Overall Rates of Oxidation

Processes involved in the oxidation of sulfide bearing rock piles, coal waste, tailings storage facilities and road embankments include oxygen supply, oxygen consumption and release of heat. As a result sulfates are produced; dump temperatures rise, metals mobilize and are possibly transported away in effluent. Consequences of these processes include acid mine drainage, metalliferous leachate, decreases in the efficiency of copper flotation recovery and heap leaching of commodities.

Operation of sulfide heap leach piles often requires that oxygen concentrations are high throughout the heap and temperatures are appropriate for rapid bacterially catalyzed oxidation.

SRK has extensive experience in characterising sulfidic pile oxidation processes through measurement of oxygen concentration, temperature distributions, other physical parameters and predictive modelling of future behavior.