The Impact of Mining Wastes from RTB Bor on the Pollution of Surrounding Water Systems with the Proposal of Measures and Procedures for Reduction the Harmful Effects on the Environment

The purification technology of acid mining waters which are generated from 56 x 106 t of dumped overburden on the Oštrelj plans, as well as from 27 x 106 t of dumped tail in the abandoned flotation tailing Bor, will be defined by the proposed project. These acid waters come down towards the “Robule” accumulation and the Bor River that belongs to the Timok river basin, and along with solid waste present a danger to the environment of region. On the other hand, overburden and flotation tailings present a “mine in the open” with about 148.000 t of copper. The aim of the project is to reduce the adverse impact of dumped mining waste from RTB on the surrounding water system, along with parallel realization of economic benefits through copper recovery. The planning activities include digitizing of maps of the monitored areas and development of digital models for dumps of overburden materials and flotation tailings. Based on results of geological-hydrogeological and chemical-mineralogical analysis of the area, as well as the experimental testing, the parameter of the technological procedure of solid waste leaching by the acid mining waters from the existing accumulation “Robule” will be defined as well as the possibility of the present copper recovery. The experimental testing of purification will be also carried out for all output effluents to the levels defined by legal regulations as well as the remediation of the solid residues.