1
Compiled by Dr. Joe Herbertson
June 2001
Sustainable Resource
Processing
Hazardous
materials and toxic dispersion
The analysis above has
focused on the important high volume material and energy flows in the minerals
processing industry worldwide. A
separate, but equally important issue is the release into nature of
relatively low volumes of potentially toxic and hazardous materials1
Compare the situation
with CO2, which is non poisonous, and is
therefore an aggregated, global problem, not a local issue
Some key issues:
•Cyanide : is naturally degradable,
but can pose serious shorter term risks, and has attracted a negative community perception after
some serious spills
•Heavy metals: can persist for very long
times; detailed
local audits are necessary to follow their path
•Odorous fumes and
carcinogens: not surprisingly, a serious local problem
Responses:
Toxic reagents: convert to closed loop
recovery and recycling at the processing site; find benign substitutes
Toxics from trace elements in
ore:
accumulate in controlled, concentrated stream for subsequent removal (sequential leaching, smelting) or
safe disposal
A metric to reflect
the approach to closed system production for
potentially hazardous elements or materials:
Mass
Recovered or Captured
Total
