Monitoring Reclaimed Mine Land for Stray CO₂ Hazards
Editor(s)
Hassan, Y. A.
Abstract
CO₂ emissions from carbonate laden reclaimed mine spoil has been shown to pose a hazard to residents in homes built on or adjacent to such land. The objective of this project was to develop a soil CO₂ flux survey protocol for assessing reclaimed mine land. The research involved CO₂ chamber accumulation flux surveys; stable carbon isotope ratio analysis; statistical hypothesis testing to examine correlation between CO₂ flux and soil temperature and moisture as well as spatial dependence; and geostatistics to map CO₂ and delineate high flux zones. Soil temperature was observed to have a positive correlation with fluxes while soil moisture was observed to be negatively correlated. Spatial dependence of CO₂ fluxes on reclaimed mine land was observed on one of the two study sites. The research suggests that macro-porosity and gas permeability may be important factors that explain CO₂ migration in mine spoil. A flux survey protocol has been developed, based on these results, for reclaimed mine lands. The work demonstrates the capability of geostatistical methods to delineate high flux fields. Further research will be required to determine suitable thresholds for such analysis. Copyright ©2012 by SME.
Recommended Citation
M. Moagabo and K. Awuah-Offei, "Monitoring Reclaimed Mine Land for Stray CO₂ Hazards," Proceedings of the 2012 SME Annual Meeting and Exhibit (2012, Seattle, WA), Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc. (SME), Feb 2012.
Meeting Name
2012 SME Annual Meeting and Exhibit, SME 2012 (2012: Feb. 19-22, Seattle, WA)
Department(s)
Mining Engineering
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2012 Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc. (SME), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
22 Feb 2012
