cases can be reused. Water analysis for the R.S.P. and a mine was carried out to ascertain impact of waste generation by the two industries on the quality of the water that has been tested. Similarly soil samples from two different mines were analyzed and their characteristics have been reported.
Water samples of BSL mines and RSP were analyzed. For BSL mine water it was found from the result that concentration of magnesium and ammonia in the water was found to be excess. For RSP water magnesium, ammonia and total hardness of the water was found to be in excess.
It was observed from the field that the mines as well as RSP were lacking somewhere in the waste management practices. Mines pay less attention in waste management as they are much concern with their production of ore or coal. Due to use of outdated technology in the mines management of waste generated is a problem. In steel plant disposal of fly ash was a big problem. The reasons were that their generation was very high as compared to its disposal, as land is a constraint and in other case they were not efficiently utilized.
Waste management scenario in the above industries can be improved by following best practices. These practices are to improve production methods to mitigate all types of waste, exploit the value of waste. There should be implementation of strategies to reuse, recycle and to prevent waste from being harmful and manage waste properly. Regulations should be followed strictly for disposal and management of waste.